Luton airport has reopened after being shut down overnight following a major fire in a multistorey car park near its terminal, with the first scheduled departure, a Ryanair service to Cork, leaving shortly before 3.30pm on Wednesday.
At least 125 flights were cancelled and many others severely delayed, with some disruption expected to continue into Thursday. The fire began at about 9pm on Tuesday in a parked diesel vehicle and was declared a major incident at 9.38pm. It was extinguished by 9.30am on Wednesday, but all flights were suspended until 3pm.
Fire crews said the blaze caused a significant structural collapse in the car park, which is the closest to departures and part of a £160m redevelopment that opened in December 2018. The local fire chief, Andrew Hopkinson, said there was no intelligence to suggest anything other than an accidental fire. He noted that there were no sprinklers in the car park, and that sprinklers "may have made a positive impact".
At the peak, 15 fire engines, three specialist aerial appliances and more than 100 firefighters were at the scene. It is believed that up to 1,200 vehicles may have been in the car park, and a temporary ramp was being constructed to remove undamaged vehicles. The East of England ambulance service reported that one member of the public and six firefighters had been affected by smoke inhalation.
Passengers described chaotic scenes. Russell Taylor, who flew into the airport from Edinburgh, said the speed at which the fire took hold was "incredible", while Molly Bullard posted footage on social media of the car park "exploding in flames".
EasyJet, based at Luton, said it had cancelled 70 flights on Wednesday and 15 arrivals diverted to other airports on Tuesday night. The airline advised passengers to check flight status and said it planned to operate a full schedule on Thursday. It offered rebooking, refunds, hotel accommodation and meals for affected customers.
