Flights at London's Luton Airport have resumed, hours after all take-offs and landings were suspended following a "significant fire" that caused the partial collapse of a car park.
"The runway is now open, and flights are beginning to arrive and depart," the airport said in an update, after tens of thousands of passengers' travel plans were disrupted by the runway closure.
Footage posted on social media showed flames and smoke tearing through cars parked at the airport terminal yesterday evening.
Vehicle alarms and loud explosions could be heard, with one witness saying the speed in which the blaze tore through the upper floor of the car park was "incredible".
One witness said on X, that it looked as though the whole car park had collapsed, while another said vehicles in the car park were exploding every few seconds.
Ryanair flights between Dublin and Luton today have been cancelled.
Update at 15:48 pic.twitter.com/9jMwcA7p5g
— London Luton Airport (@LDNLutonAirport) October 11, 2023
The airport's website says the car park that is on fire is new.
"Our brand new multi-story car park offering secure, on-site parking using just a five-minute walk to the terminal entrance," the website says.
Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said more than 100 firefighters tackled the blaze at Luton Airport.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, he said: "Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service's fire control received an initial 999 call at 8.47pm yesterday evening, reporting a car on fire on the third floor of the Terminal car park two behind me here at London Luton Airport.
"Our first two fire appliances arrived on scene just a shade under 10 minutes later to work alongside firefighters from Luton Airport Fire Service.
"On arrival my officers were faced with a severe and rapidly spreading fire involving a large number of vehicles that ultimately spread to multiple floors and involved a partial collapse of the car park.
"The incident was declared a major incident at 9.38pm. The car park has a capacity of just over 1,900 cars and we estimate up to 1,500 cars are in the affected car park."
Russell Taylor, 41, an account director from Kinross in Scotland, saw the flames after flying into Luton Airport from Edinburgh.
He told the PA news agency: "There were a couple of fire engines with a car ablaze on the upper floor of the car park at just after 9pm.
"A few minutes later most of the upper floor was alight, car alarms were going off with loud explosions from cars going up in flames.
"The speed in which the fire took hold was incredible."
Additional reporting PA
