Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with Rahel Solomon

London's Heathrow Airport Shut Down Due To Power Outage; Trump Signs Order To Dismantle Education Department; U.S. Stocks Close Slightly Lower Thursday; Hamas Fires First Rockets At Israel Since Truce Collapsed; Ukraine Ceasefire Talks To Resume In Saudi Arabia Monday. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 21, 2025 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:34]

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Isabel Rosales, in for Rahel Solomon.

It is Friday, March 21st, 5:00 a.m. here in Atlanta.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Flights to and from Heathrow are either being canceled or diverted. The airport went dark after a transformer at an electrical substation caught fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some concerned back, most cannot.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump going one step closer to fulfilling a campaign promise of dismantling the Department of Education.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It's doing us no good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, get off -- sir, get off the stage right now! Get off the stage right now, sir.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fury at Washington on display from coast to coast this week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ROSALES: A major power outage has forced London's Heathrow airport, one of the worlds busiest, to completely shut down. Video from inside the usually bustling facility showed stranded passengers milling around, apparently wondering what to do next. The closure is leading to severe disruptions to global air travel. Officials say the airport went dark after a transformer at an

electrical substation caught fire, sending smoke billowing through the area. Britain's national grid says crews are working at speed to restore power.

Earlier, one resident captured this view. Look at that from their balcony. Of all those flames shooting up. London fire brigade says that fire is now under control and the investigation will begin. So far, no word on the cause.

Heathrow's closure is affecting more than 1,300 flights and upwards of 145,000 passengers in the hours ahead. That's according to monitoring sites FlightRadar24 and Cirium.

Let's go live now to CNN's Nada Bashir near Heathrow Airport.

Nada, thank you so much for joining us. Good morning to you.

We're also talking about the world's airport, the airport in the world with the most number of airlines. So the impacts here are astronomical. Talk to us about what you're learning.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Isabel. And you can see behind me Heathrow Airport has been brought to a standstill, Europe's busiest airport. We're talking about hundreds of flights today alone being impacted, tens of thousands of passengers, potentially a number of flights that were forced to either return to their airport of origin or were diverted or simply canceled overall.

And that's because Heathrow has announced that the airport will remain in operation for the entire duration of Friday, with the potential for further disruption over the coming days. It's unclear when exactly the airport will be back up and running as a result of that fire, which has led to a complete power outage at the airport.

This we're talking about five terminals here, so you can imagine the chaos that has ensued for passengers who had been hoping to travel via Heathrow Airport today. There is a huge amount of pressure, of course, on authorities to try and rectify this as soon as possible.

We've heard from officials from London fire brigade who have said that the fire at the substation in Hayes, which is just about four miles from here, is now under control. It has been contained, but it's unclear how long it will take in order for the substation to be operational in some way. We understand that according to the energy secretary here in the United Kingdom, that the backup generator has also been impacted by the fire. So unclear what sort of plans are in place to rectify this issue as soon as possible.

We have heard from the national grid. They have said they are working at speed to return power to those impacted. It's not just the airport, of course, that has been impacted. Thousands of homes and businesses have also been impacted. Around 62,000 have now had power restored, but nearly 5,000 homes are still without power. So that will also be a huge focus for the authorities as well. The fire officials have said that they will remain on scene around the

substation. That investigation into what exactly caused the fire is still ongoing. Authorities say they were called to the incident at around 11:20 p.m. last night. We've heard from local residents in videos as well. Many were completely shocked to wake up in the middle of the night to see these huge flames engulfing the substation, and this is a substation which is surrounded by residential buildings and apartment buildings as well.

[05:05:04]

We know that police have put in place at this stage a cordon of about 200 meters, and some residents were in fact evacuated overnight. Although authorities say there is no risk to nearby civilians or nearby residents at this stage anymore. So you can imagine on all fronts, this has been a night of sheer chaos and panic for some.

For Heathrow airport, of course, a huge challenge ahead for officials as they work to get the airport back up and running. At this stage, they're telling passengers not to attempt to access the airport or head to the airport, but to contact their airlines to figure out what their plans are in terms of flights and travel plans. Of course, again, thousands of people expected to be impacted as a result -- Isabel.

ROSALES: What a major headache and so much, so many questions that need to be answered and reflection that needs to happen, on how single substation could take out the backup power source of such a critical airport.

Nada Bashir in London, thank you.

Well, U.S. President Donald Trump is starting to dismantle the Education Department with a new executive order signed Thursday. It is something that Republicans have wanted for decades, but it's raising a lot of questions for students and parents.

Here's what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Department of Education, we're going to eliminate it.

And everybody knows it's right. We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It's doing us no good. We want to return our students to the states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Washington following the latest developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump going one step closer to fulfilling a campaign promise of dismantling the department of education, on Thursday, signing an executive order here at the White House.

What many Republican presidential candidates and presidents have promised to do, Trump is taking a step forward to doing so. That is eliminating the smallest department of this U.S. government, the Department of Education. He's already essentially laid off half of the employees. They have reined in the funding for so much of the department.

But now, he is saying he will send the effort to education and curriculum back to the states. However, an open question here as the president takes one more whack at the federal government trying to reshape and resize it, the question of what happens to things like student loans, to Title I education for low income Americans, as well as educating the disabled.

Now, the president saying that will stay with the Department of Education, and it in fact, would take an act of Congress to eliminate it. In 1979, during the Carter administration, the Education Department was formed. Ronald Reagan talked about dismantling it in the next term. He did not get it done. It has not happened since.

So this administration can rein in the funding, can lay people off. But the question is, will Congress go forward and fully eliminate this agency? That is very much an open question.

But as legal challenges are underway, President Trump going forward to dismantle it, surrounded by school children at a ceremony on Thursday at the White House saying one more campaign promise closer to being met.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: President Trump has dismissed a report by "The New York Times" that Elon Musk is set to be briefed on the United States plans for a potential war with China. Trump confirmed on social media that Musk will visit the Pentagon, but denied that it had anything to do with China. "The Times" said it was unclear why Musk would receive a top secret briefing on military plans.

His car company, Tesla, has multiple dealerships across China and a large factory in Shanghai. The billionaire has been closely involved with President Trump as part of DOGE, the controversial effort to slash costs in government.

All right, let's get a quick check on the U.S. financial markets. The Dow finished almost unchanged on Thursday. The Nasdaq was down a third of a percent, and the S&P 500 closed almost a quarter of a percent lower.

Okay. Let's look at the futures right now on screen for an idea of where the stocks could be heading today. Not looking good. All of it in the red.

The Dow, look at that, 172 points down predicted here in the futures. We'll see when the market opens.

We'll bring you the latest on the fire that has shut down London's Heathrow airport. Travel delays are already mounting.

Plus, Hamas strikes back, firing rockets into Israel for the first time since the ceasefire collapsed this week. What Israel is saying about the attack.

Plus, efforts to achieve a partial ceasefire in Ukraine are picking up steam. But you wouldn't know it based on what's happening on the ground.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:14:10]

ROSALES: Welcome back.

Experts say air travel in Europe and beyond will be disrupted for days to come, as London's Heathrow Airport is shut down for at least a day. The closure was caused by a fire at an electrical substation a few miles away. That triggered a major power outage.

Authorities say that fire is now under control. Travelers are being told not to go to Heathrow, but to check with their airlines about rescheduling their flights. Aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas says Heathrow handles about a quarter of a million passengers every single day. Incoming flights have been turned back or diverted to other airports.

Israel says it has intercepted a rocket fired by Hamas from Gaza. Two others fell in open land without causing any casualties. The attacks are the first by Hamas since the Gaza ceasefire ended with new Israeli strikes on Tuesday.

[05:15:07]

The Palestinian health ministry says that more than 500 people have been killed in Gaza this week alone. The death toll since the war began is now close to 50,000 people. Protesters marched in the rain in Jerusalem against the renewed fighting, saying it puts the lives of the remaining hostages in danger. They also claim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restarted the war to solidify his ruling coalition.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government has dismissed the head of Shin Bet, its internal security service. The prime minister says he lost trust in Ronen Bar.

A Ukrainian official says the country's third largest city was, quote, on fire after a massive Russian drone strike on Odesa Thursday. Videos appear to show civilian infrastructure engulfed in flames, with plumes of smoke pouring into the sky. Officials say three people were injured. Ukraine fought back, hitting an air base deep inside Russia. The base has reportedly been used to launch attacks on Ukraine.

And in Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump says he'll sign a deal on critical minerals with Kyiv, quote, very shortly.

Talks on a partial ceasefire in Ukraine are set to resume in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

For more, Salma Abdelaziz joins us now from London.

Salma, what can you tell us?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So just hours after President Trump had expressed optimism about reaching a peace deal, we saw full scale war in Ukraine with dozens of drones fired by Russia in Central Ukraine, some 200 drones alone, according to President Zelenskyy, who says that children were wounded. Homes, churches, critical infrastructure was damaged.

You may remember, of course, that earlier this week, President Trump had said an agreement had been reached with Russia to end strikes on energy, energy infrastructure for both sides. President says -- President Zelenskyy says that pledge has already been violated by President Putin.

I want you to take a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Yesterday, I had a productive conversation with President Trump. From the very, very beginning, Ukraine has been advocating for what we are discussing now, an end to attack on energy and infrastructure and ceasefire at sea. And we continue to support these efforts.

Putin must stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war and must start fulfilling what he promises the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: So you hear him there talking about what he describes as unnecessary demands by Russia. And that's, of course, highly concerning for diplomats who are preparing to head to Saudi Arabia on Monday to resume parallel talks with Ukraine and with Russia. There are so many disagreements here between these two warring factions.

And President Trump, of course, is in a hurry to reach this deal. But already you have a President Zelenskyy who is saying Russia has violated the first pledge its made, which is not striking energy infrastructure. And President Zelenskyy is accusing Russia of essentially utilizing this opportunity to push some concessions. That would be devastating for Ukraine, including President Putin's call for military aid, foreign military aid to Ukraine to end something that would leave them entirely vulnerable and open to any Russian attack.

So how are U.S. diplomats going to bring these two sides closer together on the table in Saudi Arabia? I can tell you optimism is fading by the hour.

ROSALES: Yeah, it's tough to see how that deal, that ceasefire would pull through. But we will keep a close eye on it. I know you will.

Salma Abdelaziz in London, thank you for your time.

Let's return to our top story. A major power outage has forced London's Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest, to completely shut down.

Video from inside the usually bustling, busy facility showed stranded passengers just milling around wondering what to do next. The closure is leading to severe disruptions on a global scale.

Let's bring in travel journalist Simon Calder.

Simon, a much appreciate you being on the show.

Can you talk to us about the impacts that passengers can expect, as Heathrow is undoubtedly scrambling to divert these flights to other airports? Gatwick, Paris, Amsterdam? And how that all -- all of that works?

SIMON CALDER, TRAVEL JOURNALIST: Yes, it's a real, real mess. If we can start with the series of events. So a fire broke out at now about nine hours ago. Six hours ago, the airport said we are going to be closing all day on Friday.

And just to give you some idea of what that means, this is Europe's busiest airport by a mile. Normally, there would be 1,300-plus flights going in and out.

[05:20:03]

It's the world's busiest two runway airport. A quarter of a million passengers expected to be traveling.

And the first that a lot of passengers knew about it was on the wave of flights from the East Coast of the U.S. across to London Heathrow. They started being diverted. Some of them turned back, others landed. Well, a number of aircraft on the ground at Shannon in the west of Ireland. Some made it as far as Glasgow in Scotland, which is where I am now.

But with the absolute core of the UK aviation system out of action, I'm afraid there is going to be a huge amount of disruption, not just today, and they're hoping that they will get back on track by the start of Saturdays operation. But even then, because particularly British airways has planes, pilots, passengers strewn all over Europe and indeed back in the U.S. when so many flights returned to their starting points that its just going to be a mess. I'm afraid, right through the weekend.

ROSALES: Simon, it looks like you could be at a lounge. I hope you're not caught up in all of this mess, but talk to me about the fact that a single substation coming down, you know, in flames, push Heathrow into the dark.

Heathrow is such a critical piece of infrastructure. How can something like this happen?

CALDER: You're quite right. This is probably the most critical piece of infrastructure in Europe in terms of transportation. And there will be many questions asked. The transport secretary here, Heidi Alexander, has basically said, you know, she's very much looking forward to things being restored.

But once they are, they are going to be many questions to be answered by the power supplier, national grid, and also by Heathrow airport, because the economic damage of this is going to run into certainly tens, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars. And of course, the economic, the emotional harm is just incalculable. So many people who are having their plans torn up, so many people who were looking forward to a journey with joy, with excitement, and now all they've got is stress and upset.

It's a desperate situation and it shows just how little resilience there is, because the second airport serving London, Gatwick Airport, well, it took a handful of British Airways diversions. Then it was full up because everything in southeast England, where London is located, is pretty much full all of the time.

ROSALES: Yeah. And Heathrow has the largest number of airlines in the entire world. The impacts there, we cannot overstate.

Travel journalist Simon Calder, thank you for your time.

Well, still ahead, how Donald Trump's rhetoric on Canada is impacting tourism right here in the U.S. More on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:27:25]

ROSALES: There's a global disruption in air travel after London's Heathrow Airport was shut down. A fire damaged a nearby electrical substation, causing the airport to lose power. That fire is now under control.

But Britain's national grid says crews are still working to restore power. The British energy minister says the fire also affected Heathrow's backup power supply. The airport is expected to remain closed at least through Friday. The website flightradar24 says 1,300 flights could be affected.

All right, let's hear directly from one of the passengers affected by Heathrow's closure. Anjana Khatwa was due to fly from London to Portland, Oregon, today. She joins me live from England, near Heathrow airport.

Anjana, thank you so much for joining us. Tell us your story. What happened?

ANJANA KHATWA, DELAYED PASSENGER: Oh, good morning, Isabel.

I've had a very tiring morning. So my flight was leaving at 6:30 from London Heathrow terminal four going to Amsterdam, and then on to Portland in Oregon.

And so, I had ordered a taxi, which arrived at 4:15. We were approaching terminal four at 4:30 in the morning, and it was really strange because he commented that it was incredibly dark. All the street lights were out, and he kind of made a comment like, oh, maybe the council is trying to save money. That's why they switched the lights off.

By the time we arrived at the terminal building, there was no lights on. In the terminal building, there was a police car waiting on the approach road, and he stopped the taxi driver and said there are absolutely no flights leaving London Heathrow today. There's been a fire at a nearby substation and basically all, you know, you're going to have to take your passenger home. So it was a very expensive and very quick taxi ride back to my mother's house in Slough.

ROSALES: And what sort of questions do you have? Because we've heard stories from other passengers, one going to meet up with his father, who's undergoing cancer treatment, another one who was going to a wedding as a passenger who's been deeply impacted, what sort of questions do you have for the airports leadership there? And the fact that a single substation took down the entirety of the power?

KHATWA: It's extraordinary, isn't it, because there are so many passengers like -- like the ones that you've mentioned who are going to visit relatives. For me, this is part of my big launch of my new book, "The Whispers of Rock", which comes out later this year. And the questions I have to ask is, why is one of the world's most busiest airports dependent on an electrical substation in the nearby town?

I think it really is quite extraordinary how there aren't any backup generators or any systems in place to ensure that.