Luton Airport fire: what caused the fire at the London Airport? Was it an electric car, which departure and arrival flights are affected today

The UK’s fifth largest airport, Luton Airport, was closed for the majority of the day yesterday (Wednesday 11 October) after a huge blaze ripped through the airport’s multi-story car park. The fire started on Tuesday evening (10 October) at around 9pm with emergency services racing to the scene to put out the flames.

All outbound flights from the airport were suspended until 3pm and inbound flights were diverted. The fire was put out by yesterday morning, leaving hundreds of cars damaged and partially collapsing the multi-storey Terminal Car Park 2.

Four firefighters and a member of airport staff were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and another firefighter was treated at the scene. As the incident unfolded it was unclear what started the fire, however users on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, started to speculate it was caused by an electric car.

A user named Monty posted: “I bet it’s because it’s an electric car that’s spontaneously combusted.” Another user posted a photo of a Land Rover vehicle on fire in the car park which was later engulfed in flames, writing: “The start of the fire at Luton airport. Started from a Range Rover yesterday evening. #lutonairport.”

Fire chiefs investigating the huge fire at the airport later announced what they believed to have caused the blaze. Here are the latest updates on what caused the fire and the situation at Luton Airport today (Thursday 12 October).

What caused the Luton Airport fire?

The fire started on level three of the airport’s terminal two car park with 15 fire engines and more than 100 firefighters sent. Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the fire at the airport started with a diesel vehicle. He also said that the car park was not fitted with sprinklers and there is no suggestion the blaze happened intentionally.

Mr Hopkinson said: “We have no intelligence at this stage to suggest that this was anything other than an accidental fire that started in one of the vehicles that had not long arrived at the airport. It was not an EV. This was a diesel powered vehicle.” AA technical expert Greg Carter added that the most common cause of car fires is an electrical fault with the 12-volt battery system. Mr Carter said diesel is "much less flammable" than petrol, and in a car it takes "intense pressure or sustained flame" to ignite diesel.

Which flights are affected today at Luton Airport?

The car park fire led to the cancellation of more than 150 flights yesterday, affecting more than 30,000 passengers. Hundreds of people were stranded because their cars were either in the collapsed car park or in an adjacent one. Flights resumed at about 3pm on Wednesday and the airport is open today.

There are delays to several departure flights as well as arrivals today however there is currently no widespread disruption to scheduled journeys. Listed are the affected departures and arrivals from the airport today (Friday 13 October):

Luton Airport affected departures:

• 09:25 EL AL flight to Tel Aviv - estimated 09:40
• 09:40 easyJet flight to Inverness - estimated 11:50
• 10:25 easyJet flight to Edinburgh - estimated 10:50
• 11:55 Wizz Air flight to Palma Mallorca - estimated 13:00
• 12:00 easyJet flight to Edinburgh - estimated 13:00
• 12:35 easyJet flight to Paris-Ch de Gaulle - estimated 13:55
• 12:40 Wizz Air flight to Poznan - estimated 13:15
• 12:45 easyJet flight to Amsterdam - estimated 13:10
• 13:55 Wizz Air flight to Tel Aviv - cancelled
• 14:50 Wizz Air flight to Bucharest-Otopeni - estimated 15:05
• 17:05 Wizz Air flight to Tirana - estimated 17:20
• 20:50 Wizz Air flight to Sibiu - estimated 21:55
• 21:30 Wizz Air flight to Timisoara - estimated 22:00
• 21:40 Wizz Air flight to Debrecen - estimated 21:55

Luton Airport affected arrivals:

• 11:15 Ryanair flight from Bologna - estimated 12:05
• 11:30 easyJet flight from Geneva - estimated 12:34
• 11:40 easyJet flight from Palma Mallorca - estimated 12:00
• 11:45 Ryanair flight from Dublin - estimated 12:06
• 12:05 easyJet flight from Nice - estimated 12:42
• 12:15 easyJet flight from Barcelona - estimated 12:38
• 12:30 easyJet flight from Naples - estimated 13:02