On March 21, 2025, Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs, ground to a halt. A fire at a nearby electrical substation caused a power outage, disrupting flights and stranding thousands of passengers.
Among the affected airlines was SAS Scandinavian Airlines, which cancelled 12 round-trip flights to and from Heathrow.
But in a bizarre twist, major UK news outlets Sky News and The Guardian briefly confused the airline with the British Special Air Service (SAS), an elite military regiment. The blunder turned a routine aviation story into a viral sensation.
SAS Scandinavian – A Special Air Service!
The chaos began when the substation fire knocked out power to Heathrow’s Terminals 2 and 3. Flights were delayed, cancelled, or diverted, and the airport scrambled to restore operations. Scandinavian Airlines, a well-known Nordic carrier, announced its cancellations shortly after.
With a fleet of modern aircraft and a reputation for punctuality, SAS is a familiar name in aviation. Yet, its three-letter code tripped up two of Britain’s biggest media players.
Sky News aired a graphic claiming the “Special Air Service” had cancelled flights. To make matters worse, it displayed the SAS regiment’s iconic winged dagger logo—a symbol tied to covert missions, not commercial aviation.
Meanwhile, The Guardian’s liveblog reported that the “Special Air Service, or SAS,” was affected by the shutdown. Readers were left wondering: had Britain’s secretive special forces suddenly taken up flying passenger planes?
The mistake was short-lived. Sky News quickly yanked the graphic off-air, while The Guardian updated its post by 7:38 a.m. GMT, admitting the error.
Who Dares Wins Social Media
Both outlets corrected their stories within an hour, but the damage – or rather, the amusement – was done. Social media lit up with reactions.
One X user quipped, “Sky News thinks the SAS is cancelling flights. Are they parachuting out of Heathrow now?” Another wrote, “The Guardian mixing up an airline with special forces is peak Monday journalism.”
Scandinavian Airlines didn’t miss the chance to poke fun. In a cheeky social media post, the airline said, “We get it, @SkyNews and The Guardian – same initials, both wear uniforms, operate internationally, and move fast. But only one SAS was affected by the Heathrow power outage. Spoiler: it was the one with the free coffee onboard, not the one with parachutes.”
The post racked up thousands of likes, turning a UK newsroom gaffe into a marketing win for the airline.
Conclusion
So, how did this happen? The shared “SAS” acronym is the obvious culprit. In aviation, SAS stands for Scandinavian Airlines System, a carrier serving Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
In military circles, it’s the Special Air Service, a unit famed for its daring operations. Context should have been enough to tell them apart. One operates Airbus A320s, the other assault rifles, but the fast-paced news cycle proved otherwise.
Although it does beg the question why major news outlets didn’t question why a crack military regiment would be fielding 12 flights into a commercial airport. In their defence, we’re definitely living in strange times at the moment!
The Heathrow shutdown itself was resolved by late March 21, with power restored and flights resuming.
For aviation fans, it was a stark reminder of the industry’s vulnerability to infrastructure failures. But for most, the real story quickly became the SAS Heathrow mix-up. It was a rare moment when a news blunder outshone the event itself. Next time, news outlets might take more time to double-check their acronyms before hitting publish.
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