Heathrow Airport has resumed its usual operations just two days after a fire at an electrical substation led to a temporary closure due to a power outage.
As Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow saw over 1,000 flights canceled on Friday following the incident at the substation located in Hayes, in west London.
Operations resumed on Saturday, with the airport reporting that more than 250,000 passengers traveled through its terminals. While arrivals and departures continued on Sunday, some flights experienced minor delays during takeoff.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has instructed the National Energy System Operator (Neso) to investigate the power failure. Additionally, an internal evaluation of the airport’s crisis management protocols and response to the incident will be conducted by former Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly.
According to a report by The Sunday Times, Heathrow’s CEO Thomas Woldbye decided to go to bed and delegated the decision to close the airport to his deputy, Javier Echave, on Thursday night. Senior staff were divided into two “gold command” teams, one of which worked overnight while the other rested to take over the following morning.
Heathrow representatives clarified to the newspaper that the decision allowed Woldbye to be well-rested for the process of reopening the airport.
In a statement, a Heathrow spokesperson noted: “Today, we will operate a full schedule of more than 1,300 flights. We apologize for the disruptions caused by the decision to close on Friday due to a significant fire at an off-site power substation. Yesterday, we handled over 250,000 passengers with mostly punctual flights, and nearly all passengers experienced wait times of less than five minutes for security.
“We welcome the government’s decision to investigate the cause and response to the power outage and have initiated our own review, led by former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, focusing on Heathrow’s handling of the situation. While these inquiries are underway, our priority remains providing excellent service to our passengers.”
The disruption of power to the airport occurred Thursday night because of the fire in Hayes, prompting a closure and advisories for passengers not to travel. Flight operations were eventually allowed to resume on Friday evening.
Heathrow, the largest airport in Europe, accommodated over 83.9 million passengers in 2024, with about 200,000 travelers impacted by the closure on Friday.
Woldbye explained that a failure in a backup transformer during the power outage necessitated the shutdown of systems for safety reasons. Subsequently, power had to be rerouted from two remaining substations to ensure sufficient electricity supply to the airport, which is comparable in scale to a “mid-sized city.”
Initially, the investigation was led by counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan Police, but they later determined that the fire was likely not suspicious, and the London Fire Brigade is now leading the inquiry into the electrical distribution equipment.
On Saturday night, Heathrow’s chair, Paul Deighton, announced the review to be conducted by Kelly, focusing on the airport’s response to the incident.
Lord Deighton remarked, “The Kelly review will examine all pertinent materials regarding the effectiveness and execution of Heathrow’s crisis management strategies, the airport’s reaction during the incident, and the recovery efforts, aiming to identify possible enhancements for future resilience.”
The post Headline: Heathrow Airport Resumes Operations After Power Outage Chaos, Promises Comprehensive Review of Response Measures first appeared on London.
Author : London News
Publish date : 2025-03-23 18:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.