A reads “Do Not Journey To Heathrow Airport” at Hounslow Central London Underground station on March 21, 2025.
Jaimi Pleasure | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
Heathrow Airport had sufficient energy to stay open on Friday, after the London hub spent many of the day closed attributable to a hearth at a close-by electrical substation, in keeping with Britain’s National Grid.
Heathrow — Europe’s busiest airport — closed down final week after a hearth broke out at a close-by electrical substation that provides it with energy.
In feedback first reported by the Financial Times, Nationwide Grid CEO John Pettigrew mentioned that though the substation in query had been broken within the “unprecedented” hearth, two others supplying energy to Heathrow had been working as regular all through the day.
“There was no lack of capability from the substations,” he mentioned. “Every substation individually can present sufficient energy to Heathrow.”
Nationwide Grid, a publicly listed firm, owns the high-voltage electrical energy transmission community in England and Wales. The agency confirmed Pettigrew’s feedback with CNBC through e mail on Monday.
A spokesperson for Heathrow argued, nonetheless, that it could have been unimaginable for Heathrow to function uninterrupted after the hearth final week.
“Because the Nationwide Grid’s chief govt, John Pettigrew, famous, he has by no means seen a transformer failure like this in his 30 years within the trade,” they mentioned in emailed feedback on Monday. “A whole bunch of important programs throughout the airport have been required to be safely powered down after which safely and systematically rebooted. Given Heathrow’s measurement and operational complexity, safely restarting operations after a disruption of this magnitude was a big problem.”
Speaking to the BBC on Saturday, Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye defended the airport’s response to what he labeled a “main incident.”
“We’ve got different substations however to change them in takes time,” he mentioned. “The scenario was not created at Heathrow Airport, it was created outdoors the airport and we needed to take care of the implications.”
Heathrow has ordered an internal probe into the shutdown and its disaster administration plan, whereas the U.Okay. authorities has commissioned its own investigation into the incident.
Greater than 1,300 flights had been scheduled to take off from or arrive at Heathrow on Friday, according to news agency Reuters. Greater than 120 that were already airborne when Heathrow closed have been diverted to different airports or returned to their metropolis of departure. The disruption is widely expected to cost airlines millions of dollars.
Because the scenario unfolded on Friday, European journey and leisure shares noticed a broad selloff. British Airways proprietor IAG shed round 1.9% of its worth, whereas Lufthansa misplaced 1.7%, and Easyjet was down virtually 1%. Many regional airline shares ended Friday’s buying and selling session decrease, regardless of recovering from deeper losses seen earlier within the session.
On Monday, Europe’s journey and leisure shares have been buying and selling round 0.4% increased, with IAG up 0.9% and Lufthansa gaining 0.3% by 1:20 p.m. in London.
In a press release on Friday, the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA) — a commerce physique representing 340 airways that collectively account for 80% of worldwide air visitors — slammed Heathrow’s response to the substation hearth.
“That is one more case of Heathrow letting down each vacationers and airways,” IATA Director Basic Willie Walsh mentioned. “How is it that important infrastructure — of nationwide and world significance — is completely depending on a single energy supply with out an alternate. If that’s the case — because it appears — then it’s a clear planning failure by the airport.”
Walsh added that the incident additionally raised questions on who ought to bear the prices of caring for disrupted vacationers.
“We should discover a fairer allocation of passenger care prices than airways alone choosing up the tab when infrastructure fails,” he mentioned.
Stephen Rooney, a specialist in tourism economics at Oxford Economics, estimated in a notice on Friday that the closure would translate to £4.5 million ($5.82 million) in misplaced tourism income for the U.Okay., whereas Jonathan Owens, senior lecturer in operations and provide chain administration on the College of Salford’s Enterprise Faculty, informed CNBC on Monday that the financial impression can be “huge.”
“The prices related to diverting flights to alternate airports are important, each when it comes to monetary implications and logistical challenges,” he mentioned through e mail.
“Flights diverted to different airports would want to cowl further gas, air visitors management companies and airport charges … Passengers affected by flight diversions or cancellations are very more likely to search compensation due to lodge lodging, meals and taxis, which all add to the associated fee for airways.”
