Heathrow Resilience Failures Exposed After 18-Hour Shutdown

Heathrow Airport faced scrutiny for an 18-hour shutdown caused by a substation fire. Concerns over infrastructure resilience were raised before the incident. Lawmakers questioned Heathrow's CEO, power companies, and airlines about the disruption. Safety was prioritized, but delays in rerouting power were criticized. Building full resilience is costly.

Heathrow Airport's resilience was put under the spotlight following an 18-hour operational shutdown on March 21, caused by a fire at a nearby power substation. The incident left 300,000 passengers stranded and cost airlines millions. National infrastructure durability came under heavy scrutiny as lawmakers sought answers.

Heathrow's operations faced criticism during a parliamentary inquiry attended by the airport's chief executive, National Grid officials, power provider SSE, and an airline spokesperson. Nigel Wicking, representing Heathrow Airlines Operators' Committee, highlighted that concerns over the airport's resilience had been communicated six days prior to the fire.

Despite safety being the primary consideration, the lengthy downtime in restoring power was debated, with suggestions that rerouting for an alternative power source took excessively long. While Heathrow's CEO argued for inherent resilience in their power contracts, he admitted full resilience would bear a heavy financial burden, estimated to be £1 billion.

(With inputs from agencies.)