London’s Heathrow Airport resumed full operations on Saturday after a major power outage caused significant disruption, grounding flights and leaving thousands of passengers stranded for almost a day. The fire at a nearby electrical substation forced Europe’s busiest airport to shut down for several hours, triggering an investigation into the resilience of Britain’s critical infrastructure.
In response to the incident, the UK’s energy ministry commissioned the National Energy System Operator to conduct an urgent probe into the outage, which raised concerns about the country’s ability to handle disruptions in vital services. The investigation is aimed at understanding the causes and ensuring such failures do not recur.
Heathrow, the world’s fifth-busiest airport, had been set to manage 1,351 flights on Friday, serving up to 291,000 passengers. The outage led to the diversion of numerous flights to other airports, with many long-haul flights being forced to return to their points of departure. British Airways, which uses Heathrow as its primary hub, operated around 90% of its scheduled flights on Saturday and promised a “near-full” schedule on Sunday. CEO Sean Doyle had previously warned that the impact of the outage would be felt for several days.
Former transport minister Ruth Kelly, now an independent board member at Heathrow, has been tasked with reviewing the airport’s crisis-management plan and response to the incident. The goal is to bolster the airport’s resilience against future disruptions.
The scale of the disruption was compared to the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud, which grounded around 100,000 flights across Europe. “It has been absolutely insane,” said Amber Roden, a U.S. citizen whose wedding was just days away. Several of her relatives had their flights canceled, and others were delayed, making it impossible for them to attend the wedding she had been planning for two years.
Despite the challenges, Heathrow managed to resume a large portion of its operations by Saturday afternoon, with most morning and early afternoon flights departing successfully. However, there were still some delays and cancellations. The airport added hundreds of staff members to assist with the extra passenger load, with 10,000 additional passengers expected to travel through the airport on Saturday.
Virgin Atlantic and Air India both announced they would operate near-full schedules, with limited cancellations. However, many passengers remained uneasy. “I’m just hoping that when I get there, I can actually go,” said Melissa Graboyes, a university professor traveling to Toronto, who was frequently checking her flight status.
Authorities have stated that the fire at the substation is not being treated as suspicious, though investigations into the electrical distribution equipment are ongoing. London Fire Brigade has been involved in the probe, as the cause of the fire remains unclear.
The outage, which caused widespread disruption to air travel, has sparked a debate over the reliability of critical infrastructure at major airports. The travel industry is bracing for financial losses that could run into the tens of millions of pounds, as airlines and passengers deal with the fallout. Industry leaders have raised questions about how such a crucial part of the infrastructure could fail without proper backup systems in place.
Willie Walsh, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and former CEO of British Airways, criticized Heathrow’s handling of the situation, calling it a “clear planning failure.” Heathrow and other major airports in London have faced similar disruptions in recent years, including a malfunctioning automated gate system and an air traffic control system meltdown, both of which occurred in 2023.
Media coverage of the incident was highly critical, with headlines such as “Britain Humiliated by Airport Fiasco” in The Sun and “Farcical” in The Daily Mail.
As the investigation continues, there are calls for improvements in the airport’s infrastructure and crisis management to prevent future disruptions of this scale.
