Heathrow Airport has resumed full operations on Saturday following a nearly day-long shutdown caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation, which forced extensive flight diversions and cancellations.
The incident, which affected Europe’s busiest air hub, has prompted the airport to order a probe into its crisis-management response.
British Airways, whose main hub is Heathrow, reported operating about 90% of its schedule on Saturday and promised a "near-full" schedule for Sunday. Chief executive Sean Doyle warned on Friday that the disruption’s "huge impact" could last for several days, as airlines continue to grapple with the fallout.
In response to the incident, Heathrow has tasked independent board member and former transport minister Ruth Kelly with reviewing its crisis-management plan. The goal is to bolster the airport’s resilience against future disruptions. Meanwhile, Britain’s energy ministry has commissioned the National Energy System Operator to urgently investigate the outage, raising broader concerns about the resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure.
The outage, which halted operations on what was expected to be a busy Friday with 1,351 scheduled flights and up to 291,000 passengers, forced long-haul flights to return to their departure points and resulted in numerous diversions. Although the vast majority of scheduled flights managed to depart successfully on Saturday, tens of thousands of passengers still face significant delays.
Aviation experts compared the scale of the disruption to the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded nearly 100,000 flights across Europe. Passengers voiced their frustration; one U.S. citizen, Amber Roden, described the situation as "absolutely insane" after several relatives experienced multiple flight cancellations and delays en route to her wedding.
Despite assurances from Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye that "we don't expect any major amount of flights to be cancelled or delayed," airlines like Virgin Atlantic and Air India continue to navigate the disruption, promising near-full schedules as they recover from the incident.
The incident has reignited debate over the reliability of the UK's critical infrastructure, with industry leaders like Willie Walsh, head of IATA and former British Airways chief, criticizing what he called a clear planning failure by the airport. Major British newspapers have not held back in their criticism, with headlines in The Sun and Daily Mail describing the situation as a "humiliating fiasco" and "farcical," respectively.
Authorities are not treating the incident as suspicious, with police and the London Fire Brigade focusing on investigating the electrical distribution equipment. As Heathrow works to restore normal operations and rebuild confidence, the fallout from the outage is expected to have significant financial implications for the travel industry in the coming days.
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The cause of the fire that disrupted Heathrow Airport operations remains unknown, with ongoing investigations focused on preventing future incidents.
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