MPs on Wednesday (3 April) were told Heathrow had twice been warned about the resilience of its power supply in the days leading up to the wholesale power failure on Friday 21 March, which was caused by a fire at one of the substations supplying the airport.
The incident forced the cancellation of more than 1,300 services and impacted at least 300,000 travellers.
Nigel Wicking, chief executive the Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee, told MPs he had spoken with Team Heathrow director Spencer Adaway on 15 March and to chief operating officer Javier Echave and chief customer officer Ross Baker on 19 March.
He told the transport committee that on both occasions, he had voiced concerns about wires and cables around some of the power supply having previously been stolen, temporarily disabling runway lights – a critical feature of normal operations at the airport.
Wicking also told members Heathrow Terminal 5 could have reopened on the day of the outage instead of the following day with the other terminals, reducing the impact on operations. Heathrow implemented a blanket all-day closure following the outage.
“In terms of Terminal 5, my understanding from both British Airways but also on the day, was that pretty much everything was fine to operate by mid-morning, by 10am,” he said.
During the two-and-a-half-hour hearing, MPs also heard the UK’s air traffic control provider NATS had run out of space in the UK by 5.30am on 21 March – a few hours after a blaze started. This forced airlines to divert to European airports such as Munich, Frankfurt and Madrid.
Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye, who faced strong criticism after telling the committee that strengthening the power network would come “at a very high cost” for both airlines and passengers, offered his “deepest regrets” to all those affected.
“I am absolutely committed to ensuring we learn from this event,” he said on Wednesday. “Today, I have set out for parliament our comprehensive five-point plan to strengthen our response capabilities and build upon the systems that we already have in place.”
The five-point plan
As part of the plan, Heathrow has instructed former transport secretary Ruth Kelly to review the incident, focusing on how the substation fire impacted the airport, what decisions were made due to the loss of power and if there are any lessons to be learnt.
Heathrow has also made changes to its own crisis response, including increasing the number of airport partners who can dial into operational calls and improving home carrier outreach with back-up mobile phones for senior leaders.
In terms of airlines, Woldbye told MPs he already had meetings with the likes of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, where all parties agreed to work together and be better prepared for the future.
He also reiterated the power suppliers’ commitment to collaborating and reviewing the grid’s ongoing and future challenges, while stressing that Heathrow had stepped up customer feedback resources to capture the wider industry’s sentiments.
