The British minister has launched a fire investigation at a current substation that forces the airline to close Heathrow Airport, warning of further confusion to passengers, even if the airline begins flying again.
Energy Secretary Eden Miliband on Saturday told the national energy system operator of the public institution responsible for the power grid to investigate “urgently” how a single fire caused such a major disruption.
He also said, “I want to understand the broader lessons on the energy resilience of critical national infrastructure.”
Heathrow Chairman Paul Dayton said the airport will launch an internal investigation chaired by non-executive board members and former British minister Ruth Kelly.
Heathrow closed early on Friday after a fire broke out at a power engine in West London, in the West London area.
It was fully reopened Saturday morning, with Heathrow’s CEO Thomas Waldy defending the airport’s contingency plan and saying he is proud of the response to the electrical shutdown.
However, the airline had cancelled about 100 flights by the late afternoon, resumed operations with planes, crews and passengers, and faced logistical challenges scattered around the world.
Executives from some airlines have been personally annoyed by the airport’s message that they’ve recovered completely as they still cancel their flights and are dealing with marginalized passengers.
British Airways is the largest airline operator in Heathrow and is expected to cancel around 15% of its schedule with Heathrow on Saturday, which is expected to reach around 90 flights.
Both airports and the grid across the country are faced scrutiny over the possibility that a single substation breakdown could lead to Heathrow closure for nearly 24 hours.
The airport draws power from three local substations, but said it was forced to close after a fire broke out in one to reset the power and computer systems.
Akshay Kaur, director of infrastructure at the Energy Regulator of Gem, said households and businesses should be able to “have confidence in the resilience of critical national infrastructure.”
Heathrow and the government were warned a decade ago in an external report that a “significant weakness” in the airport’s utility infrastructure was “the connection of key power lines to the airport.”
A 2014 report by consulting firm Jacobs, prepared as part of a previous expansion push, said “Even a short power disruption can have long-term impacts.”
However, he concluded that “Heathrow is equipped with an on-site generation and appears to have a resilient power supply that complies with regulations and standards.”
Former BA boss and longtime Heathrow critic Willie Walsh said there had been a “clear plan failure” from the airport.
Woldbye said airport backup power supplies kicked in for important features such as runway lights and control towers, but these were not designed to power the entire airport.
“We’ll need another standby power plant on the scene… I don’t know where the airport is where it is,” he told the BBC.
“Of course, I’ll look into this and say we can learn from this. If we can’t trust that the grids around us are working the way we need, do we need a different level of resilience?”
The National Grid on Saturday said it was taking steps to improve the network’s resilience.
The FTSE 100 company owns and operates the Northhide Substation in Hayes, West London, which was lit late Thursday night.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but National Grid said power has been restored to all customers.
“We are currently implementing measures to further improve the resilience level of our network,” he said.
At Heathrow on Saturday, passengers pointed to minimal confusion.
Dana Payne, a passenger returning to Bologna, arrived at the airport six hours earlier, “just just in case” and “just just in case” but never saw it.
Heather Moore, who landed at Heathrow from Vietnam just after 7am, said she saw the news on Friday and feared that her flight would be cancelled.
“[But] In the end, everything was fine,” she said.
About 1,300 flights were cancelled on Friday, with flights already in the air either turning to the original airport or detouring to other hubs around Europe.
This has faced major challenges for airlines reopening their schedules. Many of the planes, pilots and cabin crews are in the wrong place, but many staff members are also unable to work due to strict rules regarding resting between flights.
“All these long-range aircraft, especially BA, ended up at airports that were never expected. Without the crew to pick them up, the airline would have a hard time moving the aircraft again.”
“Additional days are bumping into the next day and extra cancellations. That’s a domino effect.”
The Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorism Command in London continued its investigation into the fire at the substation, but on Friday evening the Met said it was not treating the incident as suspicious.
