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The Heathrow chief executive was unable to close while the airport was closed in March as it was closed due to a massive blackout, according to an internal review of the incident that caused a massive trip disruption.
Thomas Waldy expressed “deep regret” about not reaching the night of March 20th and 21st, the report said Wednesday, with his deputy Javier Echebe taking the decision to close the UK hub airport due to a power outage that was stopped due to a fire at a nearby power engine.
The closure has cancelled more than 1,300 flights, scattering planes, crews and passengers around the world, raising questions about the resilience of UK infrastructure.
According to a review by Ruth Kelly, a Heathrow board member and former traffic secretary, Echave tried to contact Woldbye “several times” early on March 21, but an alarm was also sent to him.
“His phone was on his bedside table, but Woldbye reported that he would not warn him on the F24 alarm or Echave’s other phones because the phone went into silent mode.
“Mr. Woldbye was first aware of the incident at about 6:45am on March 21st and received a report from Mr. Echave. [ . . . ] Woldbye expressed to us that he deeply regrets not being able to contact us the night of the incident. ”
The report found Woldbye’s absence “doesn’t affect” the decision made overnight, adding that it is within Echave’s authority to close the airport.
However, Heathrow recommended that you consider improving contact with executives during important incidents, including the possibility of naming them as “second point of contact.”
The incident prompted extensive questions that a fire at one substation in Hayes, west London, could cause so much confusion.
The airport closed at 1:15am on Friday, March 21st and did not reopen completely until 4:30am on Saturday, March 22nd.
Overall, this review concluded that it was correct for Heathrow to decide to close the airport around 90 minutes after power has been reduced. The move is described as “essential to protect people’s safety and security.”
It also approved the airport’s decision to fully extend the closure the next day. “We might have had the opportunity to open parts of the airport a little earlier,” he pointed out that this would have only been for a few hours.
“Leadership gave us important strategic direction at the right time. …Heathrow’s responses resulted in a collection of outcomes that allowed operations to resume efficiently,” Kelly said.
Nevertheless, she recommended that airports check the supply of backups and prioritize the authorities “engagement with airline partners” and the need for investment to make the airport more resilient.
Police said there was no evidence of it being suspected, but the underlying cause of the North Hyde substation fire has not been determined yet.
An interim report by the National Energy System operator, issued earlier this month, said that a fire caused the cooling oil in one of the transformers at the substation and was automatically cut off. The backup transformer first kicked in as designed, but then disconnected.
