(Bloomberg) — London’s Heathrow airport defended its handling of Friday’s unprecedented shutdown, rejecting assertions it had enough backup power to remain open after a fire knocked out the main substation supplying the hub.
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“It would not have been possible for Heathrow to operate uninterrupted,” the airport said in a statement. “Given Heathrow’s size and operational complexity, safely restarting operations after a disruption of this magnitude was a significant challenge.”
Heathrow was responding to comments over the weekend from National Grid Plc Chief Executive Officer John Pettigrew, who told the Financial Times there were enough alternative power supplies to keep the airport running.
The shutdown has led to criticism of the airport for a lack of redundancy systems and the actions of its CEO, Thomas Woldbye. He went home to sleep and left the decision to shut down flights to a deputy, The Times reported. British Airways chief Sean Doyle worked through the night into Friday to reroute flights headed to the airline’s biggest hub.
“Our decisions resulted in disruption – and for that we are sorry – and I hope that people appreciate we did it for the safety of our passengers,” Woldbye said on Monday in a LinkedIn post.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in an interview with the BBC that Heathrow’s closure was “deeply concerning” and there were questions for the airport’s bosses to answer.
“I don’t want to see an airport as important as Heathrow going down in the way it did on Friday, so I’m not comfortable with that for one second,” Starmer said.
Heathrow managed to restart a few flights late on Friday after the blackout but services remained disrupted over the weekend. By Sunday the airport was operating at close to normal levels.
For now, UK leaders and Heathrow’s airline partners said they’re waiting for more information before passing judgment on the airport’s handling of the blackout. An independent investigation by the government will look into what caused the substation fire, while Heathrow’s internal probe will review its own response to the incident.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander declined to say whether Woldbye has her full confidence, telling LBC Radio on Monday that she wants to see the results of the investigations before commenting further. Later in parliament, Alexander said she had spoken again with Woldbye on Monday.
