The head of the UK’s National Grid has assured that there was "enough power" to keep Heathrow Airport operational on Friday, despite a fire at an electrical substation that temporarily shut down Europe’s busiest airport.
The shutdown, which lasted for most of the day, disrupted travel for thousands of passengers worldwide and sparked concerns about the reliability of vital UK infrastructure.
National Grid CEO John Pettigrew told the Financial Times on Sunday that power continued to flow to the airport via two other substations. He emphasized that the capacity from these substations remained sufficient.
“There was no lack of capacity from the substations,” he said. “Each substation on its own can provide enough power to Heathrow.”
He explained that while the loss of one substation was unusual, there were still two others in operation.
Airport officials explained that the delay in resuming operations was due to the time needed to switch to alternative substations and conduct safety checks.
“Heathrow has hundreds of critical systems that needed to be safely powered down before being rebooted in an orderly manner,” a spokesperson for the airport said. “Given Heathrow’s size and complexity, restarting operations after such a disruption posed significant challenges.”
Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye had previously stated that a backup transformer failed, requiring systems to be shut down so power could be rerouted from the remaining substations.
The UK government has called for a six-week investigation into the incident.
Approximately 1,350 flights were affected by the closure, according to Flightradar24. Around 120 planes en route to Heathrow when the shutdown occurred had to be diverted.
Fire officials confirmed the blaze, which started Thursday night, was considered "non-suspicious," with investigations focused on the electrical distribution equipment.
When asked on Monday about how Heathrow's leadership handled the situation, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander responded, “I’m not going to justify decisions made by Heathrow’s leadership.”
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