UK’s Heathrow chief stands firm amid power crisis, flight chaos

London Heathrow’s CEO, Thomas Woldbye, defended the airport's handling of the chaos caused by a fire at an electrical substation that resulted in a major power outage and disrupted hundreds of flights.

The fire, which broke out on March 20 night at a nearby electrical station, left Europe’s busiest airport at a standstill on March 21, leading to more than 1,000 flight cancellations and affecting tens of thousands of travelers, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

In an interview, Woldbye expressed pride in how the airport’s team responded to the crisis. "I’m proud of what the people did to get us out of the situation," he said, highlighting the efforts made to restore operations. 

He also clarified that the fire occurred outside the airport, and they were forced to address the consequences. “I don’t know an airport that has back-up supply that can switch on in minutes to the magnitude of what we experienced yesterday. The same would happen in other airports,” Woldbye added, suggesting that such a situation would have affected any airport in similar circumstances. Despite Woldbye’s defense, Heathrow faced sharp criticism from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which blamed the airport for what it called a “clear planning failure.”

IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, criticized the airport’s reliance on a single power source, asking how Heathrow could be “totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative.” Walsh labeled the incident as yet another example of Heathrow "letting down both travelers and airlines." 

The airport, which had begun returning to normal operations on March 22, continued to face delays and cancellations. The power outage marked one of the largest disruptions to air travel in recent years, as passengers were left stranded or faced significant travel setbacks.

Asked whether he should remain in his role following the disruption, Woldbye responded, “I’ll let others judge that if they think that’s an issue.” As of March 22, Heathrow officials continued to work on restoring full operations, but the incident has raised significant questions about the airport’s infrastructure and contingency planning moving forward.

By Naila Huseynova