Heathrow CEO Grilled by U.K. Transport Committee

The CEO of London Heathrow Airport, Thomas Woldbye, together with representatives from the National Grid and power provider SSE, were called to appear before the Transport Select Committee to explain the events that led to the full closure of one of the busiest airports in Europe for the entire day on Friday, March 21.

During the night between March 20 and March 21 a fire broke out in an electrical substation in Hayes, north of Heathrow, critically affecting the power supply to the airport and therefore leading to the extraordinary decision to completely shut down the airport.

Eventually, a few long-haul flights were operated on Friday evening, and traffic was gradually brought back to normal on Saturday, but approximately 300,000 passengers in the United Kingdom and abroad were affected by the incident, which effectively grounded resident airline British Airways, one of the largest carriers in the world.

The British newspaper The Independent estimated the total cost to airlines at approximately £100m ($131m) in lost revenue and passenger care expenses.

Committee Had Already Expressed Concerns

The chief executive for the Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee (HOAC), Nigel Wicking, was present at the hearing and was very critical towards Heathrow Airport’s management of the situation and the incident.

According to Mr. Wicking, during the weeks leading to the incident, thefts of cables and wires around the airport led to one of the runways losing its lighting, and this posed the issue of resilience for the airport. The concerns were relayed to the Team Heathrow director on March 15, six days before the fire, and both the CEO and the CCO of Heathrow Airport had been made aware of these concerns on March 19, two days before the fire, the BBC reports.

Woldbye stated that the extent of the outage prevented the airport from operating safely therefore, the closure was unavoidable. He called the situation “unprecedented” and, while offering his “deepest regrets” and his “sincerest apologies” to the passengers affected, defended the decision to shut down the airport and the length of the shutdown to protect the safety of everyone involved.

Aircraft lining up for departure out of London Heathrow Airport. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | James Dinsdale)

The construction of a full resilience system for Heathrow Airport that would allow the operations to continue even after such an incident is considered “very high,” Woldbye stated, and this would in turn increase charges and fees for the operating airlines that are already paying some of the highest airport fees in the world. But the HOAC is already expecting a resilient airport, considering the price tag attached to operating from it, and more accurate information on recovery time when a critical incident like this occurs.

Wicking questioned the need to maintain the full closure of the airport for almost the entire day of March 21: “In terms of Terminal 5, my understanding from both British Airways but also on the day, was that pretty much everything was fine to operate by mid-morning, by 10 o’clock,” the BBC reported.

Expansion Power Struggles

Heathrow Airport has been trying to obtain permission to expand with a third runway for the best part of three decades in order to keep up with increasing traffic demand. It is one of the most coveted destinations by airlines around the world, and it is currently at full capacity with two parallel independent runways.

According to Woldbye, expansion plans would require Heathrow to double its power needs, and the HOAC estimates the cost could be between £40bn and £60bn (between $52bn and $78bn), and this cost would be passed on to the airlines and eventually to passengers in terms of higher fees.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Vanni Gibertini

Vanni fell in love with commercial aviation during his undergraduate studies in Statistics at the University of Bologna, when he prepared his thesis on the effects of deregulation on the U.S. and European aviation markets. Then he pursued his passion further by obtaining a Master’s Degree in Air Transport Management at Cranfield University in the U.K. followed by holding several management positions at various start-up carriers in Europe (Jet2, SkyEurope, Silverjet). After moving to Canada, he was Business Development Manager for IATA for nine years before turning to his other passion: sports writing.

Latest posts by Vanni Gibertini (see all)

• Livery of the Week: Copa Partners With the MLB - April 4, 2025
• Heathrow CEO Grilled by U.K. Transport Committee - April 3, 2025
• Virgin Atlantic Posts Highest-Ever Profits - April 1, 2025