A fire at an electrical substation in west London caused a major power outage at Heathrow Airport on Friday, forcing the UK’s busiest airport to close for most of the day. More than 1,300 flights were affected, and thousands of passengers were rearranged to France, Netherlands, and UK other airports disrupting passengers and cargo shipments worldwide.
The blaze broke out at the North Hyde substation in Hayes, about 1.5 miles from the airport, at 23:23 GMT on Thursday. London Fire Brigade reported the fire involved a transformer containing 25,000 liters of cooling oil and was brought under control by 06:28 Friday morning.
Power Restoration and Flight Operations
Heathrow announced Friday afternoon that they would “restart” some flights after National Grid found an “interim solution” to restore power. The airport said it hoped “to run a full operation” on Saturday. Passengers were advised not to travel to the airport unless their airline specifically instructed them to do so.
Investigation Underway
Counter-terrorism police are investigating the incident, though Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander stated there was “no suggestion of foul play.” The London Fire Brigade later confirmed the fire was “believed to be non-suspicious” and the investigation will focus on the electrical distribution equipment.
Infrastructure Resilience Questions
The incident has raised serious questions about the resilience of critical UK infrastructure. Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, called the shutdown a “clear planning failure,” asking how such crucial infrastructure could be “totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative.”
Backup Power Systems
Heathrow does have multiple sources of energy, including backup diesel generators and uninterruptable power supplies. A Heathrow source told the BBC these systems “all operated as expected” during the outage. However, these backup systems are not sufficient to run the entire airport, which uses as much energy as a small city.
Energy analysts have expressed concern that Heathrow appears to be connected to only one National Grid substation through the local distribution network, creating a “single point of failure” for critical infrastructure. The situation is particularly concerning for such a vital international transport hub.
As an infrastructure facility of global importance, the lack of adequate backup power systems or energy storage solutions at Heathrow seems inconceivable. The airport’s vulnerability to a single power source failure has prompted calls for improved infrastructure resilience standards across the UK.