Heathrow plunged into chaos after massive power cut halts flights for almost a day. A fire at a substation in Hayes sparked the outage, grounding Europe’s busiest airport and disrupting 200,000 passengers.
Government Orders Full Probe
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has tasked the National Energy System Operator (Neso) with leading a swift investigation under the Energy Act. Officials aim to uncover how the failure happened and boost energy resilience for vital national infrastructure.
“We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned,” Miliband said. “The Government is committed to doing everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow.”
Neso is expected to deliver initial findings within six weeks, reporting to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Ofgem.
Heathrow Launches Its Own Review
Alongside the government inquiry, Heathrow has launched a separate internal review into its crisis response. Former Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly – an independent board member – will lead the investigation.
“We are committed to finding any potential learnings from this unprecedented incident,” said Heathrow Chairman Lord Paul Deighton. “I have asked Ruth Kelly to undertake a thorough review of our response.”
A Heathrow spokesperson apologised for the disruption caused by the power cut and confirmed flights are now back to full schedule.
Power Outage Sparks Havoc
The nightmare began Thursday night when a fire broke out at the North Hyde substation in Hayes. This caused a blackout affecting Heathrow and nearby homes, prompting the evacuation of over 100 people.
Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye revealed that a backup transformer also failed, causing automatic safety shutdowns and leaving just two substations to power what he called a “mid-sized city.”
Counter-terrorism police initially probed the incident, but it’s now being treated as non-suspicious, with the London Fire Brigade investigating the electrical equipment.
Passenger Fallout and Recovery
The outage left around 200,000 travellers stranded, with cancelled flights and missed connections. Heathrow eased overnight flight restrictions temporarily to clear the backlog.
Handling over 83.9 million passengers in 2024, Heathrow is Europe’s vital transport hub. This incident has reignited urgent debates over ageing infrastructure and the need to safeguard essential services.
Travellers are urged to check flight updates and arrive early as investigations continue.
