Heathrow Power Outage Sparks Investigations into Airport Shutdown

A fire at a substation caused a 24-hour closure at Heathrow, affecting 200,000 passengers, as debates over crisis management and infrastructure resilience continue.

A fire at the North Hyde substation in Hayes on March 21 caused a significant power outage at Heathrow Airport, leading to its 24-hour closure.
The National Grid stated that Heathrow had sufficient power from two remaining substations, raising questions about the necessity of the shutdown.
Heathrow cited safety concerns and the need to reconfigure internal power systems as reasons for the closure, despite the available power supply.
The UK government, Heathrow, and the London Fire Brigade have launched investigations into the incident and the airport's crisis response, with initial findings expected within six weeks.
The closure disrupted over 1,300 flights and affected 200,000 passengers, with airlines criticizing Heathrow's handling of the situation and its reliance on limited power sources.