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Airlines warned Heathrow airport of concerns about the resilience of its electricity supply days before a power failure causes the most frequented airport in the United Kingdom and hundreds of canceled flights, deputies heard.
Heathrow closed its doors on March 21 after a solid fire in an nearby electrical substation caused a drop in power at the airport, which led to the cancellation of more than 1,300 flights. The airport did not completely reopen for more than 24 hours.
“I was in fact warned Heathrow of the concerns we had with regard to substations, my concern was resilience,” said Nigel Wicking, managing director of Heathrow AOC on Wednesday, which represents the airlines that use the airport.
Wicking told the deputies that he had raised his concerns for the first time on March 15, following “some wire and cable flight incidents around part of the diet which, on an occasion, released a track for a while”.
Thomas WOLDBYE, CEO of Heathrow, apologized for the disruption of airlines and passengers. “The situation was unprecedented and we recognize the considerable concern and disadvantages it caused,” he said.
WoldBye insisted on the fact that the airport had no choice but to close security land, but said that the airport would examine if it could have reopened certain terminals faster.
“I am absolutely determined to make sure we learn,” he added.
National GRID, which operates the UK high-voltage transmission network, said Power had always been available at the airport of two other nearby substations, which have not been affected by fire.
The delay in the reopening of the airport was caused by the fact that Heathrow engineers had to reconfigure its power to take the electricity of the other two substations, which took approximately 10 hours, said Woldbye.
He insisted that Heathrow had “contracted resilient configuration”, which includes “backup processors [and] In addition to the airport from three different substations ”.
“There is a question on which resilience is,” he added.
