It is pronounced “Don’t travel to Heathrow Airport” at a metro station in central London on March 21, 2025.
Jaimi Joy | Bloomberg | Getty Images
According to the UK, it was strong enough to open on Friday after the London hub closed most of the day due to a fire at a nearby electric material. National Grid.
Heathrow – Europe’s busiest airport – closed last week after a fire broke out at a nearby power substation.
In a comment first reported by the Financial Times, National Grid CEO John Pettigrew said the substation in question had been damaged by a “unprecedented” fire, but the other two who powered Heathrow were operating normally throughout the day.
“There was no shortage of capacity from the substation,” he said. “Individual dispersion can provide enough power to Heathrow.”
National Grid, a publicly available company, owns high voltage power transmission networks in England and Wales. The company confirmed Pettigrew’s comments with CNBC in an email Monday.
However, a Heathrow spokesman argued that it was impossible for Heathrow to operate uninterruptedly after the fire last week.
“As John Pettigrew, CEO of National Grid, pointed out, he has never seen a transformer breakdown like this in his 30 years in the industry,” they said in an email on Monday. “Hundreds of critical systems across the airport had to be safely powered up and rebooted safely and systematically. Given the size and operational complexity of Heathrow, safely resuming operations after this magnitude of disruption was a critical issue.”
Speaking to the BBC on Saturday, Heathrow CEO Thomas Waldy defended the airport’s response to what he labeled as a “major incident.”
“We have other substations, but switching between them takes time,” he said. “This situation wasn’t created at Heathrow Airport, it was created outside the airport and the consequences had to be addressed.”
Heathrow ordered an internal investigation into the closure and its crisis management plan, but the UK government commissioned its own investigation into the incident.
More than 1,300 flights were scheduled to take off or arrive from Heathrow on Friday, according to news agency Reuters. More than 120 people who were already in the air when Heathrow was closed have been decoupled to other airports or returned to the departure city. The confusion is widely expected to cost airlines millions of dollars.
As things unfolded on Friday, European travel and leisure stocks saw extensive sales. British Airways Owner IAG It will flow about 1.9% of its value Luftansa Lost 1.7% EasyJet It fell by almost 1%. Stocks in many regional airlines lowered Friday’s trading session despite recovering from deeper losses seen earlier in the session.
On Monday, European travel and leisure stocks traded about 0.4% higher, IAG rose 0.9%, and Luftansa rose 0.3% by 1:20pm in London.
In a statement Friday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – a trade organisation representing 340 airlines collectively accounting for 80% of the world’s air traffic — denounced Heathrow’s response to substation fires.
“This is another case of Heathrow disappointing both travelers and airlines,” said IATA Director Willie Walsh. “The critical infrastructure of national and global importance is that it completely relies on a single power source with no alternatives. As it is, it is a clear failure of the airport’s planning.”
Walsh added that the incident raised questions about who should bear the costs of caring for confused travelers.
“We need to find a fair allocation of passenger care costs rather than just airlines picking up tabs when infrastructure fails,” he said.
Oxford Economics Tourism Economics expert Stephen Rooney estimated the Friday closure would translate to £4.5 million ($5.82 million) of UK tourism revenue losses, but Jonathan Owens, senior lecturer in operations and supply chain management at Salford University’s business school, said it had an economic impact on CNBC on Monday.
“The costs associated with detouring flights to alternative airports are important in both financial implications and logistical challenges,” he said in an email.
“Flights decoupled to other airports will need to cover additional fuel, air traffic control services and airport charges. Passengers affected by flight decoupling or cancellations are very likely to seek compensation for hotel accommodation, meals and taxis, which all come at the cost of the airline.”
