Heathrow closure is 'call to action' to address vulnerabilities in airport's critical infrastructure

Shutdown of ageing airport is wake-up call for bosses, aviation figures say

A passenger plane makes its landing approach to Heathrow Airport, a day after a fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out power at the airport. Reuters

The shutdown of London Heathrow Airport will affect the global aviation industry for days after its reopening on Saturday, raising concerns about weak points in its critical infrastructure and serving as a call to action to address these vulnerabilities.

The closure of Heathrow on Friday, after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out its power, will cost “tens of millions of dollars”, with airlines bearing the brunt of that cost, analysts say.

“We estimate that some 240,000 passengers were travelling to and from the airport [on Friday], or at least planned to travel. If you assume a proportion of those will just not travel and instead rebook for another trip or completely cancel, then perhaps half are going to have to find alternate means of travel. For the airlines, this is likely to runs into tens of millions of dollars and that’s before they count the cost of recovering their operation to a full programme,” John Grant, senior analyst at OAG, told The National.

“For Heathrow Airport, the losses will be high but clearly not as high as to the airlines."

Airlines will be the “hardest hit” with the combination of lost revenue and recovery costs, Mr Grant added.

The public backlash against the power cut at Europe's busiest airport was swift. Willie Walsh, the director general of International Air Transport Association (Iata) and former chief executive of British Airways' parent company IAG, said the incident is “yet another case of Heathrow letting down both travellers and airlines”.

Mr Walsh questioned whether the critical infrastructure – of national and global importance – is completely dependent on a single power source without an alternative.

“If that is the case – as it seems – then it is a clear planning failure by the airport,” he said.

That raises the question of who bears the costs of taking care of disrupted travellers.

“We must find a fairer allocation of passenger care costs than airlines alone picking up the tab when infrastructure fails. Until that happens, Heathrow has very little incentive to improve,” Mr Walsh said.

Greg Raiff, the chief executive of Utah-based charter and management company Elevate Aviation group, said that the economic impact of Heathrow's shutdown represents “hundreds of millions” of dollars to the airline industry.

“The loss of 1,200 flights a day at the world’s fourth busiest airport is a real throat punch to airline operators and businesses who are dependent on the worldwide aviation infrastructure at the worst possible time,” Mr Raiff said. “These airlines face enormous fixed costs – the loss of revenue will impact the global economy in ways that we haven't seen since the pandemic.”

London Heathrow Airport will be closed throughout Friday after an enormous fire at the nearby Hayes electricity substation caused a power failure. PA

'Heathrow is experiencing a significant power cut,' the airport said on X on Friday. AFP

British Airways planes on the tarmac as Heathrow is shut. Reuters

Passengers whose flights were cancelled find their way out of the airport, through unlit stairs with the elevators not working, at Heathrow Terminal 4. AP

An empty check-in hall at Heathrow. EPA

A notice in the London Underground station at Terminal 5. EPA

Trollies in the unlit car park at Heathrow. AP

Stranded passengers at Heathrow. PA

Firefighters attend the scene at the electric substation in Hayes. Getty Images

A stranded passenger at Terminal 5 of Heathrow. PA

Traffic is diverted outside Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Reuters

A motorway sign shows that the UK's busiest airport is closed. AP

A traveller continues his journey on foot near Terminal 5. Reuters

Police officers and firefighters near the scene at the substation in Hayes. AFP

Firefighters douse the flames at the substation. AFP

Firefighters in Hayes. AFP

A departure board shows a Singapore Airlines flight to Heathrow as cancelled, at Singapore Changi Airport. AFP

A departure board shows an Air Portugal flight to Heathrow as cancelled, at Singapore Changi Airport. AFP

A screenshot showing Heathrow Airport and aircraft clustered at Gatwick Airport, to the south of London. Photo: Flightradar24

Days-long impact to clear backlogs

Analysts say the incident is unprecedented and the scale of disruption could take at least three to five days before normal operations are fully restored.

“Unfortunately, airlines will already have full flights over the weekend so reaccommodating those displaced passengers can take quite some time,” Mr Grant said.

It will be even more challenging to restore long-haul flight operations to normal, as aircraft and crew are displaced, aviation consultant John Strickland told The National.

“Long-haul aircraft are out of position, many had returned to their origin point, others to divert to other airports in the UK, Europe and other parts of the world. The challenge once a long-haul aircraft is diverted with its crew, particularly if it's to a non-base airport for an airline where there are no other crew available, then time has to be spent waiting for the crew to have their legally-required rest period after a period of duty,” he said.

This outage will prompt stakeholders across the travel, trade, and tourism ecosystem to question not only the airport’s contingency capabilities, but also its transparency and accountability in crisis response

Anita Mendiratta,
adviser to the UNWTO secretary-general

This means it will take some additional time for available aircraft and crews to return to Heathrow Airport, he added.

Besides the financial toll, the reputational cost to Heathrow is even more complex and long-lasting, Anita Mendiratta, adviser to the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), told The National.

“LHR is not simply a transit hub, it is a symbol of UK connectivity, reliability and global stature. In a world where trust is a currency, especially in aviation, this power cut will prompt stakeholders across the travel, trade, and tourism ecosystem to question not only the airport’s contingency capabilities, but also its transparency and accountability in crisis response,” Ms Mendiratta said.

“Reputation is not rebuilt when the lights come back on. It is rebuilt when confidence is restored, passenger by passenger, partner by partner.”

Fire in west London shuts down Britain's Heathrow Airport

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Infrastructure concerns

Industry experts say Heathrow's shutdown points to weaknesses in its power supply and critical infrastructure systems, raising questions about the robustness of its contingency planning.

“The incident has revealed serious questions about infrastructure reliance and resilience. LHR’s reliance on a single power source – with insufficient redundancy or functional backup – made the system vulnerable," Ms Mendiratta said.

The airport in 2023 developed a new energy strategy, including the use of more renewable energy, in line with the UK's net-zero 2050 plans.

“We have set out how we will provide the renewable energy we need, when we need it, while protecting the resilience of our energy network and maintaining affordability,” Heathrow said in its latest annual report.

Nevertheless, the power cut “has underscored the urgent need for more robust, decentralised, and fail-safe infrastructure investments”, Ms Mendiratta said.

As the lights come back on and runways reawaken, this LHR incident must be treated not simply as a power failure, but as a call to action

Anita Mendiratta,
advisor to the UNWTO

“As the lights come back on and runways reawaken, this LHR incident must be treated not simply as a power failure, but as a call to action. Extraordinary incidents are increasing in severity and frequency … plans must be put in place within airport and airline emergency operations centres that place equal emphasis on system integrity, stakeholder transparency, and above all, the well-being of those the airport serves – passengers, cargo partners, and communities alike.”

However, Heathrow said that as an energy consumer on the scale of a small city, it could not possibly have backup power for all its operations.

Diesel generators and emergency power supplies “all operated as expected” but were only designed to allow for safe landing and evacuation, not to run the whole airport, Heathrow said. It said it would “take time” to restore power to all affected areas.

The fire late on Thursday at a nearby electrical substation cut off the power supply to Heathrow, bringing flights to a halt for most of Friday. While backup systems kicked in, they only allow the airport to land some aircraft and evacuate passengers, but not to support full operations.

Europe's air safety agency EASA mandates that airports have redundancy of safety-critical systems that are sufficient to allow aircraft to land safely and, in an emergency situation, to evacuate if needed, Mr Strickland said.

“Minimal systems to do that are certainly not sufficient to run an entire airport. If you think about the myriad systems in an airport – ranging from those safety – critical ones through to passenger services, lighting, public toilets, restaurants and catering outlets. It's an extremely complicated piece of infrastructure to provide power to and to the many partners using the power at the airport,” he said.

"Such an event is quite rare and however hard an airport or any business plans for such events, you cannot second guess what will really happen,” Mr Grant said.

“Heathrow does have backup processes in place but the extremity of the power cut has caught the airport out and their customers who will be looking for reassurances going forward around better processes and resilience.”

The incident comes as Heathrow receives permission from the UK government to build a third runway, an idea that has been under consideration for decades, in a bid to increase passenger numbers and compete with major international hubs such as those in the Gulf and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Travel insurance claims increase

While airlines struggle with restoring flight operations to Heathrow and help passengers reach their destination, Heathrow's closure will mean that insurers will face an increase in claims.

Travel insurance claims will cost the industry “tens of millions of dollars” but will remain “manageable”, according to a report by Chicago-based research company Morningstar.

Trip cancellation, trip interruption and trip delay will be the coverages mostly affected by this incident, it said.

Travel insurers will face a “sharp spike” in claims handling for weeks, creating operational strain, it added.

“The Heathrow Airport incident will likely trigger a sharp and sudden increase in travel insurance claims related to trip delays, cancellations, and disrupted connections. For insurers, the financial exposure could be considerable,” said Marcos Alvarez, managing director of Global Financial Institution Ratings.

“The relatively low contribution of the travel insurance business to overall revenue will help mitigate the impact on insurance groups' credit profiles.”

However, this incident could cause a “temporary increase” in the cost of travel insurance and/or the restriction of certain coverages, particularly for travel involving critical air hubs, Mr Alvarez added.

Travel insurer InsureMyTrip said that buying third-party travel insurance plans can help passengers get reimbursed for non-refundable expenses such as prepaid hotels, tours, or event tickets, that are not covered by airline refund rules.

“Non-airfare expenses are still at risk: Accommodations, tours, transportation, and other prepaid trip costs can still be lost in cases of trip cancellation, delays, or emergencies. These elements often make up 60 per cent to 80 per cent of the total trip cost,” Meghan Walch, InsureMyTrip director of product, told The National.

Travel insurance offers “protection for the vast majority of non-flight-related trip costs associated with the Heathrow travel chaos”.