by The Downing Street said there are “questions to answer” after a fire on an electrical substation London Heathrow Airport has stopped, stopped more than 1,350 flights and disrupted the trips from hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The police police police head the investigation of the “unprecedented” incident, in which the largest airport in Great Britain could not work because the engineers tried to restore the power supply, but there is “no indication of a foul”.
Two people who were familiar with the investigation said that the officials did not believe that the fire was the result of a criminal activity or an enemy state and was more by chance. The police confirmed last night that the fire was not considered suspicious.
Related: Travel chaos when Heathrow Airport closes after the flam in an electrical substation
Heathrow was partially reopened on Friday evening and is expected to be fully functional on Saturday. However, the airlines said that the closure would continue to have a “big influence” on passengers in the coming days. The airport said that passengers should come to Heathrow on Saturday as usual.
The ministers recognized the “immense strain and disorder” caused by passengers and swugs: “We will learn the lessons”.
When asked about an investigation and whether National Grid had to answer questions, the official spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “There are questions that can be answered, how this has happened and what can be done to prevent the extent of the disorders that we have seen again as soon as the situation is under control.”
The passengers were warned to keep Heathrow away from Heathrow all day after the London fire brigade was called to fight the fire, which began on Thursday shortly after 11 p.m. in a substation in Hayes north of the airport.
More than 70 firefighters worked under the “challenging and dangerous” conditions to control the fire, said the LFB, but on Friday it was still burning at 8 a.m., and 25,000 liters of oil that had caught fire during the substation. The officials said that despite the sharp smell, there was no risk of air quality for the public.
The power supply of 67,000 houses was cut for several hours and more than 100 people were evacuated. The power supplies have now been restored to all customers, including Heathrow, so that the operation at the airport will be resumed.
More than 1,350 flights with at least 200,000 passengers should arrive from the airport on Friday and connect with around 230 destinations, including those in the USA, for which the airport acts as the main gate from Europe. Abouut 120 long -haul flights to Heathrow were in the air when the closure was announced overnight, whereby the arrivals were redirected to other airports in Great Britain and Europe.
The residents of London will be disturbed by more aircraft noises at night than normally in the coming days after lifting the transport department on night flights to facilitate the deficit.
Heathrow experienced significant disorders due to external events such as the flight control failure in August 2023 and the mass principles during the Covid crisis. The last time the airport was completely closed for a longer period of time was in December 2010 when 4,000 flights were canceled.
Senior Security and Aviation Figures expressed dismay that the world’s best airport in the world could be closed for so long because of a power failure.
The International Air Transport Association said that it was “another case in which Heathrow has settled both travelers and airlines”. Willie Walsh, General Director of IATA, added: “How does it come that the critical infrastructure without an alternative depends entirely on a single power source? If this is the case, it is a clear planning failure of the airport.”
David Omand, the former head of the government communication headquarters (GCHQ), told the BBC world with one: “In view of the importance of Heathrow, I am surprised that the entire airport had to be closed for one day.
“I think they could understand disorders while switching to alternative systems, etc., but such a complete failure over the period of a day – and who knows that the disorder may last longer – is a national embarrassment. It shouldn’t have happened.”
However, the Minister of Transport Heidi Alexander defended the airport on Friday evening and said that the “unprecedented situation” was “completely outside of Heathrow’s control”.
“You quickly got up for your resilience plan and worked closely with our emergencyers and airlines,” she said. “You have backup energy supplies, you have generators, diesel generators.
“None of this failed on this occasion, since this backup supply protect the critical key systems at the airport and do not supply the entire airport with electricity.
“I would still advise everyone who has a flight tomorrow to check in his airline before he travels to the airport. In view of the size and size of this incident, the answer was quick, although I appreciate that a very large number of people will have given immense stress and disorders.”
Heathrow managing director Thomas Woldbye apologized to “the many people who had affected their trip”. But added: “I would like to emphasize that this was an incident with great severity. It is not a small fire.”
The Metropolitan Police said that it was working with the LFB to establish the cause of the fire that continues to be examined. A spokesman said: “Although there is currently no indication of a foul, we will keep open at this time.”
The detectives prepared to record parts of the substation and their equipment in order to examine them for signs of disorders. It is assumed that the first reviews of CCTV, which cover the scope of the substation, showed nothing suspicious.
It was expected that the detectives of fighting terrorism remain in the case until an alternative explanation for the fire was created.
Alice Delahunty, President of the National Grid transmission business, said that it was “a very important and serious incident that is extremely rare in our network” and it is not possible to check “rumors and speculation” about the cause of the fire.
She added: “We are unable to keep something in or out. Our focus was on getting houses and companies back on the offer. There will be a time for a complete and thorough examination, but the focus is on restoring the power supply.”
A Heathrow spokesman said that he would first work with airlines to repatriate the passengers that were redirected to other airports in Europe. “Our priority remains the security of our passengers and those who work at the airport. As the most busy airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, so that we return to a complete and safe operation. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this incident.”
British Airways, which runs around half of all Heathrow flights, resumed long-distance services on Friday evening after the power was restored. Flights also arrived at the airport.
The managing director Sean Doyle said BA was “forced to effectively earth our flight operations”, and canceled every short distance and most long -haul flights for Friday. “Unfortunately, it will have a big impact on all of our customers who will fly with us in the coming days,” he said.
