Europe’s busiest airport, London’s Heathrow, will be closed for the entire day Friday, sparking travel chaos, after a fire at an electrical substation cut power to the area.
Heathrow advised passengers not to travel to the airport and to contact airlines for further instructions, saying in a statement on social media that no flights would be landing or taking off until at least “23h59 on 21 March.”
Around 1,300 flights arrive or depart from Heathrow each day, meaning thousands of travelers will be affected.
What happened at Heathrow airport?
A fire broke out Thursday night at an electrical substation in Nestles Avenue in Hayes, which is less than 5 kilometers from Heathrow.
Around 70 firefighters and 10 fire engines were working to douse the fire at the substation, which authorities said was under control on Friday morning. The fire caused a power outage affecting a large number of homes, local businesses and Heathrow airport.
Around 150 people were evacuated from the surrounding area and a 200-meter cordon established. The fire brigade advised local residents to keep windows and doors locked to keep smoke out of their homes.
By Friday morning, power had been restored to 62,000 customers, with 4,900 currently without electricity, the National Grid said in a statement.
Who is affected?
Heathrow is Europe’s — and the U.K.’s — busiest airport, handling over 1,300 take offs and landings a day.
According to flight tracking site Flightradar24, 1,351 flights were scheduled at Heathrow on Friday. Many of them will now either be canceled altogether, or diverted to other airports, throwing thousands of passengers’ travel plans into chaos. Heathrow also acts as a major worldwide hub for passengers flying onward to other destinations.
The Heathrow closure is likely to have knock-on effects for several days, even after the airport reopens.
Heathrow warned of “significant disruption” to travel over the coming days, and told passengers not to attempt to travel to the airport “under any circumstances” until it reopens.
Was it sabotage?
The cause of the fire is not yet known, the London Fire Brigade said in a statement.
But questions have been raised about Heathrow’s emergency preparedness and resilience.
“It’s very unusual” for an accident like this “to have such a big impact,” said Professor Zheng Lei, chair of Swinburne University’s Department of Aviation.
We “don’t really understand the details of the situation,” he said, adding he was unwilling to speculate on the cause. “But I can tell you it’s a very unusual event.”
The Times and the Telegraph newspapers reported Friday that specialist counter-terror detectives are on site to examine whether sabotage played a part in the fire. “It is understood that this is a precautionary measure rather than an indication of foul play,” the Times reported.
A spokesperson for London’s Metropolitan Police said there was “no indication of foul play” but detectives “retain an open mind” over the cause.
The spokesperson said: “We are working with the London Fire Brigade to establish the cause of the fire which remains under investigation. While there is currently no indication of foul play we retain an open mind at this time.
“Given the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is now leading enquiries.
“This is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause.”
What’s the U.K. government response?
The response to the fire will pull in multiple parts of the British state.
British Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is being updated on what she has called a “fast-moving” situation at the airport, and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has held talks with National Grid, which focuses on electricity transmission and distribution in the U.K.
“There’s obviously been a catastrophic fire at this substation, an unprecedented event actually in their experience,” Miliband told the BBC on Friday morning. “It appears to have knocked out a back-up generator as well as the substation itself. What I know is that they are working as hard as they can to restore power as well as the fire being put out.”
Miliband added on Sky: “There was a backup generator, but that was also affected by the fire, which gives a sense of how unusual or unprecedented it was. There is a third backup — a second backup if you like — which they are seeking to use to restore power. So there are back up mechanisms in place but given the scale of this fire the back up mechanisms seem to have been affected.”
Britain has dealt with similar large-scale air travel disruption before. When the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland in 2010, the resulting ash cloud caused Europe-wide travel chaos. Then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown convened the government’s emergency COBRA crisis committee, which can pull the disparate strands of the British machine together to try to coordinate a response.
Asked Friday if the government will make a similar move, Miliband said: “I’m sure the government will be convening in the most appropriate way. I’m not going to anticipate the precise form of that, but I’m already in touch with my colleagues on this issue.”
What is the aviation sector saying?
The closure of Heathrow drew the ire of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an airline lobby, which accused the British hub of being unprepared for the emergency.
“This is yet another case of Heathrow letting down both travelers and airlines,” Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, said in a statement, asking “some serious questions” about the airport’s management.
“Firstly, how is it that critical infrastructure — of national and global importance — is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative?” asked Walsh. “If that is the case — as it seems — then it is a clear planning failure by the airport.”
The lobby chief also questioned “who bears the costs of taking care of disrupted travelers,” noting that “we must find a fairer allocation of passenger care costs than airlines alone picking up the tab when infrastructure fails.”
Canceled flights are a blow to airlines, which must help stranded passengers with meals, transfers and accommodations — even if the fire is an extraordinary circumstance that exempts them from compensating travelers.
But, according to Olivier Jankovec, director general of the airport lobby ACI Europe, “the operational impact on other European airports resulting from the temporary closure of Heathrow tends to be limited, with the resulting surplus of traffic volumes being thus far smoothly absorbed.”
What about trade?
The disruption — especially if it goes on for days — could also have “far-reaching impacts” for international trade, according to Marco Forgione, director general of the Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade, pointing out that Heathrow is the “U.K.’s largest freight hub by value.”
“Essential goods due to be delivered and leave will now face days of disruption, and because it’s air freight a lot of the goods are time sensitive. Even once flights recommence planes, crew and products will all be in the wrong place,” he added.
Ben Farrell, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply said the disruption would take “days, if not weeks to unpick and leave goods, crew and planes out of sync.”
“Supply chains work on a just-in-time basis and the whole operation is meticulously planned to ensure goods enter and exit the country in a timely fashion,” he added.
“With diversions in place and the airport shut for at least another day we will see millions of pounds worth of goods out of place leading to added costs for businesses.”
Despite the disruption, Josh Fenton, a policy manager at Logistics UK, a business group representing the logistics companies, insisted the industry was “flexible and adaptable and there will already be plans in place to reroute deliveries in the short term via other European airports and ports onto road to maintain supplies.”
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