Heathrow boss Thomas Woldbye went back to bed to ensure that he was 'well rested' instead of working the night as a fire raged through a power sub -station, it came up last night.
He was at an event in Central London when the power went out for the first time at 11 p.m. on Thursday, returning to the airport west of the capital.
When the scale of the incident became clear, senior leaders were split into two 'golden commands'.
In the early hours of Friday it was decided that the Woldbye command group would go to bed.
His deputy Javier Echve was the management and he made the final decision to close the airport and sent a message to Air Crew at 1.44 hours.
Woldbye resumed the work by telephone at 7.30 am and was in his office in Compass House, Heathrow's Head Office shortly after 9 am.
Insiders told the Sunday Times that the decision for Woldbye to go to bed was taken on safety reasons. It was vital that the person at the top was well equipped to make clear decisions.
Sean Doyle, Chief Executive from British Airways, and Shai Weiss, the Virgin Atlantic Boss, would have worked through their head office the night.
Heathrow Baas Thomas Woldbye went back to bed to ensure that he was 'well rested' instead of working the night as a fire raged through a power sub -station
Heathrow bosses were confronted with questions about how a small fire closed one of the world's largest airports. Shown: the fire at Hayes Electrical Substation
Woldbye yesterday praised Heathrow's answer to the crisis when he told the BBC Radio 4's Today program that he was 'personally proud' with how the airport dealt with it.
Almost 300,000 passengers were hit by the Meltdown, which led to the cancellation or delay of more than 1,350 flights.
In the meantime, doorbell images have emerged from the moment that a huge fireball from nearby Power substation has broken out in heaven.
In another development it was revealed that British power bosses had claimed that a break like those who would happen to Crippled Heathrow only once every 346 years.
De Zon on Sunday reported that a National Raster Report from 2023 was calculated the general reliability of the country's offer, 99,9999997 percent.
It corresponds to the chance that a one -minute malfunction takes place once in 5.8 years and a cut of one hour once every 346 years.
The unprecedented closure of the busiest airport of Great Britain, most of the day, has exposed great vulnerability in the infrastructure of the country.
A probe in the disaster was led by police police, while sources of Westminster blame human mistakes.
About 120 transatlantic services were forced to turn around in mid-journey.
The fire that resulted in unprecedented scenes, the majority of the day of earth flights and the exposure of great vulnerability in the infrastructure of the country. Dramatic images show flames that tear through the substation while smoking waves in the night sky
Tens of thousands of travelers are still stranded today after a fire at an electricity statistics that has cut electricity to the airport. Displayed: A ravescent stranded pair at Heathrow T5
Passengers on flights from Singapore and Perth were diverted to Paris before they brought buses to London.
While eight Lange-Haul British Airways flights finally started on Friday evening, analysts criticized the airport, the busiest in Europe, because of his inability to rely on backup power.
Willie Walsh, director-general of Global Airlines Body IATA and a former head of British Airways, said Heathrow had dropped the passengers again.
“First, how is it that critical infrastructure – from national and worldwide importance – is completely dependent on a single power source without an alternative,” he said.
“If that is the case – as it seems – then it is a clear planning error of the airport.”
Phil Hewitt, director of energy analysis company Montel Group, said: 'This potential lack of resilience on a critical national and international infrastructure site is worrying.
“An airport as big and as important as Heathrow should not be vulnerable to a single failure point.”
Heathrow has its own biomass energy plant and dieselback generators, but they can only feed essential safety systems, such as lighting and starting doors.
The electricity of the airport usually comes from three substations, each with a back -up transformer.
Last night a probe in the disaster was led by the police of the fight against terrorism, while sources of Westminster blame human mistakes. Displayed: Firefighters are the rest of a fire that broke out at a substation that supplies electricity to Heathrow airport in Hayes, West -London
The smoldering northern hyde electric substation
A firefighter helps to bring a fire that broke out at a substation that supplies electricity to Heathrow airport – March 21, 2025
About 120 transatlantic services were forced to turn around in mid-journey. Passengers on flights from Singapore and Perth were diverted to Paris before they brought buses to London
In the case of the damaged North Hyde substation, in West -London, the Back -up transformer was also lost in the fire, which started shortly before midnight on Thursday.
Within a few hours, theories swirled that Sabotage, possibly even by Russia, could be the cause.
Despite the involvement of terrorophy, Scotland Yard said that “this incident did not deal with this incident, although questions continue to exist.”
“Various specialized researchers will continue to investigate the scene and it is expected to take some time before full reviews can be completed,” said a spokesperson.
The Politico website said that 'familiar with the investigation' point to an error by an electrical engineer who encouraged the fire. “It's always cock-up instead of conspiracy,” said a source.
