Heathrow bosses were warned about potential substation errors, just a few days before the airport was forced to close a day after a fire caused a major power outage, MPs were told.
Nigel Wicking, the Chief Executive of the Heathrow Airline operators committee, told the MPs of the transport committee that there were a 'few incidents' that made him delivered – including the lights on a runway that was removed.
On March 21, Heathrow was immersed in chaos after a devastating electric fire had forced the busiest airport in the UK to close for the day.
About the trips of around 270,000 passengers were disturbed after the most important electric substation of the airport exploded and was less than two miles away in the suburb of Hayes in West London.
Heathrow is supplied by three substations, but switching off one caused a huge power outage at the airport.
The impact of the fire of a single power source has asked questions about Heathrow's resilience and disaster plans, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer who said he was 'deeply worried'.
Mr Wicking told the Transport Select Committee that he spoke with the Heathrow Director Team on 15 March about his concerns, and the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Customer Officer on March 19.
He said, “I had really warned Heathrow about worries we had with regard to the substations and my concern was resilience.”
Mr Wicking, head of the body that represents more than 90 airlines using Heathrow, explained: 'It followed a few incidents of, unfortunately, theft of wire and cable around a part of the food that the lights made on the landing job for a period of time.
Nigel Wicking (photo), the Chief Executive of the Heathrow Airline Operators' Committee, told MPs of the Transport Committee that there were a 'pair of incidents' so he was worried
Heathrow bosses were warned about potential substation errors, just a few days before the airport was forced to close a day due to a major power outage, his parliamentary members told. Shown: the fire at Hayes Electrical Substation
The smoldering northern hydeelectric substation that caused a power outage at Heathrow
“That made me clearly worried and as such I increased the point that I wanted to better understand the overall resilience of the airport.”
Mr Wicking said he believed that the Terminal 5 of Heathrow could have been ready to receive repatriation flights through 'late morning' on the day of the closure, and that 'there was also an opportunity to get flights out'.
But Heathrow Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye said that opening the airport would have been 'disastrous' during the failure.
He said to the committee: 'It became quite clear that we could not safely serve the airport in this process quite early, and that is why we closed the airport.
'If we hadn't done that, thousands of passengers would have been stranded at the airport with a high risk of personal injury, determined roads around the airport, because do not forget 65,000 houses and other institutions.
'Traffic lights did not work, just to give you an example, many things did not work. Parts of the civil infrastructure did not work.
“So the risk of having literally stranded tens of thousands of people at the airport, where we could not place them anywhere, we could not process them, would have been a disastrous scenario.”
On March 21, Heathrow was immersed in chaos after a devastating electric fire had forced the busiest airport in the UK to close for the day
Displayed: Firefighters are the rest of a fire that broke out at a substation that supplies electricity to Heathrow airport in Hayes, West -London
Mr. Woldbye said the committee that the substation that caught fire, was 'by far the largest' that served the airport, with a capacity of 70 megawatts.
Asked if some terminals from the airport could have reopened earlier, he said: “The fact that the lights were switched on in Terminal 5, which is completely correct, does not mean that the terminal was operational.
“We didn't have all CCTV, we had no fire surveillance. The fire brigade systems would work … but the fire monitoring systems of the airport (were), so we didn't know where the systems were up and safe.
“Everything that had to be protected before we started operation.”
Mr Woldbye added: 'I can't guarantee you if T5 could have opened an hour earlier.
“We have done everything we can to open it as quickly as possible, because we fully understand the concern of the airlines about getting repatriated flights, fully understand repatriated passengers and getting flights there.”
Mr Woldbye said that the airport has contracts with energy company Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks for 'resilient Power Set-Up', and 'we must rely on the contracts we have'.
A firefighter helps to bring a fire that broke out at a substation that supplies electricity to Heathrow airport – March 21, 2025
He added: 'Do we have to have further resilience? But that of course comes with a very high costs, and that is the discussion we need with airlines, because we cannot make any investments without having airlines (agree with them). '
Mr Wicking replied: 'We already pay enough for Heathrow. I don't feel that we have to pay more for further resilience.
“The resilience should have been there in the first place, to be honest.”
Asked by the committee whether the estimated 10 o'clock it would take to take care of Heathrow again, sounded resilient, Mr Woldbye said: 'I think under an event like this, which is just as unlikely as described, that is the resilience that is there. That is the playbook that is appropriate. '
Mr. Woldbye said the committee that there was 'not endless, seamless switching for everything at the airport' and that bosses 'were still at a stage where we did not know why it happened'.
Mr Wicking said: “Ten hours for me were too long, and actually the time needed to make the decision to enter the 10 -hour process too long.”
An investigation into the fire and the malfunction was ordered by the government, whereby the first findings had to be provided within six weeks.
