Heathrow Airport came back online Saturday after a power station fire messed up travel plans for thousands. The airport said everything was working again, but travelers should expect delays and canceled flights as the busiest airport in Europe tries to catch up. A fire at an electricity substation cut all power to the London airport on Friday, forcing it to close most of the day. Some planes started landing and taking off by evening, but the shutdown left thousands of travelers stuck worldwide.
Many people are asking hard questions about how such an important part of UK infrastructure could fail so completely. An airport spokesperson announced Saturday morning that Heathrow had reopened completely. Airport staff members were working hard to help all the passengers whose plans were messed up by yesterday's power failure at the off-site electrical station. The tracking website Flightradar24 reported that around 1,350 flights were affected by the Friday shutdown.
About 120 planes heading to Heathrow had to land somewhere else when they learned the airport had closed. Airlines rushed to clear the backlog, but many Saturday flights faced delays or cancellations anyway. The airport added hundreds of extra workers and squeezed more flights into Saturday's schedule to handle an additional 10,000 passengers. The spokesperson advised all travelers to contact their airlines directly for current information about their specific flights.
British Airways planned to run about 85 percent of its normal Heathrow flights on Saturday. The airline typically handles around 600 takeoffs and landings each Saturday at the airport but had to cut back because of the disruption. A British Airways spokesperson explained that fixing such a massive disruption takes time. The airline wanted to run as many flights as possible but warned that all passengers would probably face delays as they dealt with problems from the Friday power failure.
Getting back to normal after such a big shutdown proved extremely difficult for an airline their size. The UK transport department temporarily removed limits on night flights to reduce the backup. Heathrow normally handles about 230,000 passengers daily and 83 million yearly, making it among the busiest airports anywhere. Planes fly from Heathrow to roughly 80 countries around the world.
Many people questioned how such a major airport could become completely disabled. When the BBC asked airport boss Thomas Woldbye if he should resign, he refused to answer that question but said he felt proud of how airport staff handled the crisis. Woldbye explained Friday that even the backup transformer broke down, forcing them to shut everything off. He said sorry to all stuck travelers but defended their response, comparing the outage to a mid-sized city losing all electricity.
He admitted they could never protect against every possible problem. UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander wants answers about what caused such a huge problem at an electrical station located near crucial national infrastructure. The Metropolitan Police assigned their Counter Terrorism Command to investigate because of how badly it affected travel, but they found no signs anyone deliberately caused the fire. Fire department officials believe the Thursday night blaze started accidentally.
They plan to examine the electrical equipment closely during their investigation. About 150 people had to leave nearby buildings, and 100,000 homes lost electricity for hours. People noticed smoke still rising from the substation Saturday morning.
Many people are asking hard questions about how such an important part of UK infrastructure could fail so completely. An airport spokesperson announced Saturday morning that Heathrow had reopened completely. Airport staff members were working hard to help all the passengers whose plans were messed up by yesterday's power failure at the off-site electrical station. The tracking website Flightradar24 reported that around 1,350 flights were affected by the Friday shutdown.
About 120 planes heading to Heathrow had to land somewhere else when they learned the airport had closed. Airlines rushed to clear the backlog, but many Saturday flights faced delays or cancellations anyway. The airport added hundreds of extra workers and squeezed more flights into Saturday's schedule to handle an additional 10,000 passengers. The spokesperson advised all travelers to contact their airlines directly for current information about their specific flights.
British Airways planned to run about 85 percent of its normal Heathrow flights on Saturday. The airline typically handles around 600 takeoffs and landings each Saturday at the airport but had to cut back because of the disruption. A British Airways spokesperson explained that fixing such a massive disruption takes time. The airline wanted to run as many flights as possible but warned that all passengers would probably face delays as they dealt with problems from the Friday power failure.
Getting back to normal after such a big shutdown proved extremely difficult for an airline their size. The UK transport department temporarily removed limits on night flights to reduce the backup. Heathrow normally handles about 230,000 passengers daily and 83 million yearly, making it among the busiest airports anywhere. Planes fly from Heathrow to roughly 80 countries around the world.
Many people questioned how such a major airport could become completely disabled. When the BBC asked airport boss Thomas Woldbye if he should resign, he refused to answer that question but said he felt proud of how airport staff handled the crisis. Woldbye explained Friday that even the backup transformer broke down, forcing them to shut everything off. He said sorry to all stuck travelers but defended their response, comparing the outage to a mid-sized city losing all electricity.
He admitted they could never protect against every possible problem. UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander wants answers about what caused such a huge problem at an electrical station located near crucial national infrastructure. The Metropolitan Police assigned their Counter Terrorism Command to investigate because of how badly it affected travel, but they found no signs anyone deliberately caused the fire. Fire department officials believe the Thursday night blaze started accidentally.
They plan to examine the electrical equipment closely during their investigation. About 150 people had to leave nearby buildings, and 100,000 homes lost electricity for hours. People noticed smoke still rising from the substation Saturday morning.
