Heathrow airport: Urgent probe ordered into power outage which was branded ‘national embarrassment’
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Heathrow airport: Probe ordered into ‘national embarrassment’ incident
- A fire caused a 15-hour shutdown of Heathrow Airport, disrupting travel for up to 300,000 passengers and causing over 100 flight cancellations on the following day.
- The incident, initially investigated as a potential security threat, was later deemed non-suspicious, with the London Fire Brigade leading the investigation into the cause of the fire.
- Energy Secretary Ed Miliband ordered an urgent investigation into the outage, focusing on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure. The National Energy System Operator (Neso) will report its initial findings within six weeks.
- Heathrow's CEO apologized for the disruption and stated the airport was "fully operational," but acknowledged the scale of the incident and the challenges in completely preventing such events.
- The incident sparked criticism, with some calling it a "national embarrassment" and highlighting the vulnerability of critical infrastructure. Disruptions are expected to continue in the coming days, affecting both air and rail travel.