Thomas Woldbye, the boss at Heathrow Airport, opted to take a rest instead of personally monitoring the situation as a vital power substation powering the airport went up in flames. His deputy, Javier Echave, decided at the crack of dawn on Friday morning to shut the continent’s busiest airport.
Reports say that Woldbye, 60, had been at an event in central London when the initial power outage occurred shortly after 11 p.m. on Thursday. He then returned to survey the situation, but as the extent of the fire became apparent, airport leadership split into two “gold commands.” By about 12:30 a.m., Woldbye’s team decided to retreat for the night, with Echave holding until morning.
The move was made for security purposes, as reported by insiders, to make sure Woldbye was rested enough to take important decisions about Heathrow’s reopening. The decision has been controversial, considering the magnitude of disruption that stranded almost 300,000 passengers.
The blaze, which broke out at the North Hayes substation, filled the dark sky with heavy smoke. It resulted in severe power outages throughout Heathrow, causing widespread disruption as flights were grounded or heavily delayed. Passengers were stranded, with some being denied access to flights, and others waiting for several hours in dimly lit terminals with minimal knowledge of when activities would resume.
Energy Minister Ed Miliband has intervened, instructing the National Energy System Operator to conduct an immediate inquiry into the loss of power. He is also acting in conjunction with Ofgem, invoking his powers under the Energy Act to formally call for an examination of the grid operator’s response to the breakdown.
Aside from the government investigation, Heathrow will have an internal evaluation of its response to crisis. Ex-Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has been named to head the review, probing the airport’s emergency readiness and decision-making mechanism.
“We are committed to learning properly what has occurred and what needs to be learned,” declared Miliband, highlighting the importance of enhancing resilience in key infrastructure.
The incident has raised suspicions regarding Heathrow’s crisis response abilities. Others question if such an important transportation hub’s CEO should have remained on the ground throughout the entire night, but others are standing behind Woldbye’s resignation to rest and argue that possibly his judgment had been clouded by exhaustion.
An investigation is ongoing to determine if the blackout could have been prevented and if Heathrow management took the appropriate measures to deal with the situation. Nevertheless, the inconvenience still exists for thousands of affected tourists, most of whom are demanding accountability for the trouble caused to them.
