Heathrow boss 'proud' of how airport handled inferno leaving hundreds of flights cancelled
22 March 2025, 11:50
Thomas Woldbye said he is 'proud' of how Heathrow Airport handled Friday's catastrophic closure.
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Heathrow was thrust into chaos on Friday as Europe's busiest airport was brought to a standstill by a substation inferno, with thousands stranded, hundreds of flights cancelled, and over 100 nearby residents evacuated.
Heathrow Boss Thomas Woldbye said he is "proud" of how airport staff handled the situation.
He said the "major incident" was "unprecedented" as they had to re-route the power supply after the blaze.
After a day of chaos, a Heathrow spokesperson confirmed this morning that the airport is now "open and fully operational" but warned passengers to check with their airlines.
Woldbye told the BBC that he is "sincerely sorry" for the inconvenience to passengers.
"We were handling the consequences of that failure," he said.
"Heathrow uses as much energy as a city every day," he continued, explaining that power outages bring the airports huge operation to a standstill for hours.
Simon Calder breaks down the 'unprecedented scale' of Heathrow shutdown
Counter-terrorism police are currently leading the investigation into the incident - however the Met says there's currently no indication of foul play.
On Saturday morning London Heathrow to Zurich took off at 6:11am, just eleven minutes delayed, while London Heathrow to Madrid took off at 6:16am.
More than 200,000 passengers were affected on Friday, with thousands of homes were left without power leading to around 150 people to be evacuated from surrounding properties in Hayes, west London.
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The blaze began just after midnight an electricity substation in Hayes, close to Heathrow Airport, with the travel hub remaining closed for most of Friday.
The incident saw a transformer catch fire, with London Fire Brigade Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Smith confirming the fire involved "a transformer containing 25,000 litres of cooling oil".
He added: "This created a major hazard owing to the still live high voltage equipment and the nature of an oil fuelled fire."
Met Commander Simon Messenger said the incident is now "believed to be non-suspicious".
It comes as the first flight began to land at Heathrow following a total shutdown of the airport, with Europe's busiest travel hub prioritising customers diverted to European airports.
Heathrow continues to warn passengers not to travel to the airport unless advised by their airline.
