UK ministers have launched a fire investigation at the substitute of electricity, which forced the Heathrow Airport to close, as the airlines warned of passengers even when they started flying again.
Energy Secretary Energy Aid Miliband told the National Energy System Operator, a public organization responsible for the power grid on Saturday, “Immediately” investigate how a fire created such a big obstruction.
He also wants to “understand any widespread lessons on energy elasticity for the main national infrastructure”.
Heathrow Chair Lord Paul Daton said the airport would be launched internal investigations, headed by a non -executive board member and former UK cabinet minister Roth Kelly.
Heathrow was closed early Friday after a fire broke out at a substation of electricity in west London.
It was completely reopened on Saturday morning, and Heathrow’s chief executive Thomas Woldbai defended the airport’s emergency plan and said he was proud of his response to the power outage.
But the airlines canceled close to 100 flights by the end of the afternoon when they faced the logistic challenge of resuming their works out of place with aircraft, crews and passengers and resume their work all over the world.
Some airline executives were privately disappointed with airport messages that have been completely recovered, because they are still canceling flights and dealing with trapped passengers.
British Airways, the largest airline operator in Heathrows, said he was expected to cancel about 15 % of his schedule from Heathrows on Saturday, which will be about 90 flights.
Both the airport and the National Grid are scrutinized to see how a substation failure can result in heathrows for about 24 hours.
The airport pulls electricity from three local sub -stations, but said that one of them has been forced to shut down to supply power and reset the computer system after a fire was set.
Akshay Cole, director of the Energy Regulator of GEM’s infrastructure, said households and businesses should be “able to gain confidence in the flexibility of the critical national infrastructure”.
Heathrow and the government were warned 10 years ago in an external report that the utility infrastructure of the airport had a “key weakness” “central transmission line contact with the airport”.
“Even a brief interference in the power supply could have a lasting effect on the 2014 report by the 2014 report, which was previously developed as part of the expansion.”
But it concluded that “Heathrow is equipped with breed on site and it seems that there is a flexible supply of electricity that is in line with the rules and standards.”
Wali Walsh, a former BA boss and a longtime critic of Heathrow, said the airport had “failed to clearly planned”.
The airport’s backup power supply for its important functions, including the runway lights and the control tower, has been kicked by Wold Bai, but it was not designed for strength to the entire airport.
“We will need a separate standby power plant on the site,” he told the BBC. I don’t know about any airport. “
“We will surely consider it and say whether we can learn a lesson from it, do we need a different level of flexibility if we cannot trust the way we are working around us.”
On Saturday, the National Grid said it was taking steps to improve flexibility on its network.
The FTSE 100 Company owns and operates the North Hyde Substation in the city of Hess, West London, which lasted late Thursday night.
The fire is still being investigated due to the fire, but the National Grid said that the electricity has been restored to all consumers.
“Now we are now following steps to help improve our network’s flexibility level,” he said.
In Heathrows on Saturday, passengers noted the least obstacle.
Diana Pan, who is a passenger flying home in Bolona, had reached the airport six hours ago in the form of disruption, but he had not seen anything.
Heather Moore, who arrived in Heathrow after 7am from Vietnam, said he had seen the news on Friday and feared his flight would be canceled.
He said, “But) finally everything is fine.”
About 1,300 flights were canceled on Friday and flights were already diverted to their original airport or diverted to other centers around Europe.
It has faced a major challenge to the airlines as they resume their schedules: many of their aircraft, pilots and cabin staff are in the wrong places, while many staff will also be unable to work due to rigorous rules of flights.
Airport Advisor John Straikeland said, “All these long-distance aircraft have been eliminated at BA-hoses that they should never have been.
“Extra cancellations are going on every extra day. This is a domino effect.”
London’s Metropolitan Police’s Anti -Terrorism Command continued to guide fire inquiries at the substation, but Friday evening Matt said he did not consider the incident suspicious.
