Latest news with #airportclosure
Sky News
28-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Heathrow chief's phone was on silent as power cut fire unfolded, inquiry reveals
Heathrow's chief executive could not be reached to tell him about the airport's closure after a power outage because his phone was on silent, an inquiry has revealed. Thomas Woldbye was asleep when chief operating officer Javier Echave decided to suspend operations at 1.15am on 21 March after a fire at a substation in west London affected the supply of electricity to the site, it has emerged. The airport closed for around 16 hours, cancelling about 1,300 flights and causing travel chaos for nearly 300,000 passengers. Heathrow commissioned an inquiry into what happened, led by former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, who is an independent member on the airport's board. The inquiry's report, published on Wednesday, found that Mr Woldbye "was not involved" in the decision to suspend operations as he was unaware of several attempts to reach him due to his phone being on silent mode until 6.45am on 21 March. "Although his phone was on his bedside table, Mr Woldbye reported that it did not alert him to the F24 alarms [to activate emergency procedures] or to Mr Echave's other calls because the phone had gone into a silent mode, without him being aware it had done so and he was asleep at the time," the report stated. 3:39 Mr Woldbye expressed "his deep regret at not being contactable during the night of the incident", according to the review. The inquiry recommended that Heathrow should consider having a "second means of contact" to notify key individuals about critical incidents. However, it also found that the decision to suspend operations was "correctly made" as it was "essential to protect the safety and security of people, as well as the integrity of the airport and the UK border". Ms Kelly said: "The evidence confirms that Heathrow made the right decisions in exceptionally difficult circumstances. "Whilst the disruption was significant, alternative choices on the day would not have materially changed the outcome. "The airport had contingency plans in place, and the report highlights that further planned investment in energy resilience will be key to reducing the impact of any similar events in the future." But Nigel Wicking, the chief executive of Heathrow Airline Operators' Committee (AOC), described the report as "back patting" because it did not "recognise the significant cost impact" borne by airlines. 0:49 He told MPs on the Transport Select Committee he had warned Heathrow bosses the power supply was vulnerable less than a week before the outage. Heathrow AOC, which has more than 90 members including Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, criticised the handling of the closure, saying flights could have taken off earlier on Friday and that communication was "appalling". The inquiry found there "may have been opportunities to open parts of the airport slightly sooner" on 21 March but this "likely would have been only by a maximum of a couple of hours or so". It started accepting limited flight arrivals from 4pm and departures from 8pm that day. Mr Wicking told Sky News' business and economics reporter Sarah Taaffe-Maguire on Wednesday that the review did not help to better understand whether the airport had the resources it needed. Instead, he said he was looking to the full National Energy System Operator report, expected to be released by the end of June. A spokesperson for the Heathrow Reimagined campaign group, whose supporters include British Airways's owner International Airlines Group and Virgin Atlantic, said: "Lessons must be learnt from the closure of Heathrow during March's power outage, but the internal Kelly Review allows Heathrow to set and judge by its own standards. "It fails to properly tackle the poor contingency planning and years of inefficient spending that left Heathrow vulnerable."
BBC News
28-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Heathrow Airport chief asleep as airport closed over outage
Attempts to tell Heathrow airport's sleeping chief executive that the airport had been closed because of a power outage failed because his bedside phone was on silent, an inquiry has Woldbye was in bed as senior Heathrow staff decided to suspend operations because of a fire at a nearby electrical flights operated at the west London airport until about 18:00 GMT on 21 March because of the blaze which started late the previous closure, which affected 270,000 journeys, was caused by "an unprecedented set of circumstances", Heathrow chairman Lord Deighton said, adding the airport's infrastructure will be made "more fit for the future". Heathrow commissioned the inquiry into what happened, led by former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, who is an independent member of the airport's Kelly Review found that Mr Woldbye "was not involved" in the decision taken by the airport's chief operating officer Javier Echave at 01:15 on 21 March to suspend operations until 23:59. Alerts known as F24 alarms were sent to Mr Woldbye's mobile at 00:21 and 01:52 to activate emergency procedures, and Mr Echave tried to call him several report stated: "Mr Woldbye first became aware of the incident at approximately 06:45 on 21 March, and received a debrief from Mr Echave."Mr Woldbye expressed "his deep regret at not being contactable during the night of the incident", the review review recommended that Heathrow considers having a "second means of contact" to notify key individuals about critical incidents. The review concluded that the airport had responded "efficiently and smoothly". The report found that the decision "to stop operations immediately was correctly made and essential to protect the safety and security of people" and decision-makers acted appropriately. "The evidence confirms that Heathrow made the right decisions in exceptionally difficult circumstances. Whilst the disruption was significant, alternative choices on the day would not have materially changed the outcome," Ms Kelly at Heathrow's preparedness, the report's authors found the contingency plans in place "overall worked well". The review also examined whether the airport should have anticipated what impact a loss of power from the substation would have. It found that Heathrow had "assessed its high voltage electricity supply as resilient due to it having three separate intakes from the National Grid, all with multiple connections to the airport and multiple transformers at the National Grid/SSEN substations providing redundancy in the event of failure".The review states the airport had deemed what occurred in March as a "low likelihood event".Lord Deighton said the Kelly Review was "thorough with clear recommendations which the management team will be taking forward". March's shutdown cost airlines millions of pounds and stranded hundreds of thousands of interim report by the National Energy System Operator (Neso), published earlier this month, said the cause of the North Hyde substation fire remained unknown. Heathrow's management has been criticised for the decision to close the airport and the long shutdown that followed as Neso said power had been restored seven hours before any flights full report is expected to be published by the end of June.
CBS News
24-05-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Severe storm damages multiple planes at North Perry Airport; facility temporarily closed
A severe thunderstorm with strong, damaging winds tore through the area surrounding North Perry Airport on Friday evening, damaging several aircraft and prompting a temporary airport closure, officials said. "At approximately 6 p.m., the area surrounding North Perry Airport (HWO) experienced a severe thunderstorm, which brought strong damaging winds," said Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport spokesperson Arlene Satchell. "Several aircraft were severely damaged. As a result, HWO is closed until 7 a.m. on Saturday, May 24 to allow the Broward County Aviation Department to continue an initial damage assessment at our general aviation airport." Elsewhere, Pembroke Pines police said several power lines were knocked down between Palm Avenue and Northwest 72nd Avenue near Pines Boulevard. Some homes in the area may be without power temporarily, authorities said.
Times of Oman
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Times of Oman
Indian government extends closure of 28 Airports until May 15 amid tensions
New Delhi: After Pakistan attempted to attack multiple cities in Northern India using drones, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Friday extended the closure of 28 airports across the country until 15 May morning from 10 May. A senior government official confirmed that after a meeting with other stakeholders, the decision has been taken and airlines and airport authorities have been informed about it. In their statement, Indigo Airlines mentioned that in accordance with the latest directives from the relevant authorities, all flights to and from the following destinations will remain cancelled until 5.29 am on May 15 due to temporary airport closures. Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Leh, Chandigarh, Dharamshala, Bikaner, Rajkot, Jodhpur, and Kishangarh airports will be closed until May 15. These precautionary measures have been instituted with your safety and security as our highest priority. We remain fully committed to providing unwavering support while navigating this situation together, reads the statement. Air India also issued a travel advisory for the passengers. In a social media post on X, they wrote, "Following a notification from aviation authorities on continued closure of multiple airports in India, Air India flights to and from the following stations - Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Bhuj, Jamnagar and Rajkot - are being cancelled till 0529 hrs IST on 15 May, pending further updates. Customers holding valid tickets for travel during this period will be offered a one-time waiver on rescheduling charges or a full refund for cancellations." Meanwhile, in a major escalation along India's western front, the Pakistani army carried out multiple airspace violations and drone intrusions on the night of May 7 and 8, targeting Indian military infrastructure. Addressing a press briefing on Friday, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi revealed that 300 to 400 drones were deployed across 36 locations, with several being shot down by Indian forces using both kinetic and non-kinetic methods. Initial investigations suggest the drones were Turkish-made Asisguard Songar models. Colonel Sofiya Qureshi said during the press briefing, "On the night of May 7 and 8, the Pakistani army violated Indian airspace several times over the entire western border to target military infrastructure. Not only this, the Pakistani army also fired heavy-calibre weapons along the Line of Control. Around 300 to 400 drones were used to attempt infiltration at 36 locations." She added, "The Indian armed forces shot down many of these drones using kinetic and non-kinetic means. The possible purpose of such large-scale aerial intrusions was to test air defence systems and collect intelligence. Forensic investigation of the wreckage of the drones is being done. Initial reports suggest that they are Turkish Asisguard Songar drones..." Escalating its tensions with India, Pakistan targeted Jammu using Hamas-style missiles to target multiple areas on Thursday, defence sources had told ANI. The sources said the attack resembled a Hamas-style operation in Israel, where multiple cheap rockets were used to target cities. Pakistan's attempted retaliation came in the wake of India's Operation Sindoor, where the Indian armed forces targeted nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on Wednesday. The operation was a direct response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Earlier on Thursday, the Indian Army had shot down more than 50 Pakistani drones during a large-scale counter-drone operation along the LoC and International Borders (IB), sources told ANI. The Indian Armed Forces also successfully neutralised Pakistan military's attempts at a large-scale drone and missile attack on multiple Indian military installations across Northern and Western India during the night of May 7-8, and an Air Defence system at Lahore was neutralised.
The Independent
08-05-2025
- The Independent
Power outage report ‘raises important questions'
Heathrow airport said an interim report into a power outage which caused its closure for most of a day 'raises important questions'. No flights operated at the west London airport until about 6pm on March 21 because of a fire at a nearby electrical substation which started late the previous night. More than 270,000 air passenger journeys were disrupted by the incident. In the immediate aftermath, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband commissioned the National Energy System Operator (Neso) to conduct a review into what happened. Neso published its interim report on Thursday, stating that 'the root cause of the fire remains unknown whilst forensic fire investigations are ongoing'. It noted that the Metropolitan Police confirmed on March 25 it had 'found no evidence to suggest that the incident was suspicious'. The report stated that one of North Hyde substation's three supergrid transformers – devices which enable voltages to be stepped up or down so electricity can be efficiently distributed – became disconnected, known as tripping, at 11.21pm on March 20. It was later confirmed to have caught fire. At 11.49pm, the adjacent transformer also tripped, which resulted in the simultaneous loss of connection to the remaining transformer, according to the document. The report said: 'The consequence was the loss of all supplies from North Hyde 275kV substation, impacting thousands of customers including Heathrow airport.' A Heathrow spokesperson said: 'Heathrow welcomes the Neso review's initial report, which raises important questions for National Grid and SSEN (Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks) that we hope the final report will provide answers to, including the cause of the fire. 'Further clarity on how the fire started and why two transformers were subsequently impacted can help ensure greater resilience for the UK's energy grid moving forward.' A spokesperson for substation-owner National Grid welcomed the report, adding: 'We now look forward to the full findings and will continue to work closely with the National Energy System Operator as its independent review process continues.' SSEN is responsible for power distribution in the area. Neso said the flow of electricity to all four of Heathrow's passenger terminals was restarted by 10.56am on March 21, with power restored to the 'wider Heathrow Airport Limited network' by 2.23pm that day. This was followed by 'a period of safety checking' to ensure 'safety-critical systems were fully operational prior to passengers arriving at the airport', according to the report. Mr Miliband said: 'My department took immediate action to investigate the power loss, which impacted Heathrow and the surrounding area (on March 20 and 21), causing major disruption to thousands of people and many businesses. 'The National Energy System Operator's initial summary of the incident rules out the possibility of any suspicious activity. 'We now await the full report to understand what happened and learn lessons to strengthen UK energy resilience and protect our critical, national infrastructure.' The full report is expected to be published by the end of June.
