Latest news with #airportshutdown
Daily Mail
16 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Heathrow boss who slept through airport fire shut-down should never have had phone on silent, says rival airline chief
The boss of Heathrow who was unaware of that a substation fire shut down one of the world's busiest airports should 'never' have had his phone on silent, according to an airline chief. A review into the fire which took place on March 20 into March 21 and disrupted more than 200,000 passenger journeys found that the airport's chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, had been called when the fire broke out but did not answer his phone. The Kelly Review concluded that Mr Woldbye's phone was muted 'without him being aware' and that he only knew of the fire at 6.45am - more than seven hours after it broke out at 11.20pm. Chief operating officer Javier Echave attempted to call his boss 'several times' during the night and raised an F24 alarm to activate emergency command response teams, but did not hear back. As detailed in the 75-page report, Mr Woldbye - who was paid more than £3million last year - said he felt 'deep regret' at not being contactable during the incident. But Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss said he would 'never' have made the same mistake when speaking today at an industry event, as first reported by The Telegraph. Mr Weiss said: 'The last time I put my phone on silent when running an airline was – never. I think all of my colleagues would share that observation. This is a 24/7 job and safety and security are the number one priority.' The Virgin boss added that Heathrow should begin compensating airlines for the cost of the shutdown in the wake of the Kelly Review. Emirates Airline chief Sir Tim Clark also said he was 'shocked' by Heathrow's 'floundering' response to the fire, adding that Emirates 'never close their eyes' to such problems potentially arising. Meanwhile International Air Transport Association CEO Willie Walsh said the shutdown of Heathrow showed Britain to be 'vulnerable' under Labour leadership. A Heathrow spokesman told MailOnline: 'The Kelly review, as well as independent legal counsel assisting the panel, had access to all Heathrow decision-makers and company papers and published a well-documented and robust report containing a number of findings and recommendations. 'The review concluded that while some detailed elements of our response could be sharpened, the overall approach to prioritise safety was the right one and the right decisions were taken on the day. We have accepted all the recommendations in full.' The report was led by former Labour Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly and concluded that closing the airport was the 'correct' and 'essential' decision. Ms Kelly said the fire at the North Hyde substation had been 'unprecedented' and that waiting until March 22 to fully re-open was wise, given that safety checks needed to be carried out before full service could resume. 'The evidence confirms that Heathrow made the right decisions in exceptionally difficult circumstances,' she said in a statement accompanying the report. '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.' The shutdown of the substation prompted questions over why Heathrow was not prepared to cope in the event of a total power loss and why it took 18 hours for power to be fully restored. But the report revealed that the power loss crippled vital safety systems and infrastructure including an airport fire station. Security staff in Terminal 2 had to use the torches on their phones to see at night because of the total loss of power. The report revealed that the power loss crippled vital safety systems and infrastructure including an airport fire station London Fire Brigade officers also told Heathrow they would not be able to safely bring the fire under control for at least six hours. Interim findings published by the National Energy System Operator earlier this month found power was restored to a chaos-stricken Heathrow around seven hours before flights were allowed to resume. The electricity was switched back on for all four terminals - Terminal One no longer being in use - at 10.56am on March 21, almost 12 hours after the fire broke out. Heathrow said the report raises 'important questions' for National Grid - which owns the substation that caught fire - and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), which is responsible for power distribution in the area. In all, 1,273 flights were disrupted by the near-24-hour closure with economists estimating that the fire cost the UK up to £4.8million in lost tourism alone. But not a single Heathrow employee interviewed for the review disagreed with the decision to close. While the review was largely positive about the airport's response to the fire, Ms Kelly issued 28 recommendations for Heathrow to consider. They include firming up relations with SSEN - which is responsible for local power distribution - as well as ensuring emergency lighting is in place across terminals, and assessing whether to invest in additional back-up generators. There is also a recommendation to have a 'second means of contact' for key individuals, such as CEO Mr Woldbye. Heathrow Chairman Lord Deighton said after the report: 'The Kelly Review is thorough with clear recommendations which the management team will be taking forward. 'This was an unprecedented set of circumstances, but the learnings identified in the Kelly Review will make Heathrow more fit for the future.'
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
The sleeping Heathrow boss proves we're a nation led by donkeys
It was one of the more astonishing admissions of the week: 'Sorry lads, my phone was on silent.' Or, as the Kelly Review, published on Wednesday, put it: ' Mr Woldbye expressed to us his deep regret at not being contactable during the night of the incident.' The apology nestles in a 75-page report authored by Ruth Kelly, the former transport secretary, who examined the circumstances relating to the closure of Heathrow Airport on March 21. It's an impressively speedy job, with most inquiries of this nature usually waiting for the protagonists to die – or, at best, until their memories have long faded and the events have been massaged into a Netflix documentary – to be concluded. Yet here is a report published while the senior folk of one of the largest and busiest airports in Europe are still firmly in post. And clinging on for dear life – especially the chief executive, Thomas Woldbye. Indeed he has been vexed at the idea that he acted in any way other than exemplary over the 18-hour shutdown of Heathrow that resulted in the cancellation of 1,300 flights and affected some 270,000 passengers. The day after the shutdown, the Danish businessman even told Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that, in relation to the actions and decisions of Heathrow and related parties, he was 'proud of the entire ecosystem'. Pride being the most plausible emotion for him to express because, when the decision was taken to press the Heathrow off-button, Woldbye was asleep. Which for a Dane strikes me as a peculiarly British reaction, albeit with firm roots in the comedy of Captain Mainwaring of Dad's Army or Blackadder 's General Melchett. Our hero, Woldbye, as you can read on page 36 of the report (section 14, subsection 3), 'first became aware of the incident at approximately 06:45 on 21 March, and received a debrief from Mr Echave [Heathrow's chief operating officer]'. 'Fine work, man,' he might have said. 'Now, what's going on?' And, famously, it was not for want of trying to get hold of Woldbye during the night. In fact, what is known in the trade as the most 'critical event communication platform that provides information and sends alerts through all available communication channels', an F24 alarm was issued at 00.21. This is the technical equivalent of a cold bucket of water being thrown in your face, a gong being struck by your ear, a jumping up and down on Daddy at dawn. There was another F24 sent at 01.52, this one activating Gold (harder slaps around the chops, cries of 'wake up, you idiot!') and Echave, also we learn, 'attempted to call Mr Woldbye several times during the early hours'. Except Woldbye's mobile, albeit on his bedside table, was on silent. Or, as the report states, 'the phone had gone into a silent mode, without him being aware it had done so'. That's right, the man in charge of Heathrow – an airport that uses the most sophisticated technology available to run and protect a place with planes departing and landing every 45 seconds – has a phone that, completely of its own accord, jumps into 'do not disturb' mode. Perhaps the man whose most recent annual take-home pay was £3.2 million needs a second phone. Or how about an old-school landline with a trilling bell on it? We Brits are, quite clearly, lions led by donkeys. Incompetence seems key to the skill set in running either a large company or indeed government. There are, for example, the civil servants of the Department for Business and Trade who, in the face of colossal public pressure and moral finger-wagging, continue to resist fully compensating the likes of Sir Alan Bates for the Horizon IT system scandal. Last weekend he revealed that he had been offered a 'take it or leave it' offer of 49.2 per cent of his original claim. The compensation scheme, Sir Alan said, had become 'quasi-kangaroo courts in which the Department for Business and Trade sits in judgement of the claims and alters the goal posts as and when it chooses'. Or, consider the major water companies presiding over the effluent that pollutes our rivers. Earlier this month, Chris Weston, the CEO of Thames Water – Britain's biggest water company; a firm with massive debts, outdated infrastructure and more leaks and spills than the Titanic – admitted that senior managers had been in line for substantial bonuses courtesy of a privately financed £3 billion rescue-plan loan. Following pressure from Environment Secretary Steve Reed, Weston's spokesperson then announced that payments had been 'paused'. Yet, as The Guardian reported, Thames Water 'declined to answer questions about whether any of the retention package has already been paid'. High Court judge Mr Justice Leech, in relation to an £800 million cost to be spent on interest and advisers for the debt deal, said: 'Customers and residents who are struggling with their bills will be horrified at these costs and mystified how the Thames Water Group has been able to fund them or why it has agreed to do so.' Ponder, too, on those who run Royal Mail, increasing prices while presiding over terminal decline of their services, and the pen-pushing ninnies of our councils conjuring up safety costs that are wrecking traditional country street fairs and festivals. Indeed, just look to the politicians who run our country. We have a Chancellor in Rachel Reeves who claims to support hospitality while actually savaging it with increases in National Insurance Contributions for employers, and a Secretary of State for Education gleefully manifesting over a VAT policy that is closing down private schools.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Real reason Heathrow boss slept through shutdown after electrical fire revealed
HEATHROW'S boss slept through its shutdown over an electrical fire as his phone was on silent, an inquiry has found. Thomas Woldbye was tucked up in bed as senior staff were left to suspend flights. 2 The chief executive 's phone was on a bedside table but he was not woken by a succession of emergency alarms and calls. He played no part in the shutdown decision, which caused disruption for 270,000 passengers. The £5million-a-year boss told the inquiry he was unaware his phone had gone to silent mode but was said to have expressed 'deep regret at not being contactable'. He added: "Heathrow exists to serve our passengers and airlines, which made the decision to close the airport in March because of the North Hyde substation fire tough, but necessary. "We hope that all our stakeholders understand this was done to protect the safety of passengers and colleagues. "We're truly sorry for the disrupted journeys, and we understand the impact this had on so many of our customers." The blaze in a West London substation on March 21 knocked out power to the airport. With Mr Woodbye, 60, snoozing, it was left to chief operating officer Javier Echave to order the next day's shutdown, grounding 1,300 flights. But the airport's internal inquiry concluded: 'Heathrow made the right decisions in exceptionally difficult circumstances.' Heathrow bosses were 'warned of potential failures DAYS before major outage closed airport & sparked travel chaos' 2
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Heathrow boss slept through airport blackout because phone was on silent
The boss of Heathrow slept through the first seven hours of the airport's shutdown because his phone was switched to silent mode, an internal review has found. Fellow executives initially could not contact Thomas Woldbye following a substation fire on March 21, which knocked out power to the airport and left passengers stranded after thousands of flights were grounded. Mr Woldbye, who was paid £3.2m last year, had placed his phone on his bedside table before going to sleep but the device had 'gone into silent mode, without him being aware', leaving him uncontactable as the crisis erupted. It meant that although the power went out at Heathrow at about 11.55pm, the chief executive was not aware it had happened until about 6.45am the next morning, a review by former transport secretary and Heathrow board member Ruth Kelly found. News reports covering the chaos had been live for several hours before Mr Woldbye woke up. In his stead, Javier Echave, the airport's operating chief – who had tried to call Mr Woldbye repeatedly by phone – was left to chair crisis meetings and gave the order to close the airport to all traffic for the rest of the day. Earlier reports had suggested that Mr Woldbye had elected to go to bed after initially learning of the power cut but the review found this was 'not correct'. Ms Kelly's report added: 'Mr Woldbye expressed to us his deep regret at not being contactable during the night of the incident. 'The review committee recommends that Heathrow consider enhancements that can be made to the notification process of a critical incident, including options for notifying key individuals via a second means of contact for significant incidents.' It said that Heathrow had already taken steps to ensure the chief executive could be contacted via alternative means in future. In the wake of the shutdown, furious airlines criticised the decision to announce a full day's closure and said the airport should have been better prepared. Shai Weiss, the boss of Virgin Atlantic, also criticised Mr Woldbye's 'questionable' handling of the incident, adding: 'I know what I would have done. I would have rushed to the airport at that moment. All CEOs are geared for that. 'You lead from the front and then you delegate back. I believe if Thomas had the opportunity again he would act differently, but that's a question for him.' Some 200,000 passengers were left stranded around the world in March after the substation in Hayes, West London, caused Heathrow to shut down for 24 hours. The fire ripped through both the primary and redundancy systems of the power transformer, cutting off one of three main grid lines feeding into the airport, in what grid operators have described as an 'unprecedented' failure. But the crisis has also triggered criticism from airlines and experts, who questioned how Europe's biggest airport was plunged into darkness by the failure of a single electricity substation. 'No immediate fix' A preliminary report by the National Energy System Operator published earlier this month found the fire began in a 57-year-old electricity transformer before spreading to a second transformer next to it. A third, newer transformer then overloaded and cut out. In her review, Ms Kelly said the total loss of one of the three power lines serving Heathrow was regarded by the airport as a 'low likelihood event', because staff had been assured of the redundancies available at the substation run by National Grid and SSE Networks. She said Heathrow staff had responded as well as could be expected in the circumstances and managed to get power restored in a prompt and orderly manner later in the day, by reconfiguring the site's power network. However, it was known that losing one of the three power lines was enough to trigger a shutdown lasting at least eight hours. 'This is a result of the way the infrastructure at the airport has been developed over 75 years,' the review said. 'There is no immediate fix to this problem, in part because the airport is operating at full capacity with only limited operational overnight windows to carry out works to improve resilience and within a highly constrained footprint.' Heathrow had looked at alternative arrangements over the years, including a 'ring' configuration for the airport's high voltage network and a direct connection to the national transmission network. These upgrades could have potentially prevented a blackout but were part of longer-term plans for the airport's expansion, which had been repeatedly delayed over the years, the review said. On top of this, the National Grid has told Heathrow that a direct line to the national network may not be available until 2037 at the earliest. Commenting on the report on Wednesday, Heathrow chairman Lord Deighton said: ' The board would like to thank Ruth Kelly, Joan MacNaughton and Mark Brooker for their diligence in investigating Heathrow's preparedness for the fire at the North Hyde substation and how the airport subsequently handled its impact. 'The Kelly Review is thorough with clear recommendations which the management team will be taking forward. 'This was an unprecedented set of circumstances, but the learnings identified in the Kelly Review will make Heathrow more fit for the future.'
