A fire at an electricity source recently caused a shutdown of Heathrow Airport, highlighting vulnerabilities in the airport's power supply systems. And even with back-up diesel generators and uninterruptable power supplies, Heathrow found it difficult to rapidly get operations back up and running after the incident. The fire damaged a critical component of the airport's electricity source, revealing challenges in the airport's resilience standards.
Heathrow Airport uses energy equivalent to that used by a small city. Thus, it needs to be resilient to a single point of failure. Curran has loaded the airport’s critical systems with redundant or spare capabilities, so that if something suddenly fails, it won’t break continuity. Accelerating the use of alternate power sources for the whole airport took longer, making it harder to go back to regular service quickly.
Heathrow’s electricity is supplied by the National Grid, but comes in through the North Hyde substation through the local distribution network. This substation is responsible for transforming high voltage electricity into a lower and safer voltage for use at the airport. It turns out the back-up systems didn’t work at all when the firestorm went through the substation. This event exposed the shortcomings of our existing contingency plans.
"Clear planning failure," remarked Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association.
Heathrow electricity comes from a variety of sources. It can’t guarantee operational safety unless it relies on external power sources. The airport's dependency on the National Grid highlights a critical area for improvement in Heathrow's infrastructure resilience.
Resilience requirements in regulation are lacking at UK airports. Yet Heathrow is unique in being only one of two airports with any kind of regulation whatsoever in this area. This latest episode underscores the importance of robust contingency planning. It highlights the critical need for deeper regulatory scrutiny to avert future turmoil.
"Those have effectively been on the government's desk since October 2023," noted Robin Potter, a research fellow at Chatham House.