S Poddar
As fire raged through a critical power substation feeding Heathrow Airport, its Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye chose sleep over direct handling of the crisis. His deputy, Javier Echave, was left to handle the shutdown of Europe’s busiest airport on Friday morning.
Woldbye, 60, was reported to have been at a function in central London when the initial power failure hit just after 11 p.m. on Thursday. He returned afterward to gauge the situation, but as the seriousness of the blaze became clear, airport management split into two “gold commands.” By about 12:30 a.m., Woldbye’s team decided to take a break for the night, allowing Echave to hold until morning.
This was done for security purposes, insiders say, to ensure Woldbye was well rested to make key decisions on Heathrow’s reopening. The move has, however, raised controversy, considering the magnitude of disruption that stranded almost 300,000 passengers.
The blaze, which occurred at the North Hayes substation, blew black smoke high into the evening sky. It resulted in massive power outages throughout Heathrow, with flights being canceled or significantly delayed. Travelers were stranded, some having been unable to get on their flights, others waiting in dimly lit terminals for hours with little idea of when service would be restarted.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has intervened, instructing the National Energy System Operator to undertake an emergency inquiry into the loss of power. He is cooperating with Ofgem, invoking his powers under the Energy Act to make a formal referral of the grid operator’s response to the event for review.
In addition to the government inquiry, Heathrow will conduct an internal assessment of its crisis response. Former Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has been appointed to lead this review, scrutinizing the airport’s emergency preparedness and decision-making process.
“We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned,” said Miliband, emphasizing the necessity of improving resilience in critical infrastructure.
The accident raised questions regarding Heathrow’s capacity to deal with crises. While there are those who come to Woldbye’s defense, justifying his decision to rest on the grounds that fatigue may have prejudiced his judgment, there are others who wonder whether the CEO of such an important transport hub should have kept the frontline throughout the night.
As inquiries are now open, officials are looking to decide if the electricity breakdown could be avoided and if Heathrow leadership took the right decisions in dealing with the crisis. For the thousands of inconvenienced travelers, the frustration is still recent, many of whom have been calling for responsibility for the inconvenience they were caused.
