Heathrow Airport was warned about potential problems with its power supply just days before a major outage grounded all flights, MPs the Transport Select Committee was told.
Nigel Wicking, who leads the Heathrow Airline Operators Committee, said he raised concerns on March 15 and again on March 19 after incidents of cable theft near the airport disrupted runway lighting.
He questioned the airport’s overall resilience following those events. Heathrow shut down completely on March 21 following a fire at a nearby substation, affecting more than 270,000 passenger journeys.
Wicking told MPs he believed Terminal 5 could have reopened by late morning that day and that there was an “opportunity also to get flights out”.
The shutdown of Heathrow Airport last month, which halted all flights for nearly an entire day, may have cost airlines between £60 million and £100 million.
Roughly 1,000 flights were cancelled or diverted on March 21 after a fire at a nearby substation knocked out power across key systems. Around 270,000 passenger journeys were affected, but travellers were not entitled to compensation because the outage was classed as an “extraordinary circumstance.”