John Pettigrew Defends Infrastructure Resilience as Heathrow Blames Operational Complexity for Delays
The head of National Grid, John Pettigrew, has insisted that Heathrow Airport had access to sufficient power supply despite a fire at a nearby substation that caused widespread flight disruption on Friday.
Operations at the UK’s busiest airport were brought to a standstill after a blaze at an electricity substation in Hayes on Thursday night. The incident resulted in the cancellation of around 1,300 flights, with full services not resuming until late Friday.
Mr Pettigrew stressed that Heathrow had alternative power sources available, stating, “Each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow.” He described the fire as a rare event but maintained that two other substations remained operational, ensuring power availability.
However, Heathrow Airport officials have pushed back on this claim, arguing that the scale of the outage required a full system reboot, significantly delaying recovery efforts. “Restarting a complex operation like Heathrow safely is not an immediate process,” a spokesperson said, adding that hundreds of critical systems had to be shut down and restarted in sequence.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander echoed this, explaining that Heathrow executives had informed her of the need to reconfigure power supplies after the fire affected Terminals 2 and 4. “While multiple power sources feed the airport, the incident created a significant disruption,” she told reporters.
Further scrutiny has emerged over Heathrow’s power resilience. A 2014 report by consultancy firm Jacobs identified weaknesses in the airport’s electricity infrastructure, warning that supply outages could lead to terminal closures and operational paralysis. The report suggested that backup provisions were adequate but acknowledged that disruptions could still impact passenger services.
The London Fire Brigade is now leading an investigation into the electrical distribution failure, following an initial assessment by counter-terrorism officers, who ruled out foul play.
As Europe’s largest airport, Heathrow saw 83.9 million passengers pass through in 2024. Friday’s disruption affected approximately 200,000 travellers, leading to flight cancellations across the globe.
