A fire at Heathrow Airport’s electricity substation left the airport in darkness on Friday, causing significant disruptions to flights and passengers. An urgent investigation has been ordered by the British government to understand the cause of the fire and lessons to be learned. Ed Miliband, Britain’s energy secretary, stated that the government is determined to properly understand what happened. Friday’s closure affected over 1,000 flights, causing planes and crews to be out of position and stranding passengers. Heathrow expects to operate its normal schedule of over 1,300 flights on Sunday to clear the backlog. The fire also raises concerns about the resilience of Britain’s infrastructure and whether the country has invested enough to maintain it. Engineering experts are questioning whether Heathrow has sufficient infrastructure and technology to support a major world hub. The authorities expect preliminary results from the investigation in six weeks, and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander stated that Heathrow’s energy consumption is equivalent to that of a small city, making it crucial to identify the cause of the power failure and learn from it.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/world/europe/heathrow-airport-fire-infrastructure.html