London: Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest air hub, has fully resumed operations after a power outage caused major disruptions, forcing flight cancellations and diversions. The airport has now ordered an investigation to assess how the crisis was handled and improve future response plans.
The power failure, caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation, affected 1,351 flights on Friday, disrupting travel for nearly 291,000 passengers. Many long-haul flights were forced to return to their departure points or land at alternative airports.
Response & Investigation:
British Airways, the main airline at Heathrow, managed to operate 90% of its flights on Saturday and aims for a near-full schedule by Sunday.
The UK Energy Ministry has commissioned an urgent investigation into the outage to examine the resilience of critical infrastructure.
Heathrow Airport has assigned former UK Transport Minister Ruth Kelly to lead a review of its crisis management plan.
Passengers Face Chaos:
The outage caused widespread disruption, similar to the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded 100,000 flights.
Passengers shared their frustration, including Amber Roden, a U.S. citizen, whose wedding plans were affected. Some of her relatives had to return mid-flight, while others will arrive just in time for the wedding after two years of planning.