4 weeks ago
24
Europe|How Did a Fire Leave Heathrow Airport in Darkness, With Insufficient Backup?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/world/europe/heathrow-airport-fire-infrastructure.html
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
The British authorities ordered an urgent investigation, but some experts said that any airport would be crippled by being cut from the electrical grid.
March 23, 2025Updated 6:55 a.m. ET
The British government has ordered an urgent investigation into how a fire at an electricity substation left Heathrow Airport in London in darkness on Friday, crippling one of the world’s busiest airports.
“We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned,” Britain’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said in a statement late on Saturday.
Friday’s closure disrupted more than 1,000 flights, leaving planes and aviation crews out of position and stranding passengers — some of whom may not reach their destinations for a few more days.
The fire, which the authorities believe was likely accidental, raised questions about the resilience of Britain’s key infrastructure and whether the country has invested enough to maintain it. But some experts said the blackout was probably unavoidable given the scale of the blaze at the substation.
Britain’s government has faced pressure for years to maintain and modernize the country’s transportation infrastructure, like roads and trains. But the country faces severe financial pressures, with public services like health care underfunded. Any demands for additional major infrastructure spending would create political headaches for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, while he also tries to increase military spending amid flatlining economic growth.
Within hours of the airport going dark, engineering experts were questioning whether Heathrow was supported by infrastructure befitting a major world hub.
