Britain’s Heathrow Airport has defended its decision to shut down operations on Friday, as scrutiny grows over the 18-hour closure that stranded thousands of passengers and cost airlines tens of millions of pounds.
The airport insists the move was necessary after a fire at a nearby substation disrupted power, but questions remain over whether all four terminals needed to close.
Both Heathrow and National Grid acknowledged that the transformer failure was unprecedented.
However, Heathrow was forced to justify its decision after National Grid’s CEO, John Pettigrew, told the Financial Times that the electricity transmission network remained capable of supplying power to the airport throughout the disruption.
The airport resumed full operations on Saturday
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Heathrow explained that the fire late on Thursday led to operational interruptions, requiring the airport to shut down…