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Heathrow Airport reopened Saturday morning after a full closure caused by an electrical outage, but the airlines warned of further breaks as they resumed operations.
The airport was fully reopening for flights on Saturday morning and the first planes were erected shortly after 6am.
Heathrow said it was “open and fully operational”, but the airlines had canceled nearly 100 Saturday flights up to 8am, as they began the logistical challenge to resume their operations with planes, crews and passengers abroad and scattered around the world.
Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow’s chief executive, said Saturday he was “proud” of the airport’s response to the power outage and did not envision any “big break”.
However, some airline drivers were privately frustrated by the airport messages that had fully recovered, given that they were still canceling flights and dealing with blocked passengers.
British Airways, so far the largest airline operator in Heathrow, said he was waiting to cancel about 15 percent of his schedule to and from Heathrow on Saturday, which would be about 90 flights.
“To recover an operation of our size after such an important incident is extremely complex. It is likely that all customers traveling to experience delays as we continue to navigate the challenges posed by Friday’s power outage at the airport,” the airline said.
Heathrow was closed in the early hours of Friday after a fire in a local electricity substation in west London caused a power outage at the airport.
The airport and the national network both face strong control of how one of the three substations can lead to heathrow closure for almost 24 hours.
Willie Walsh, former BA chief and a long critic of Heathrow, said he had a “clear planning failure” from the airport.
Woldbye said the airport spare power supply for its critical functions, including runway lights and control tower had begun, but that these were not designed to empower the entire airport.
“We would need a special power plant in the country.
“We will certainly consider this and say whether we can learn from this, do we need a different level of sustainability if we cannot believe that the network around us is working properly.”
The national network on Saturday said it was taking steps to improve resistance to its network.
The FTSE 100 company owns and operates the North Hyde substation in Hayes, West London, who set fire to late on Thursday night, causing questions about the sensitivity of the critical infrastructure of the United Kingdom.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but National Grid said the power had now returned to all clients.
“Electricity supplies have returned to all customers associated with our North Hyde substation, including Heathrow, allowing operations to resume at the airport. Now we are implementing measures to help further improve our network’s stability levels,” he said.
About 1,300 flights were canceled on Friday and flights already in the air were returned to either their original airport or deviated to other centers around Europe.
This has left the airlines to face a big challenge as they resume their schedules: many of their planes, pilots and cabin crew are in the wrong places, while many staff will not be able to work due to strict rules in the break between flights.
“All of these long-particularly backed aircraft ended up at airports where they should never be. If there are no crews there to catch them, then the airlines will fight to make their aircraft move back as normal,” said John Strickland, an aviation adviser.
“The crew will also need one day or two rest before resuming, and every extra day is additional cancellations that go through the following days. Its’ is a domino effect.”
Heathrow said it has added an additional 50 additional lifting and landing on its schedule, which would enable other 10,000 passengers to travel on Saturday if airlines can find planes and crews for them.
The Metropolitan Police Terrorism Command in London continued to lead investigations into the fire in substation, but on Friday the evening Met said they were not treating the incident.
