Heathrow Airport’s chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, has expressed frustration over missing emergency calls during a March fire that forced the airport to shut down and led to the cancellation
of 1,300 flights.
In his first public comments since the release of a report on the incident, Woldbye told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that missing the calls was out of character.
“It’s not how I normally operate,” he said, adding, “but on an operational level, all the right things happened.”
The fire, which broke out at a nearby electrical substation, caused a major power outage, disrupting travel plans for an estimated 270,000 passengers. Woldbye acknowledged the financial toll would be in the “millions,” though he declined to give a precise figure.
A review led by former Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly found that Woldbye missed two emergency alerts and several phone calls because his phone was on silent. The airport suspended operations in the early hours of 21 March, but Woldbye didn’t become aware of the crisis until around 6:45am.
Despite his absence during the critical period, Woldbye said he was confident in Heathrow’s emergency response systems.
“An organisation like ours must function whether or not the captain is on the bridge,” he said. “In this case, the right decisions were made.”
The fire was traced to a known fault at the substation supplying Heathrow with power. National Grid, which owns the facility, had reportedly been aware of the issue since 2018 but failed to address it. The National Energy Systems Operator (NESO) concluded that National Grid was responsible for the failure.
Following the release of the NESO report, Heathrow said it was considering legal action against National Grid. The airport, which consumes as much electricity as a small city, has three separate connections to the national grid.
In its latest financial report, Heathrow posted a 1.9% increase in revenue to £1.7 billion, but saw pre-tax profits fall 37.2% to £203 million in the first half of 2025. The report cited “clear failings” by National Grid that contributed to losses for both Heathrow and its airline partners.
“We expect National Grid to take accountability for these failings,” the airport said in a statement. Photo by Ed Webster, Wikimedia commons.