The UK Transport Secretary said in a report that the chief executive had slept early in the deployment crisis on Friday, that she would “had a hard time sleeping” if she were running through Heathrow airport.
A fire at a nearby power substation caused the airport shutdown, causing chaos on Friday, causing disruption to more than 200,000 passengers around the world.
Airport boss Thomas Waldy went to bed at 12:30am. Sunday Times reportedand left Chief Operating Officer Javier Echeve and made important decisions while supplying electricity to the airport.
Heathrow officials told the newspaper the next day that when they made the decision to reopen the airport, Woldbye had a better rest, and the decision was made.
He reported attending an event in central London when power was delayed before returning to the airport on Thursday night. He then resumed work at about 7:30am and was in his office just after 9am. Woldbye, who grabbed the reins at Heathrow in October 2023 and previously operated Copenhagen Airport for 12 years, was paid £3.2 million last year, including a bonus of £2.2 million.
Transportation Secretary Heidi Alexander refused to say whether she was confident in Waldy. She told LBC Radio:
Alexander added: “I understand that he was his chief operating officer, and I know that the next day, the very difficult decisions will be huge.
“I'm not going to justify any decisions that Heathrow leadership made or did not. I wasn't sitting at the table. He had no information available to him at the time.”
More than 1,000 flights were cancelled on Friday at Europe's busiest airport after a fire at Hayes substation in west London. Flights resumed on Saturday with slight delays, but the airport was back to normal by Sunday.
Alexander told ITV's good morning UK on Monday: “He [Woldbye] I trusted the Chief Operating Officer to make that decision, so if his judgment determines that he will make all the important decisions in the next 24 hours, I will never again speculate why he came to the conclusion that it is the right thing for him. ”
Top executives of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic worked in the middle of the night as the Heathrow shutdown forced them to bypass flights and ground, the Sunday Times reported.
Waldy declined to comment When asked by the BBC on Saturday, whether he should still be in his role.
Alexander's comments came when a war of words broke out between Heathrow and the National Grid. The head of the National Grid said on Sunday that Heathrow was strong enough to remain open during the period that it was closed on Friday, and that power was provided by two other substations.
However, an airport spokesperson said Monday: “As John Pettigrew, CEO of the National Grid, pointed out, he has never seen such a transformer breakdown in 30 years in the industry.
“Hundreds of critical systems across the airport had to be safely powered on and then safely and systematically rebooted. Given the size and operational complexity of Heathrow, safely resuming operations after this magnitude of disruption was a critical issue.”
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband ordered the national energy system operator to investigate the blackout. An internal review of the airport's crisis management plans and its response to the disruption will be carried out by former Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly.
Heathrow said it was running the full schedule on Monday, with more than 1,300 flights planned. It managed over 2,500 flights over the weekend and served more than 400,000 passengers.
A spokesperson said, “We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the closure on Friday following the major fires at off-site power substations. Our continued priorities are serving passengers and taking their journeys safely and promptly.”
