The UK Air Watchdog reviews rules regarding “resilience” after Heathrow was closed due to a fire at a current substation.
Europe's largest airport closed early last Friday. A fire fire attack occurred at Hayes substation in west London. It was not permitted to remove planes or land, causing detours that affected around 1,300 flights and around 250,000 passengers. Some flights resumed on Friday evening.
As part of the airport review prior to the next price control period, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it will “consider resilience rules carefully.”
Apart from the review, the CAA said it was in close contact with Heathrow. It said it would support reviews of national energy system operators and take into account the results along with the airport's own investigation when “considering whether further steps should be taken under Heathrow's license.”
Earlier this week, National Grid's chief executive said it had enough strength to keep Heathrow open during the period it was closed. John Pettigrew said two other substations serving Heathrow were at work and were able to provide all the power needed for the airport.
Airlines can take Heathrow to court via closures. The organisation representing more than 90 airlines using the airport said there could be legal action lawsuits if a settlement incurred from the closure is reached.
In its review, the CAA sets incentives for Heathrow to invest efficiently and provide a high level of service to passengers along with service quality goals. We will also review the development of the regulatory model that will be applied to Heathrow as part of the expansion, namely the third runway defended by Prime Minister Rachel Reeves.
This review will look at ways to ensure strong incentives for “efficient delivery of substantial costs involved in expansion and how to maximize the benefits of consumers,” the CAA said. This allows timetables to proceed on a more flexible basis for capacity expansion work.
Officials said they expect constructive involvement between Heathrow and the airline, along with broader discussions on the expansion. Heathrow is expected to develop a business plan by July and will then be evaluated by regulators.
However, the campaign group Heathrow has been rethinked. The airline-backed UK better hub called on regulators to make a “basic review” into the airport's regulatory model.
A spokesperson said: “Heathrow is the world's most expensive airport and continues to fail passengers and airlines. We are concerned that CAA's priorities are to launch a 'regular business' review of passenger rates for the next five years.
“The current flawed administration leads to higher passenger rates, which is why we encourage the CAA to go further and commit to an urgent and basic review of regulations at Heathrow.”
