Heathro Airport in London resumed its operations at full capacity and ordered an investigation of how to deal with the power outages that led to the closure of the airport, while airlines warned of delays and cancellation.
British Airways, whose main center is in Heathrow, said it has completed the running of about 90% of its scheduled flights on Saturday and pledged to operate “almost complete” for its operations after its CEO Sean Doyle warned of “a tremendous impact on all our customers who travel with us in the coming days.”
The airport, which is the fifth most crowded airport in the world, was scheduled to deal with 1351 flights on Friday, carrying up to 291 thousand passengers, but the fire that broke out at a nearby sub -power station that forced the planes to convert their paths to other airports, while many long flights returned to departure points.
investigation
The British Ministry of Energy said that it cost the operating body of the National Energy Network to conduct an urgent investigation into the reason for the interruption, which raised questions about the efficiency of the vital infrastructure in the country.
For its part, the Heathrow Airport Authority said that it cost an independent member of its board of directors, former Minister of Transport, Ruth Kelly, to conduct a review of the crisis management plan at the airport and the way he dealt with this incident with the aim of enhancing the ability to face such conditions.
Air experts said that the last time European airports witnessed turmoil in this wide range during the volcanic ash cloud in Iceland in 2010, which led to the abolition of about 100,000 flights.
The Heathro Airport website showed that the vast majority of flights scheduled in the morning and at noon left successfully Saturday, with a few delays and cancellation.
“We do not expect to cancel or delay a large number of flights. There are some cancellation and some delays. We deal with them in the usual way,” the BBC quoted the CEO of Heathrow Airport, Thomas and Woldbay.
A airport spokesman said, in an e -mail statement, that the airport includes hundreds of additional employees to facilitate the travel of 10,000 additional passengers.
But airlines still need to solve the crisis of tens of thousands of travelers whose flights have been disrupted.
No criminal suspicion
The tension on many passengers headed to Heathrow Airport from the Padtington station in London.
“I just hope that when I got there, I will be able to go already.”
The police said that after the initial evaluation, they do not see a criminal suspicion in the accident, despite the continued investigations. The London Fire Band stated that its investigations will focus on electricity distribution equipment.
The travel sector faces the possibility of a financial strike costing tens of millions of pounds, in addition to a potential dispute over the cost -to -affordable costs as well as questions about how such a vital infrastructure collapsed without support.
“This is a clear failure to plan by the airport,” said Willie Walsh, President of the International Air Transport Federation, and former British Airlines president who has been strongly critical of the crowded airport.
Heathrow Airport and other London airports have seen other service interruptions in recent years, the most recent of which was a malfunction in the automatic gates system, and a collapse in the air navigation system, both in 2023.
“Britain is insulted by the airport disaster,” wrote the Sun newspaper in its headline. “This is funny,” the Daily Mail said.
