Kelly Review into Heathrow shutdown says airport ‘made right decisions’

The Kelly Review commissioned by Heathrow into why a fire at a local electricity substation led to the near day-long closure of the airport on March 21 has vindicated the decision making of Heathrow’s management.

 

The review by former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, who is a non-executive director on the Heathrow Airport board, concludes that different decisions on the day “would not have materially changed the outcome”.

 

Heathrow took the decision to shut down operations in the early hours of Friday, March 21 after a fire in a transformer at the electrical substation in Hayes, north of Heathrow, before midnight saw power to much of the airport and its surrounding area cut off.

 

More: MPs to quiz Heathrow boss on outage shutdown

 

The airport remained closed until early Friday evening, causing thousands of flights to be cancelled and affecting 270,000 passengers. It only returned to near normal operations the following morning.

 

The Kelly Review was commissioned by Heathrow alongside an official investigation by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) ordered by energy secretary Ed Miliband.

 

An interim report by Neso, published on May 8, stated the root cause of the substation fire “remains unknown”. A final report is expected by the end of June.

 

Unveiling the findings of the Heathrow-commissioned review, Kelly said: “The evidence confirms that Heathrow made the right decisions in exceptionally difficult circumstances.

 

“Whilst the disruption was significant, alternative choices on the day would not have materially changed the outcome.”

 

She explained: “The report provides a detailed account of the events surrounding Heathrow’s preparedness for and response to the North Hyde substation fire in March.

 

“I’ve shared its findings and recommendations in full with the transport secretary, the CAA and the chair of the transport select committee.

 

“The airport had contingency plans in place, and the report highlights that further planned investment in energy resilience will be key to reducing the impact of any similar events in the future.”

 

Kelly added: “The report sets out a number of important recommendations, which Heathrow’s leadership team will now take forward.”

 

Heathrow chairman Lord Deighton welcomed the report and thanked Kelly and fellow report authors Joan MacNaughton and Mark Brooker “for their diligence in investigating Heathrow’s preparedness for the fire and how the airport subsequently handled its impact”.

 

He said the Review includes “clear recommendations which the management team will be taking forward”.

 

Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye described the decision to close the airport because of the substation fire as “tough, but necessary” and said: “We hope all our stakeholders understand this was done to protect the safety of passengers and colleagues.

 

“We’re truly sorry for the disrupted journeys. We understand the impact this had on so many of our customers.

 

“The Board commissioned the Kelly Review to assess our preparedness and scrutinise our response. The evidence confirms that Heathrow made the right decisions on the day and successfully put safety first without a single injury reported."

 

He thanked “our airline and airport partners for their teamwork on the day, which helped us recover quickly and restart operations smoothly”. 

 

Woldbye added: “We look forward to the final Neso report, which we hope will address key questions for [energy infrastructure providers] National Grid and SSEN – particularly how this fire could begin and why all three transformers failed.”