Heathrow Defends Handling of Blackout, Saying Shutdown Unavoidable
The North Hyde electrical substation which caught fire Thursday night, on March 22.
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London’s Heathrow airport defended its handling of Friday’s unprecedented shutdown, rejecting assertions it had enough backup power to remain open after a fire knocked out the main substation supplying the hub.
“It would not have been possible for Heathrow to operate uninterrupted,” the airport said in a statement. “Given Heathrow’s size and operational complexity, safely restarting operations after a disruption of this magnitude was a significant challenge.”