Heathrow Airport faces mounting pressure from the world’s biggest airlines after the power outage shutdown grounded hundreds of flights.
Around 200,000 travellers were stranded in the UK and worldwide following the substation fire near Heathrow, which cut off its power supply and left homes in the dark.
Now, the Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee (AOC) has hinted that it will take legal action to recover the costs they racked up during the airport closure.
Nigel Wicking, the AOC’s chief executive, told Sky News that he hopes the matter could be ‘amicably settled at some point in time,’ adding that ‘if we don’t get good enough recourse and repayment in terms of the costs, then yes, there might be a case for legal action.’
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While he said he ‘would hope not,’ in some situations ‘that’s the only course once you’ve gone through everything else.’
Some operations – mainly passenger and aircraft repatriation flights – resumed by Friday evening.
But, the knock-on effects were felt across the industry as planes, crew and passengers were diverted to other destinations, upending travellers’ plans as around 1,300 flights were affected.
The closure has triggered a ‘blame game’ between the airlines, Heathrow Airport and National Grid, aviation consultant Bernard Lavelle said.
National Grid argued that Heathrow could have kept operating despite the substation fire as it is supplied by two other power stations.
Airlines are ‘frustrated because of no fault of their own, they are racking up costs and still are today,’ Lavelle, the principal consultant at BL Aviation, explained.
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The bill is mounting due to unexpected operational costs such as bringing in extra crew and relocating aircraft, and care costs like paying for passengers’ hotels, food and drinks during the disruption.
He said: ‘They will have to pay that as that is a standard requirement operating into the UK and that’s on top of operating costs.’
The expert said it is difficult to estimate the exact costs at this stage.
If the costs are £20 million, passengers are unlikely to feel it in ticket prices, but for costs higher than £500 million airlines would be likely to say they have to put up fares, Lavelle said.
The airlines and Heathrow will want to avoid going to court as ‘a lot of dirty washing would come out in court.’
However, Heathrow will say the closure was due to a force majeure event and this will be included in the agreement with the airlines, Lavelle said.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2010 Iceland volcano eruption were force majeure events, and airlines could not claim compensation for them.
Heathrow will want to avoid ‘setting a precedent’ for airlines to do so during force majeure events such as weather-related issues.
A Heathrow Airport spokesperson told Metro: ‘This was an unprecedented issue which began with a fire at an off-airport substation, in less than 24 hours the entire airport was rebooted from a standing start and we delivered a full schedule from Saturday onwards.
‘There are two reviews into the systems and response both at Heathrow and with the wider grid infrastructure.
‘We will support these and lessons will be learned where needed. Every penny we invest in our airport infrastructure is approved by airlines and our regulator.
‘On a project-by-project basis they oversee and influence how we build and maintain Heathrow.’
An investigation into the fire has been launched, the energy secretary Ed Miliband said.
The government is ‘determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned,’ he said.
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