Former Labour Transport secretary Ruth Kelly will lead Heathrow's review into last week’s airport disruption and aftermath
Ruth Kelly with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2008 (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)AS HEATHROW returns to normal after the fire at the sub-station which closed the airport last Friday, post mortems are now underway into how and why such a disruption could have been allowed to cripple one of the world’s major transport hubs.
Former government Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, from Limavady in Co. Derry, Ruth Kelly, will undertake a review of the airport’s crisis management plans.
A member of the airport’s board of management, Kelly is a vastly experienced administrator.
As well as serving in Gordon Brown’s cabinet, as a devout Catholic among other recent appointments she has worked for the Vatican on its financial portfolio as a member of the Vatican's Council for the Economy. It is likely she will need all of her vast, and wide experience as she is now in charge of the crucial investigation into Heathrow’s closedown
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has also ordered an investigation into the incident.
But so far, statements from Heathrow have failed to mollify another Irish person, and one with a very powerful voice in aviation.
Dublin man Willie Walsh (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)Willie Walsh, the Dublin man who is Director General of IATA said on Friday via the IATA website: “Today’s closing of Heathrow will inconvenience a huge number of travellers. . . . .
This is yet another case of Heathrow letting down both travellers and airlines. And that begs some serious questions. Firstly, how is it that critical infrastructure—of national and global importance—is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative. If that is the case—as it seems—then it is a clear planning failure by the airport. And, from that arises the question of who bears the costs of taking care of disrupted travellers. We must find a fairer allocation of passenger care costs than airlines alone picking up the tab when infrastructure fails. Until that happens, Heathrow has very little incentive to improve.”
Walsh, who is boss of IATA, has long been a critic of aspects of the running of Heathrow. As one of the most influential figures in aviation, his words will hit home. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a global trade organisation representing around 300 airlines, accounting for over 80% of global air traffic.
This week aviation experts along with Heathrow management and representatives of airlines (including IATA) have been pondering how back-up power supplies could be deployed more quickly. Heathrow uses the same amount of power as a small city, so suddenly flipping a switch to turn on another power supply is difficult.
Nonetheless, with the threat of the rise of ‘hybrid warfare’—that is, hostile nations resorting to sabotage of infrastructure along with military threats—aviation experts believe that contingency plans must be stepped up. Although the cause of the fire at the sub-station has not been identified, nonetheless the Heathrow disruption was a window into how a relatively small incident could paralyse transport, and affect countries across the globe.
Cork man Sean Doyle, Chief Executive and Chairman of British Airways - image courtesy of British AirwaysMeanwhile, British Airways Chief Executive and Chairman Sean Doyle, from Cork and based at Harmondsworth near Heathrow, described last Friday’s situation as unprecedented.
Doyle noted that British Airways had been forced to ground its operations, cancelling all short-haul and most long-haul flights scheduled for Friday, affecting over 100,000 customers across more than 670 flights.
There were complaints from passengers about hotels in the vicinity of Heathrow hiking up their prices, and the same accusation levelled against some airlines. Additionally, hotels near Heathrow have been accused of significantly increasing room rates amid the disruption, with reports of prices tripling in some cases.
LBC presenter and chat show host Sheila Fogarty said on X: “Opportunistic pricing or daylight robbery? £40 flight to Shannon this evening cancelled after #Heathrowfire …first flight tomorrow usually very reasonably priced is now £465.00. How do they get away with it?”
She spoke about the situation on her afternoon LBC cha show.
One airline, however, said that it was the computer algorithms which pushed the price up — a question of supply and demand.
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