Viewpoint: Travel disruption fixes lacking

How can a fire at a nearby electricity substation shut down the world’s fifth-busiest airport, causing widespread travel disruption lasting several days? The answer still isn’t clear-cut following the March 21 closure of London’s Heathrow Airport due to a power outage caused by the fire.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers had their travel plans disrupted, including me.

In line at the gate for my late-night United Airlines flight from New York to London, I wasn’t initially concerned when the gate agents announced on the intercom that boarding was being delayed. But when one of the pilots returned to the gate to inform us that there was a power outage at Heathrow and to make ourselves comfortable, perhaps get something to eat, I wondered if the trip across the pond wouldn’t be so straightforward. A quick scan of social media confirmed my unease as video of billowing smoke and flames from the substation near Heathrow filled my newsfeed and the extent of the power outage became clear. Eventually, our flight, like many others, was canceled.

Perhaps it was fortunate that we weren’t in the air. As Heathrow lost power and travel disruptions kicked in, aircraft en route were forced to divert to other airports across the U.K. and Europe. Some transatlantic flights from North America arrived in Shannon, Ireland, while others were rerouted back to their departure point, making for many a long, fruitless journey.

The following day, the airport operator advised passengers not to attempt to travel to Heathrow “under any circumstances.” But later the same day, it said it was resuming flights.

While Heathrow’s closure was limited in duration, it highlights — as was the case with the 9/11 attacks and the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption — the sudden, widespread impact such events can have on the global travel ecosystem. It also raises concerns over contingency plans for critical infrastructure. Heathrow had emergency generators and backup power resources, but they were insufficient to support the airport’s operations.

Insurers have experienced increased costs from power outages and related disruptions in recent years. In 2021, the Texas deep freeze caused widespread power outages, disrupting infrastructure and forcing many businesses to temporarily shut down operations, resulting in substantial business interruption losses. The same year, a fire at a semiconductor plant in Japan added to global supply chain disruptions, hitting production in the auto and electronics industries.

Passengers worldwide have become all too familiar with flight delays and cancellations due to bad weather, crew shortages, cybersecurity incidents, geopolitical conflicts or technical issues. In today’s interconnected world, disruptions like this have cascading effects on businesses and infrastructure.

My personal experience of the disruption will be an indelible memory since instead of making it to the hospital in England to visit my sick brother, I found myself 24 hours later receiving word that he had passed away.

Not all events can be controlled, and there are no easy solutions to complex risks. Still, it’s hard not to infer that having a contingency plan or an alternate way of supplying a major airport with enough power to support its entire operation without costing airlines millions of dollars and disrupting thousands of passengers is a good idea.