Heathrow fire ‘not believed suspicious’ but under Met counter-terror probe Politics The cause of the fire which shut down Heathrow Airport is “not believed to be suspicious” but is under investigation by the Met Police counter-terrorism squad, a minister has said. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander updated MPs on the “unprecedented” power outage which shut Britain’s busiest airport over the weekend in the House of Commons on [...]
Grid operator to ‘urgently investigate’ Heathrow power outage after fire Transport and infrastructure Energy secretary Ed Miliband has ordered the National Energy System Operator to “urgently investigate” the power outage caused by a substation fire that shut Heathrow Airport on Friday. He is working with Ofgem and using powers under the Energy Act to formally launch the grid operator’s investigation. “We are determined to properly understand what happened [...]
Heathrow ‘open and fully operational’ after disruption caused by power outage Transport and infrastructure Heathrow Airport said it is “open and fully operational” on Saturday after the airport was shut over a loss of power caused by a substation fire. Flights resumed at the west London airport on Friday evening and restrictions on overnight flights were temporarily lifted following hours of closure, after a blaze knocked out an electricity [...]
Passengers urged to stay home as Heathrow closed following electrical fire March 21, 2025 Heathrow airport will be closed for all of Friday, after a large electrical fire at a nearby substation. Passengers are being urged not to travel to Europe’s busiest airport, with the website FlightRadar24 reporting that at least 1,300 flights will be cancelled. In the surrounding area in West London, around 150 people have been evacuated [...]
Growing aviation does not conflict with protecting the environment, says transport secretary March 19, 2025 Growing the UK’s aviation sector is not a trade-off against protecting the environment, the Transport Secretary has said. Speaking at the annual dinner of the trade association AirportsUK, Heidi Alexander said she will “never accept the false trade-off” that pits the two issues against each other. The UK government has placed airport expansion at the [...]
Heathrow taps transatlantic demand in busy February March 11, 2025 Heathrow Airport said it had benefitted from a surge in transatlantic traffic as it served more than 5.7m passengers in February. The Hounslow hub said flights to and from the USA and Canada increased seven per cent year-on-year when adjusting for leap years. Its February total was also a record for the airport by that [...]
Heathrow: Business travel groups join calls for change March 10, 2025 Representatives of the business travel and global tourism industry have joined calls for Heathrow Airport to alter its regulatory model ahead of any expansion. The Business Travel Association (BTA), The Advantage Travel Partnership and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on Monday announced their support for change at the UK’s busiest hub, adding to a [...]
Gatwick expansion raises questions over Heathrow third runway, Khan says February 27, 2025 Sir Sadiq Khan has said the government’s pathway towards approving plans for use of a second runway at Gatwick “begs the question” over the need for a third runway at Heathrow. The mayor of London made the comments following the launch of his London Growth Plan at Imperial College this morning which sets out how [...]
Transport secretary ‘minded to approve’ Gatwick expansion February 27, 2025 The transport secretary is “minded” to approve Gatwick Airport’s plans for a second runway but only if it accepts certain revised requirements, it has been announced. Heidi Alexander on Thursday gave the £2.2bn project a ministerial nod of approval should the airport agree to some additional demands. These include noise mitigation and the extent to [...]
The Capitalist: Tardy Tories, Heathrow’s VIP lounge and the ‘shadow DOGE’ February 27, 2025 Tory time zones, Heathrow’s new VIP lounge and a ‘shadow DOGE’. Catch up on the latest gossip in this week’s edition of The Capitalist TARDY TORIES If Reform do manage to oust the Tories from their HQ on Matthew Parker Street, they may wish to check the clocks. Reportedly, Tory aides have taken to working under [...]