Transport secretary declines to back boss of Heathrow

The transport secretary has said she would "struggle to sleep" if she had been running Heathrow airport, amid reports that its chief executive slept during the early hours of an unfolding crisis on Friday.

- Julia Kollewe Mark Sweney

A fire at a nearby electricity substation caused chaos as the airport was shut, with more than 200,000 passengers around the world affected.

The airport's boss, Thomas Woldbye, went to bed at 12.30am, the Sunday Times reported, and left the chief operating officer, Javier Echave, to take key decisions while the substation powering the airport burned.

Heathrow officials told the newspaper that the decision had been taken so Woldbye would be better rested when he took the decision to reopen the airport the next day.

He had attended an event in central London before returning to the airport when the power went late on Thursday night, it reported. He then resumed work at about 7.30am and was in his office shortly after 9am.

Woldbye, who took the reins at Heathrow in October 2023 and previously ran Copenhagen airport for 12 years, was paid £3.2m last year, including a £2.2m bonus.