More resilient power system at Heathrow 'would cost at least £1bn'

The chief executive of Heathrow has said it would cost about £1bn to install a more resilient power supply system to prevent a repeat of the outage that shut Europe's busiest airport last week, and that airlines could pay higher charges to help fund it.

- Mark Sweney

Thomas Woldbye, who has been criticised for going to bed on the night of the crisis so he could be "better rested" to handle the fallout the following day, has said he was frustrated the incident occurred and would like to have handled it better.

The disruption last Friday, caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, led to the cancellation of 1,300 flights and affected more than 200,000 passengers.

John Pettigrew, the chief executive of National Grid, has claimed there was enough power available from two other substations near Heathrow to have allowed it to remain open during the shutdown period.