Heathrow airport fire cost BA £40m, says airline as it reports overall revenue rise

The power outage that closed Heathrow airport for a day in March cost British Airways £40m, the national carrier has revealed.

- Gwyn Topham Mark Sweney

The airline said it was "assessing options" but said it had no recourse to compensation from Heathrow.

Airlines were infuriated by the response and recovery time from the power outage following a fire at a substation overnight. A report from the National Energy System Operator on Thursday confirmed that Heathrow took seven hours to reopen after its power was restored, allowing only a handful of flights to operate.

BA's chief executive, Sean Doyle, said there was no automatic form of recovery for the airline, either from insurers or in compensation from Heathrow, for the lost revenue, refunds and costs of looking after delayed passengers.

Doyle said: "We're obviously assessing options, but under regulation at the minute, we've no immediate recourse."

A Heathrow-commissioned review into the incident conducted by its non-executive director Ruth Kelly is expected later this month.