Heathrow’s president is a long time while closing the airport as the phone was silent, says the report

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The CEO of Heathrow could not be closed while the airport was closed due to a huge power reduction in March because he was asleep with his phone silent, according to an internal review in the incident, which sparked a large travel disruption.

The report said on Wednesday that Thomas and Oldby expressed his “deep regret” that he was far from hand on the night of 20-21 March, leaving his deputy, Javier, was disclosed to make a decision to close the British Center airport because of the low energy caused by a fire in a nearby power plant.

The closure resulted in the abolition of more than 1300 flights, leaving the planes, crews and passengers spread all over the world and raised questions about the elasticity of infrastructure in the United Kingdom.

Echa tried to call Woldbye “several times” in the early hours of March 21, while warnings were also sent to him, according to the review by Ruth Kelly, a member of the Board of Directors Heathrow And the former Minister of Transport.

“Although his phone was on the table of his bed, the master and Oulbby informed him that he did not warn him of F24 warnings or other Echa’s calls because the phone went to a silent situation, without realizing that he did this and was sleeping at that time,” the report said.

“The Master and Oulbby initially became familiar with the accident at about 6.45 am on March 21, and received extraction from Mr. Echave.

The report found that the absence of Woldbye had a “any effect” on the decisions taken at night, adding that it was within the authority of Mr. Echave to close the airport.

However, Heathrow was recommended to think about improving how to contact executives during critical accidents, including naming the “Second Communication Point”.

The accident raised large -scale questions about how to fire at one sub -station in Hayes, west of London, which could cause a lot of turmoil.

The airport was closed at 1.15 am on Friday, March 21st, and it was not completely reopened until 4.30 am on Saturday, March 22nd, with a disruption to the flights that exceed that.

In general, the review concluded that Heathrow was right to make a decision to close the airport after about 90 minutes of power cut, describing this step as “necessary to protect people’s safety and security.”

The airport’s decision also supported the extension of the closures the next day, noting that although there are opportunities to open parts of the airport a little closer, “this was only a few hours.

Kelly said: “The leadership gave an important strategic directive at the right times … Heathrow’s response, which collectively provided results, managed to appeal efficiently,” Kelly said.

However, it recommended that the airport review the backup supply and give priority “participating with airline” and the authorities about the need to invest to make the airport more flexible.

The radical cause of the northern sub -station was not yet determined, although the police said they had not found any evidence that it was suspicious.

A temporary report issued by the national energy system operator, which was published earlier this month, said that Fire had stuck to cooling oil inside a transformer at the sub -station, causing it automatically. The backup adapter was initially operated as designed, but then it was separated.