T he decision to close Heathrow - Europe’s busiest airport - on Friday triggered many miserable outcomes after a fire at an electricity substation nearby. The first inevitable consequence: more than 100 inbound flights that were already airborne either turned around and returned to their starting points, or diverted to dozens of airports across Europe and even North Africa. The first take-off from Heathrow after the airport reopened was a British Airways flight to Riyadh, which took off at 9pm on Friday.
Up to that point, more than 1,300 flights were cancelled and an estimated 240,000 passengers had their travel plans torn up . The following day, as airlines battled to retrieve their aircraft from the foreign airfields where they had landed, more than 100 flights were cancelled. I estimate the cost to airlines to amount to £100m in lost revenue and passenger care expenses.
Heathrow and the many businesses its activities support will also have lost millions. The wider damage to the economy is incalculable. Inbound tourism - the industry closest to “free money” for any nation - is particularly vulnerable.
The UK’s appeal will be harmed in the short term and the longer term. Worse than the economic wreckage is the emotional impact. Every one of these quarter-million-plus passengers had an important journey, which turned from joyful anticipation to crushed dreams.
The incident also put extreme pressure on people who work on the frontline of aviation across the world, fac.
