Heathrow’s Power Outage Exposes the Cost of Poor Forward Planning

When Resilience Fails to Switch On

On 21st March, Heathrow Airport faced a major power disruption that grounded over 1,000 flights and brought large parts of the airport to a standstill. But according to National Grid, the problem wasn’t a lack of electricity – it was a failure to respond.

Despite a fire at one of the airport’s key substations, two other substations remained fully operational – each capable of powering Heathrow independently. National Grid CEO John Pettigrew confirmed that supply was available throughout. The issue lay in Heathrow’s inability to switch over in time.

This wasn’t unforeseen. Just days earlier, airlines had warned of vulnerabilities in the airport’s power infrastructure, pointing to recent incidents such as cable theft. Heathrow’s CEO has since admitted that while a resilient setup exists, fully safeguarding the airport would require an investment of around £1bn, costs that airlines claim are unaffordable.

The takeaway? Heathrow didn’t lose power. It lost control.

At TMA, we work with critical infrastructure providers to turn uncertainty into action, helping businesses plan ahead, respond faster, and recover stronger.

Whether it’s through our service management solutions, or ongoing strategic support, we focus on making resilience practical, not just theoretical. That means ensuring systems are not only backed up, but ready to switch over seamlessly when the unexpected strikes.

Because when the stakes are high, having a plan isn’t enough – you need the ability to act on it.