| Reported: 20 March 2025 | Location: Heathrow Airport, London |
Incident Details
On March 20, 2025, a fire at the North Hyde electrical substation near Heathrow Airport in London caused a power outage, closing the airport for 18 hours. Over 1350 flights were cancelled, stranding around 200,000 passengers.
Figure 1: Location Of Incident
Comment.
The Heathrow Airport fire financial toll was significant – Heathrow handles £543 million in cargo daily and contributes £12.88 million to the UK economy each day, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. This suggests losses in the hundreds of millions of pounds, with airline stocks like British Airways owner IAG dropping 2% and Intercontinental Hotel Group falling 2.5%. Future losses could escalate as airlines face ongoing delays and reduced passenger trust, potentially costing millions more in operational setbacks. The incident, labelled “internationally embarrassing” by The Daily Telegraph, severely dented the airports and the UK government’s reputation, raising concerns about the reliability of Critical National Infrastructure business resilience. Later reporting suggests that a contingency plan existed, but as reported by the BBC, it was neither tested nor validated, rendering it ineffective.
Assessment.
The unrest in Türkiye underscores the necessity of practical but robust Travel Risk Management to uphold a company’s employee duty of care. Organisations are legally and morally obligated to safeguard their workforce, starting with comprehensive travel risk assessments to pinpoint vulnerabilities, like protest flashpoints or violence-prone high-risk areas. Real-time monitoring tools, such as Neptune’s Travel Risk Management app, deliver instant alerts on emerging threats, empowering companies and their staff to adapt travel plans swiftly and avoid danger zones as well as send an alert to those responsible for security if the traveller is concerned.
Practical measures enhance protection. Secure transportation, including vetted drivers or private vehicles, minimises exposure to volatile hotspots. For senior executives or high-profile staff, close protection services provide tailored security in unpredictable settings. A company’s duty of care may also (risk assessment dependant) require contingency planning, including evacuation routes, 24/7 emergency hotlines, and crisis response teams, to ensure employee safety is catered for in every eventuality. Neglecting security risk management risks employee harm, legal repercussions, and reputational loss. By appropriately prioritising Travel Risk Management, businesses can protect their people and maintain operational stability amid unforeseen global turbulence. It all starts with a security assessment.
Speak to our experts today to discuss your travel risk management plans Contact us at – Neptune P2P Group.
