Due to the close of one, London Heathrow Airport A travel industry expert said Friday’s fire focused on the ability of travel industry experts to handle crises.
When writing, Heathrow’s agency remains closed The power outage was caused on Friday after a fire broke out at the power substation.
“[Aviationindustryisgrowingfasterthaninfrastructuregrowth”saidAnitaMendirattafounderofconsultingfirmAM&A He stressed that aviation needs to be more resilient to events such as energy supply disruptions or geopolitical or weather events.
“The interruption of Heathrow Airport is “has been a focus to ensure that the entire energy supply network of any airport around the world has enough capacity to resolve the crisis,” Mendelata told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday. “All of this is a very dramatic learning curve. ”
British Energy Minister Ed Miliband said backup generators were also affected by the fire, questioning the resilience of supporting energy infrastructure, while International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General Willie Walsh, Willie Walsh describe Heathrow’s reliance on the airport’s “single power supply” as a “clear planned failure”.
Heathrow Airport said in an emailed statement that it has multiple energy sources. “Our backup system is a safety system that allows us to safely land aircraft and evacuate passengers, but is not intended to enable us to operate in full swing,” Heathrow said.
Wide impact
Mendiratta said the Heathrow incident would have a ripple effect on aviation, which is far beyond the scope of flight cancellations. She said she described the implications of the Heathrow agency incident as “very wide” because the growth of aviation exceeded the increase in support infrastructure.
Mendiratta describes aviation’s global growth as “massive”.
“It’s extreme in terms of its growth far exceeding interest rates in 2019,” she said, raising questions about the industry’s resilience to unplanned weather or geopolitical events and whether surrounding infrastructure can support it.
Globally, domestic and international air passenger transport exceeded the level before the 19th in early 2024, According to IATACompared with 2023, the average annual increase of 3.8% of passengers is expected to increase by 3.8%.
Mendiratta added: “Even if the story is very focused, mostly Heathrow and passengers, we also need to consider that over-passenger traffic is available, but there are more than 4,000 tons of cargo passing through Heathrow every day.”
Heathrow Airport handles records 83.9 million passengers In 2024, cargo transportation grew by 10%, while its cargo transportation grew by nearly 6%.
Mendirata said whether passengers can receive compensation for cancellation of flights depends on the terms of their airline. Since the Heathrow Airport fire appears to be outside the airline’s control, payments may not be made. Cloth On Friday.
Investors will consider short-term costs such as food and beverages, accommodation, alternative flights or land transport to cancel cancellations, Mendiratta marks, and see how airlines manage customer service for the long term.
“Ultimately, this will be the basis for customer retention, and from an investor perspective, it will be very important … it is an important calculation,” she said.
The future of aviation
Heathrow Airport’s third runway has been scrambling for a long time CEO puts pressure on the UK government Decide for controversial expansion by the end of this year. British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said the extra runway was “urgent need“In a speech in January.
At the same time, the aviation industry is promoting Sustainable aviation fuel transactions Help meet decarbonization goals.
“As we turn to the future and look at sustainable aviation, this is where infrastructure can now look at green technology, which is crucial to keep aviation growing, but growing in a healthy way,” Mendirata said.
– CNBC’s Jenni Reid contributed to the report.
