The Department for Energy Security has formed a national Energy Resilience Taskforce in response to the March fire that knocked out power to Heathrow for almost 24 hours, cancelling hundreds of flights and stranding 70,000 passengers. Announced on 18 November, the body—chaired by Energy Minister Ed Miliband—will coordinate infrastructure upgrades, audit fire-safety standards and draw up rapid-recovery protocols for critical sites such as airports, ports and rail hubs.
An independent review published in July found that the fault behind the substation blaze had been logged as early as 2018 but never fixed, pointing to systemic maintenance failures across Britain’s high-voltage network. The taskforce will now oversee asset-management and inspection schedules, while working with industry to embed resilience criteria into the Net Zero grid transition.
![Energy resilience taskforce created after Heathrow substation fire exposed grid weakness]()
For airlines and travel-management companies the implications are clear: energy-related disruption is now a recognised operational risk on a par with weather and ATC strikes. The Civil Aviation Authority is expected to consult on whether contingency power supplies should become part of an airport’s safety-case obligations, potentially raising compliance costs but reducing the likelihood of future mass-cancellations.
Corporate mobility managers should review business-continuity plans that rely on Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester as single-point gateways for assignee moves. Dual-routing strategies and traveller-tracking tools able to identify employees caught in infrastructure failures will become best practice. The taskforce will publish its full Energy Resilience Strategy in 2026, but regulators are already signalling a tougher stance on infrastructure operators who ‘sweat’ assets beyond safe limits.
An independent review published in July found that the fault behind the substation blaze had been logged as early as 2018 but never fixed, pointing to systemic maintenance failures across Britain’s high-voltage network. The taskforce will now oversee asset-management and inspection schedules, while working with industry to embed resilience criteria into the Net Zero grid transition.
For airlines and travel-management companies the implications are clear: energy-related disruption is now a recognised operational risk on a par with weather and ATC strikes. The Civil Aviation Authority is expected to consult on whether contingency power supplies should become part of an airport’s safety-case obligations, potentially raising compliance costs but reducing the likelihood of future mass-cancellations.
Corporate mobility managers should review business-continuity plans that rely on Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester as single-point gateways for assignee moves. Dual-routing strategies and traveller-tracking tools able to identify employees caught in infrastructure failures will become best practice. The taskforce will publish its full Energy Resilience Strategy in 2026, but regulators are already signalling a tougher stance on infrastructure operators who ‘sweat’ assets beyond safe limits.
