Heathrow boss ‘went again to mattress’ as hearth shut down airport and noticed flights cancelled
Heathrow was closed on Friday after a fire at a nearby electrical depot raged on, with airport boss Thomas Woldbye reportedly going to bed instead of dealing with the crisis
The boss of Heathrow was slammed on Sunday for going to sleep instead of working through the night during the blaze that closed the airport.
Thomas Woldbye, 60, left the formal decision to shut the hub to his deputy in the early hours of Friday morning, sources claim. When the size of the fire at a nearby electrical depot became clear on Thursday, senior leaders split into two “gold commands”.
At about 12.30am it was decided Mr Woldbye’s command would go to bed, leaving Javier Echave to make the final decision to close the airport, insiders said.
Mr Woldbye, who last year earned £3.2million, began work the next day at around 7.30am by phone and was in his office at 9am.
The Swede was slammed for not pulling an all-nighter during the biggest crisis in the airport’s history.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said: “CEO went to bed & appeared in office at 9am – Beggars belief. Idle, incompetent, out of touch. A failure, not a leader.”
One user on X fumed: “Thomas Woldbye, the £5m-a-year CEO of Heathrow Airport and self-proclaimed net-zero zealot, reportedly ‘went to bed’ as the airport descended into chaos during the inferno.
“Sack Woldbye immediately.”
If you can’t see the poll above, click here
Airline chiefs including Sean Doyle of British Airways and Shai Weiss of Virgin Atlantic are believed to have worked through the night.
A Heathrow spokesperson said Sunday: “We do not recognise the description of proceedings as set out.
“We have a robust crisis protocol that ensures we have experienced leaders able to take key decisions having had adequate rest – without compromising passenger or colleague safety by being too tired.
“This protocol was followed so that Thomas, and his whole senior leadership team, were exactly where they were supposed to be during an incident of this scale.
“Under round-the-clock leadership, teams across Heathrow were able to fully reopen in 24 hours and deliver an extended schedule on Saturday.
“While we are sorry that passengers and customers were impacted by the closure of the airport on Friday, our performance in safely accommodating over 250,000 passengers on Saturday shows that the correct decisions were taken at the right time. While some commentators spread ill-informed misinformation, we will focus on serving our passengers.”
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has launched a probe into the power cut which saw flights delayed for around 200,000 passengers.
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