Workers are seen as smoke rises from the North Hyde electrical substation, which caught fire last week, leading to the closure of the Heathrow Airport, in London, on Friday March 21, 2025. — AP
LONDON and LOS ANGELES: A gleaming new data centre sits less than half a mile from the electric substation where a fire plunged Heathrow Airport into darkness last week. The data centre’s own power was also cut that day. But no one who relied on it would have noticed, thanks to a bank of batteries and backup generators designed to kick in instantly.
Meanwhile it took officials at Europe’s busiest airport close to 18 hours to bring its terminals and runways back into operation, causing global travel delays and underscoring the vulnerability of Britain’s infrastructure.
