BUSINESS NEWS
DfT outlines criteria for Heathrow third runway proposals
The Department for Transport issued information to “potential promoters” of Heathrow expansion last week, giving details of its assessment criteria. Transport secretary Heidi
Alexander noted the government “supports expansion at Heathrow” and said its “clear objective is to enable delivery of an operational third runway by 2035, with applications coming in time to enable decisions to be made this Parliament”. Proposals must include the
airport scheme design; expected
Heidi Alexander
Air France-KLM to increase stake in SAS Scandinavian to 60.5%
timelines; costs and revenues; ownership; financing and funding; deliverability; and environmental implications and planned mitigation. Schemes “should seek to
maximise cross-economy growth opportunities and value for money” and “costs should be minimised for passengers, customers and government by financing through private funding, including any surface transport costs”.
Air France-KLM has agreed to acquire a majority stake in SAS Scandinavian Airlines by the second half of next year, pending regulatory approval, after taking a 19.9% share in the carrier as part of a consortium of investors in 2023. The group will buy the shares
of consortium partners Castlelake, part of the Avolon aircraft leasing giant, and Danish company Lind Invest, to give it a 60.5% stake for an as-yet undisclosed sum which will depend on its financial performance. SAS chief executive Anko van der Werff said: “Air France-KLM
becoming the majority owner would mark a defining moment for SAS. It brings not just stability but will allow for deeper integration and the full backing of one of the world’s leading airline groups.” The Danish government would
retain a 26.4% stake and seats on the board, with 13.1% retained by other investors. Air France-KLM acquired its existing stake in 2023 for $144.5 million. SAS switched from the Star
Alliance group of carriers led by Lufthansa and United Airlines to the SkyTeam of Air-France-KLM and Delta Air Lines last September.
Heathrow grid fault ‘spied in 2018’ Ian Taylor
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) report into the fire at the electricity substation which shut Heathrow on March 21 and led to cancellation of 1,300-plus flights has found it was due to an issue identified seven years ago but not addressed. The report, ordered by energy
secretary Ed Miliband and published last week, concluded a “catastrophic failure” on one of the substation transformer’s ‘bushings’ – a form of electrical insulator – led to a fire “likely caused by moisture entering”. It noted “an elevated moisture
reading had been detected” as long ago as July 2018 but that “mitigating actions appropriate to its severity were not implemented”. The Neso review also found
the design and configuration of Heathrow’s internal electrical
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distribution network “meant the loss of one of three independent supply points would result in the loss of power to some operationally critical systems”. It acknowledged Heathrow
had a plan to deal with this by reconfiguring its internal electrical distribution network to take power from the other two supply points, “with the process to enact this estimated to take 10-12 hours”. But the report noted “this was
less well-known outside the technical team” at Heathrow and “not known to the energy companies”. Looking wider, it found: “Energy
network operators are not generally aware whether customers connected to their networks are Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), and there is no explicit cross-sector requirement on CNI operators to ensure appropriate continuity of operations in response to power disruption.” Heathrow welcomed the report,
Heathrow
saying it “shed light on the external power supply failure that forced the airport’s closure” and said it was considering legal action over “failings that resulted in significant damage and loss for Heathrow and our airlines”. An earlier report by former
transport secretary Ruth Kelly, now a non-executive director of Heathrow, had largely exonerated the airport from blame, concluding that closing it was “essential to protect safety and security” and “the only reasonable decision” (Travel Weekly, June 5).
A Heathrow spokesperson
said: “A combination of outdated regulation, inadequate safety mechanisms and National Grid’s failure to maintain its infrastructure led to this catastrophic power outage.” The Neso report makes 12
recommendations which chief executive Fintan Slye suggested would “improve the resilience of Britain’s energy system and resilience of critical national infrastructure”. Energy regulator Ofgem is also investigating the outage.
10 JULY 2025 55
Laurie Noble Photography
Shutterstock/Fasttailwind
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