UK aviation watchdog to review Heathrow's resilience rules

(Reuters) -Britain's aviation watchdog will consider Heathrow airport's resilience rules as part of a regular review, it said on Thursday, following a closure last week that disrupted global flight schedules and stranded thousands of passengers.

London's Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, rocked the travel industry last Friday when it shut down after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation cut its power.

The closure has sparked widespread criticism of the airport's back-up plans and prompted reviews at Heathrow and National Grid, which operates Britain's power lines.

The Civil Aviation Authority said its review would, as usual, look into many areas of Heathrow's functioning and development, including investments, airline charges, capacity expansion plans and preparedness to handle a crisis.

"The review will allow for efficient investment that will deliver benefits for consumers, by incentivising efficiency and setting targets for quality of service," it said.

The watchdog added it would "carefully consider the rules on resilience" following the March 21 closure.

Heathrow, which has defended its decision to shut down operations, did not immediately have a comment.

The CAA also said it was in close contact with all parties over the incident and would consider what steps to take next, unrelated to the operational review.

Police have said the fire was not a criminal matter.

The CAA's review will cover Heathrow's operations from 2027 to 2031, and comes after a report earlier this month said the airport was weighing a shorter third runway to cut costs.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka and Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru. Editing by Rashmi Aich and Mark Potter)