Heathrow's chief executive is facing calls to resign after it emerged he went to bed as the fire that shut down Europe's busiest airport raged. Thomas Woldbye delegated the decision to close Heathrow, affecting 300,000 passengers, to his deputy in the early hours of Friday.

It also emerged that Government ministers and Heathrow bosses were warned 10 years ago that the airport's power supply was a "key weakness". Dane Mr Woldbye, who took over as Heathrow's CEO in October 2023, was paid an eye-watering £3.2 million last year, including a £2.2 million bonus. But he chose to sleep instead of working through the night as flames engulfed the airport's main electricity substation.

The 60-year-old is understood to have been at an event in central London when the power first went out late on Thursday night. The airport's senior management was split into two "gold commands" as the scale of the crisis became apparent.

It was decided just after midnight that Mr Woldbye's command would go to bed, leaving Javier Echave in charge. It is understood Mr Woldbye resumed work at about 7.30am via telephone and was in his office at 9am.

He said he was "proud" of the way Heathrow staff had responded to the crisis. But Reform MP Richard Tice branded the CEO "idle, incompetent" and "a failure, not a leader.”

He said: "Thomas Woldbye must be the most out of touch arrogant CEO in UK He is proud of a Heathrow team who have humiliated the UK. No apology, no proper backup plan."

Mr Tice added: "He won’t resign - so the board should fire him.”

Lord Toby Harris, chairman of the National Preparedness Commission, described Heathrow's shutdown, which saw more than 1,300 flights cancelled or delayed, as an "enormous failure".

He said: 'It sounds to me like Heathrow airport was simply not as prepared as it should have been."

It also emerged that a report by the consultancy Jacobs highlighted in November 2014 how electricity outages could shut down Heathrow.

The report, published on a Government website, warned: "Even a brief interruption to electricity supplies could have a long-lasting impact as systems can take time to recover."

It added: "Beyond the management of supply and grid services, which lie outside the airport's control, the responsibility for managing electricity supply risk lies with the airport and businesses operating from the airport.

"While some services can be temporarily supported with generator or battery back-ups, the key weakness is the main transmission line connections to the airport.

"Outages could cause disruption to passenger, baggage and aircraft handling functions and could require closure of areas of affected terminals or potentially the entire airport."

Other major airport hubs have ploughed millions into boosting power supplies. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport in the US, the world's busiest, spent $100million to build 20 back-up generators after it lost power in 2017. Energy secretary Ed Miliband has commissioned an urgent investigation into the power cut.

Heathrow's chairman Lord Paul Deighton said an internal review into the power outage, focusing on the airport's crisis management plans. will be chaired by former Labour Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly. However, Mr. Woldbye declined to comment when asked whether he should resign over the shutdown.

He pledged to “look at what we can do better” but rejected criticism that the airport should have had backup systems inline to keep power on after the blaze.