Written on 31^st March 2025

Heathrow Fire: Crisis Management Through a Global Response

On the evening of Thursday, 20 March 2025, a significant fire broke out at the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, West London. The blaze led to a major power outage at Heathrow Airport, causing widespread disruption that had a significant impact on TAG and our customers. As Europe’s busiest airport, the disruption caused considerable travel chaos, affecting 463 business and leisure travellers.

With flights grounded, delays mounting and uncertainty growing, TAG was the first point of contact for clients urgently seeking solutions to reach their destinations. Whether rebooking flights, securing alternative routes or arranging emergency accommodation, the team was under immense pressure to deliver swift and effective support. The crisis highlighted the essential role of a trusted Travel Management Company (TMC) in navigating unexpected travel disruptions across the globe.

1.  How did TAG respond to the situation?

As soon as the situation unfolded, TAG activated full-scale crisis management mode, leveraging its global infrastructure and disaster contingency team to respond proactively. Our response was swift and strategic, ensuring minimal disruption for clients.

Global Team


As a 24/7 global business, the APAC team was already online when the incident occurred and alerted the UK team around 3:00 a.m. local time. Recognising the scale of the disruption, additional staff were mobilised within TAG24's emergency team to manage the surge in urgent requests.

The UK day team commenced work two hours earlier than usual, ensuring a smooth transition from the emergency response team and providing additional support to address client needs efficiently.

Throughout the day, global teams remained in constant communication, ensuring that as different regions came online, handover processes were seamless and well-coordinated. This structured, proactive approach enabled TAG to provide timely solutions, reduce stress for clients, and maintain uninterrupted travel support despite the crisis.

Disaster Response Team


TAG’s disaster response team swiftly drafted and sent personalised client communications rather than generic messages, ensuring that each company had a clear understanding of how their travellers were affected.

The team also ran reports on all impacted travellers globally before the UK team began their day, giving TAG a head start in assessing the situation. This meant that by the time new teams logged on, there were already actionable plans in place.

2.  What key skills and expertise did TAG utilise in its response?

TAG’s response was driven by a combination of expertise, preparedness and seamless collaboration.

Key skills included:

• Crisis Management & Problem-Solving – TAG thrives in high-pressure situations, applying strategic thinking and rapid decision-making to provide immediate solutions.
• Global Coordination – With teams operating across multiple time zones, effective cross-border communication ensured a smooth transition of responsibilities as different regions came online.
• Proactive Communication – Providing clear, timely and tailored updates to clients was a priority. By delivering passenger-specific insights rather than generic updates, TAG strengthened client confidence and trust.
• Teamwork & Agility – The dedication and adaptability of our global teams was exceptional. Staff adjusted work hours, reallocated resources and collaborated seamlessly across departments to meet client needs.
• Technical Preparedness – TAG’s ability to run passenger impact reports early and efficiently allocate resources significantly enhanced response times and effectiveness.

By responsing to the situation in this manner, our teams were able to showcase TAG's commitment to exceptional client service and professionalism in crisis management.

3.  What was the outcome of TAG’s response?

TAG’s swift and effective response had overwhelmingly positive results. The team received an outpouring of emails from grateful clients, thanking them for their efficiency and dedication in managing the crisis. Many clients expressed relief at having booked through a professional TMC, recognising the value of having a trusted partner to navigate disruptions.

Beyond client satisfaction, the crisis also provided an opportunity for internal reflection and improvement. TAG used this experience to review and refine its disaster recovery plans, ensuring even better equipped for future incidents.

4.  What lessons did TAG learn from this incident, and how has it improved its processes as a result?

This event reinforced the reality that disruptions can happen at any time. However, with a strong team, a solid plan and a proactive mindset, a crisis can be transformed into a success story.

Key takeaways include:

• The importance of global coordination – TAG’s ability to leverage different time zones was crucial in staying ahead of the situation.
• Further refining client communications – While tailored messaging was well received, TAG will continue to enhance the speed and clarity of emergency updates.
• Strengthening proactive reporting – Faster identification of impacted travellers will allow TAG to streamline solutions even further.
• Enhancing internal training for crisis response – While the team performed exceptionally well, ongoing investment in crisis management training will ensure TAG maintains its high standards.

TAG’s ability to handle this crisis reinforced its reputation as a reliable and proactive travel management partner, providing invaluable support to clients when it mattered most.

Client Testimonial

"Something you don't see very often - no planes at LHR!! Flight tracker is normally dotted with little yellow planes at LHR.

So much upheaval today for everyone to and from London. Like me, many administration professionals got up this morning to find that their travellers were stuck and had to re-arrange flights etc for them. I have definitely earned a G&T tonight .

However, I want to give a big shout-out to the corporate travel agency teams, who got on line or on the phone to help travellers out. A big shout out to my team at TAG, who helped out my traveller this morning even before I got up, and managed to get him on a flight back to the UK this evening. They got into the office early to help their travellers out and to me that is great customer service. Sanjoy Dasgupta & Jay Blanchard - I hope they all get some recognition for today."

- Julie Martin 
EA to Co-Founders & Office Manager at GFO-X