Heathrow Airport’s Thomas Woldbye in London.
Photographer: Betty Laura Zapata/BloombergHeathrow CEO Sees Air Travel Rebounding From Middle East Turmoil
Thomas Woldbye has navigated London’s main airport through a power outage and a cyberattack. Now he’s facing disruption to key hubs like Dubai.
Thomas Woldbye led London’s Heathrow Airport in 2025 through a power outage and a cyber attack that caused chaos for hundreds of thousands of passengers and prompted separate reviews. Now, after an uptick in passengers at the start of the year, the Middle East conflict threatens to upend any optimistic predictions for 2026.
The 61-year-old Danish executive spoke to Bloomberg about the chances of Europe’s busiest hub having a third runway in a decade and the lessons learned from last year’s power outage after he slept through part of the blackout. He also offers his view on the best holiday destination right now. The transcript has been edited for brevity.