A programs outage has pressured British Airways to cancel at the very least 60 flights, affecting hundreds of passengers.
The IT collapse crippled operations on the airline, inflicting large delays to departures and inbound flights.
It’s the newest in a sequence of programs failures in recent times, together with some that triggered days-long chaos and value the provider tens of millions of kilos in compensation payouts.
Dozens of short-haul flights have been axed, in addition to a handful of long-haul flights, forward of what’s already anticipated to be Heathrow’s busiest journey day firstly of a financial institution vacation weekend and half-term getaway.
“Our groups are working arduous to resolve a technical challenge that we’ve skilled this afternoon,” the airline mentioned. “We apologise for the inconvenience and thank our clients for his or her persistence.”
Lengthy queues have begun to type at Heathrow as passengers search different flights, whereas lots of these touchdown on the airport are unable to disembark.
Vienna, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Venice, Rome, Hamburg, Aberdeen and Milan are among the many affected locations from Heathrow. Boston, New York JFK and Mumbai are the long-haul cancellations.
BA flights at London Gatwick had been additionally affected.
The outage additionally briefly knocked the provider’s reserving system offline, stopping clients from checking in for flights or accessing their bookings or accounts.
Earlier this 12 months, British Airways returned to revenue for the primary time since 2019.
Father or mother firm IAG, which additionally owns Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, made £7.9m in working revenue within the first quarter of 2023 – in comparison with a lack of£660m over the identical interval in 2022 – and the agency predicts a bumper summer season.
BA mentioned clients ought to nonetheless test in as regular for its flights.
Heathrow Airport mentioned: “British Airways has suffered a technical challenge which is impacting some British Airways departing and arriving flights. For the standing of flights please contact both British Airways or your journey supplier.”