British Airways has cancelled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Saturday following a major IT failure that caused severe disruption to its global operations. The airline said its terminals became “extremely congested” due to computer problems, leading to the grounding of all flights from the UK’s two largest airports for the rest of the day.
The IT crash affected BA’s booking system, baggage handling, mobile phone apps and check-in desks, leaving passengers facing long queues and confusion. More than 1,000 flights were affected, with 406 scheduled departures from Heathrow and 71 from Gatwick after 9am, according to flightstats.com. The airline warned that delays could continue into Sunday, though most long-haul flights should be able to land as normal in London.
BA initially cancelled all flights before 6pm UK time but later extended this to include all remaining flights. A spokeswoman said: “We are working hard to get our customers who were due to fly today on to the next available flights over the course of the rest of the weekend. Those unable to fly will be offered a full refund.” Chief executive Alex Cruz apologised for the inconvenience, particularly for families hoping to travel during the half-term holiday.
There were chaotic scenes at the London terminals as travellers tried to make their way overseas. Some passengers, like Henry Tail, 27, from London, missed their flights after being unable to access their booking details via the BA app. Others complained of being left in the dark, with flight information boards still showing “go to gate” more than an hour after the airline announced cancellations. BA advised passengers to check ba.com and its Twitter account for updates.
Air industry consultant John Strickland said there would be a “massive knock-on effect” because planes and crew were all in the wrong places. The GMB union blamed the problems on BA’s decision to outsource hundreds of IT jobs to India last year. However, BA said it had found no evidence of a cyber-attack, despite speculation following the recent WannaCry ransomware attack.
