British Airways plans to resume its flights from London on Sunday, with a return to normal in Gatwick and the majority of its flights insured from Heathrow, said the British airline in a statement.
It states that disturbances will still be recorded after the previous day’s computer failure, as the aircraft and crews are not positioned at the right locations in its global network.
Computer Failure
Only travellers with a confirmed reservation can go to both airports and check on site if a departure is planned, adds the company.
British Airways had to cancel all its flights Saturday from the London airports following a computer breakdown, in full weekend of big departures, leaving on the ground thousands of passengers.
In a video posted on Twitter, CEO Alex Cruz said the incident was related to “a power supply problem“, and had no connection with “any cyberattack.”
Long weekend
This breakdown occurred on the first day of an extended weekend, Monday being a bank holiday in the United Kingdom, traditionally synonymous with many departures. The users have not failed to express their anger on social networks.
The company apologised to its Twitter account and tried to respond to the many passengers exceeded.
Earlier in the day, British Airways had asked its customers to “not go” to both airports, the terminals being already “extremely congested“. An AFP photographer saw at the end of the day that many travellers were hurrying outside Heathrow airport in the middle of their luggage.
The entry of the airport was forbidden for reasons of “hygiene and security“, according to travellers interrogated.
Some hotels surrounding the airports charged extortionate prices to stranded holiday makers with some asking between £1,000 to £2,500 a room for the night.
The company had already suffered further computer failures in 2016, causing significant delays in July and September.
Official British Airways’ statement:
We’re very sorry for the serious disruption our customers faced on Saturday, we’re working around the clock to get our systems working.
There will be some knock-on disruption to our schedules on Sunday, as aircraft and crews are out of position around the world.
At this stage we’re aiming to operate a near normal schedule of flights from Gatwick and the majority of our Heathrow services on Sunday.
Please don’t come to the airport unless you have a confirmed booking for travel.
Please continue to check http://ba.com for the very latest schedule info before starting your journey.
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This morning, departure boards showed flights departing from Gatwick early on Sunday, however several flights from Heathrow were cancelled.
At Brussels Airport, flight BA393 to London Heathrow (SDT 11:25) is cancelled. All other flights are operating.
