British Airways has canceled more than 140 flights on the busiest leisure travel day of the year as it grapples with a computer problem that also affects some passengers’ ability to check in remotely.
A person familiar with the airline’s operations said 23 flights from Heathrow were canceled on Friday morning, resulting in the cancellation of 46 return flights. A further 20 flights arriving at Heathrow were canceled because Thursday’s outbound flight was not operating.
A total of 80 flights were canceled on Thursday. The airline’s website asked passengers to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport. “We are aware of a technical issue and we have been working to resolve it,” the website said.
British Airways said it had apologized to passengers whose flights had been affected and given them the option of rebooking on an alternative flight with BA or another airline, or seeking a refund. The airline typically operates around 850 flights per day.
The airline, which is part of International Airlines Group, said it had focused the cancellations on routes with multiple flights a day to ensure passengers had alternatives. A sample of 67 BA flights departing Heathrow on Friday showed two flights were canceled and 30 were expected to be delayed.
British Airways said: “While the vast majority of our flights continue to operate today, we have canceled some short-haul flights from Heathrow due to the knock-on effect of the technical issues we experienced yesterday.”
Friday’s disruption comes on top of recent strike action by some Heathrow security staff belonging to the Unite union. Friday was the second day in a row that staff took action in three days. Heathrow insisted the action had not affected operations at the airport, calling it unnecessary and saying it was running smoothly.
Like many other European airline groups, IAG has been expecting summer travel levels to be at or above levels seen before the pandemic slashed demand for air travel in 2019.The group raised its full-year profit forecast on May 5 in response to a recovery in travel demand and lower fuel costs
British Airways did not say when operations were expected to return to normal following the two-day disruption.