British Airways has said it is aiming to operate a “near normal schedule” at Gatwick and the “majority of services” from Heathrow on Sunday after a global IT crash crippled the airline.
Thousands of passengers were left stranded after scores of planes were grounded by the major systems failure believed to have been caused by a power supply issue.
The airline said its engineers were “continuing to work hard” to restore its services and it hoped most UK flights would resume on Sunday.
However experts predict the disruption could continue for several days and BA is facing huge compensation costs after all its flights from Gatwick and Heathrow were cancelled on Saturday.
There were chaotic scenes at the Gatwick and Heathrow as people tried to make their way overseas for the long weekend and half-term school holiday. All of BA’s check-in and operational systems were affected by the issue, including the airline’s customer service phone lines and rebooking function.
The incident had a knock-on effect on BA’s operations around the world. BA chief executive Alex Cruz said the airline was “extremely sorry” for the “huge inconvenience” suffered by customers, especially families heading on half term holidays.
Travellers have been told to check the airline’s website and Twitter account for updates before setting off for the airport. The glitch is believed to have been caused by a “power supply issue” and there is no evidence of a cyber attack, the airline said.
BA initially cancelled all flights before 6pm on Saturday but later announced that planes would be grounded for the rest of the day and warned passengers not to go to the airports. It is feared that it could take days for services to return to normal and clear the backlog of passengers.
Several travellers at Heathrow told the Press Association they were not told their flights were cancelled until more than an hour after the airline put out a press statement announcing the decision.
At Gatwick, frustrated passengers could be seen surrounding BA staff at the check-in as they handed out letters which apologised for the cancellations and gave details about how to claim for hotels, local transport and refreshments.
Customers who saw their flights cancelled are being refunded or rebooked on to new services and other options are available for those who no longer want to fly.
A BA spokesman said: “We are continuing to work hard to restore all of our IT systems and are aiming to operating a near normal schedule at Gatwick and the majority of services from Heathrow on Sunday. “We are extremely sorry for the huge disruption caused to customers throughout Saturday and understand how frustrating their experiences will have been.
“We are refunding or rebooking customers who suffered cancellations on to new services as quickly as possible and have also introduced more flexible rebooking policies for anyone due to travel on Sunday and Monday who no longer wishes to fly to/from Heathrow or Gatwick.
“We would advise customers travelling across the Bank Holiday weekend to continue checking the status of their flight on our website, www.ba.com before coming to the airport.”
BA had issues with its online check-in systems in September and July last year, causing severe delays for passengers.
