British Airways cancels all flights out of London due to global IT failure
The problem occurred on a holiday weekend, when thousands of Britons are travelling
British Airways said on Saturday that it had cancelled all its flights out of major London airports Heathrow and Gatwick after an IT systems failure, warning people not to travel to the congested hubs.
“We have experienced a major IT system failure that is causing very severe disruption to our flight operations worldwide,” BA said in a statement.
“The terminals at Heathrow and Gatwick have become extremely congested and we have cancelled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick before 6pm UK time today, so please do not come to the airports.”
The airline said it had found “no evidence that it’s a cyberattack,” with Britain still recovering from a ransomware attack that crippled key infrastructure earlier this month.
Two flights – BA 32 and BA 28 – were scheduled for departure from Hong Kong to Heathrow on Saturday evening at 11.10pm and 11.45pm respectively. The real-time flight information published on the airport’s website did not indicate there would be any delays.
Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said it has not received any notification from British Airways regarding delays or cancellations for two inbound and two outbound flights on Sunday.