British Airways’ flights suffered delays on Monday (18 November) after the carrier experienced IT problems with its computer systems.
Reports suggest that problems started around 5pm on Monday evening, leading to delays of one to two hours to services. BA’s website and app were also reported to have been affected by the failure.
Both domestic and international flights were impacted by the IT issues but BA’s services had largely returned to normal by Tuesday (19 November) morning.
A BA spokesperson said: “A technical issue affecting some of our operational systems meant that for a short period on Monday, we were unable to depart flights as quickly as usual. Our back-up network immediately kicked in so our operation could continue and we were able to get our main systems back online within an hour.
“There were no cancellations on our mainline network as a result of this issue. We’ve made significant investment in our IT infrastructure, putting in £750 million to replace legacy systems to help prevent outages and recover more quickly when they do occur, which is exactly what happened here.”
BA passengers turned to social media to complain about the delays to their flights on Monday, with some travellers forced to “stand on the tarmac” while they waited.
“We never want to inconvenience customers,” added the airline’s spokesperson. “We’ve apologised to those who did face delays and we’re grateful to them for their patience, as well as our colleagues who worked so hard to resolve this issue and support customers.”
The airline has suffered major IT failures in the past, including an incident in early 2022 when all short-haul flights had to be cancelled for one day.