British Airways cancels flights for second day after IT outage

BRITISH Airways was forced to cancel more of its short-haul flights from Heathrow on Friday (May 26) following a computer outage that knocked out parts of its service on Thursday, just as UK travellers prepare for one of the busiest travel periods over an extended weekend.

“While the vast majority of our flights continue to operate today, we have cancelled some of our short-haul flights from Heathrow due to the knock-on effect of a technical issue that we experienced yesterday,” the airline said in a statement.

While British Airways didn’t specify the number of cancelled flights, disruptions reached 128 scrapped services on Thursday and another 35 on Friday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Heathrow Airport, where British Airways is based, said on Twitter that technical problems are impacting some departing and arriving flights.

The disruptions come just as travellers across Europe gear up for one of the biggest travel weekends, with many countries enjoying a public holiday on Monday.

Airlines and airports have said they’re better prepared to handle the massive surge in bookings than they were a year ago, when the post-pandemic rebound overwhelmed the industry and led to thousands of cancelled flights, misplaced luggage and long lines at airports from Heathrow to Amsterdam to Frankfurt. BLOOMBERG

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