British Airways Cancels Flights at Heathrow over Technical Issue

By Nurat Uthman

Passengers have been stranded at Heathrow Airport in London on Friday as British Airways cancelled dozens of lights over a “technical issue”.

At least 50 flights were called off from Thursday afternoon and further delays are possible into the bank holiday weekend, according to British local media.

The Guardian UK said a large number of inbound flights were delayed for more than an hour.

Some passengers due to depart yesterday evening were notified their flights were delayed. The airline said passengers should check their flight status before going to the airport on Friday.

A statement from British Airways released just before 10 pm on Thursday said: “We’re aware of a technical issue, which we have been working hard to fix…Due to high call volumes please only contact us if you’re due to travel in the next 48 hours.”

A tweet from British Airways at 11.27 pm on Thursday said systems were back up and running but there might still be intermittent issues.

The airline said, “While the majority of our flights have continued to operate [on Thursday], we have had to cancel a number of Heathrow flights due to a technical issue.

“Affected customers have been contacted and offered options, including a refund or rebooking to an alternative flight with us or another carrier. We are extremely sorry to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”

On Thursday queues of passengers seeking assistance formed at Heathrow, with some also unable to check in online. The airline mainly cancelled flights to destinations with multiple departures to allow customers to travel.