British Airways to operate full flight schedule at Heathrow and Gatwick

TINNews |

British Airways has said that it will be operating a full flight schedule at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports after a major computer system outage led to thousands of flight cancellations over the UK's bank holiday weekend.

As stated by British Airways, the IT systems are now 'back up and running' and the airline aims to operate the majority of flights departing from Heathrow Airport and attain an almost normal schedule at Gatwick Airport.

Heathrow has warned its travellers as the airport expects further delays and cancellations of British Airways services.

In a message to customers, British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz said: “Many of our IT systems are back up today and my colleagues across the airline are working very hard to build back our flight programme and get as many of our customers as possible away on their travels.”

"Many of our IT systems are back up today and my colleagues across the airline are working very hard to build back our flight programme."

Cruz added: “On behalf of everyone at British Airways, I want to apologise for the fact you've had to go through these very trying experiences and to thank you for your patience and understanding.”

According to the British Airways General Trade Union (GMB), the airline's 2016 decision of outsourcing information technology (IT) jobs to India to cut costs is a major cause of the global outage, reported the Guardian.

The system failure has affected the airline’s baggage handling solution, booking system, mobile phone apps and check-in counters.

According to flightstats.com, more than 1,000 flights are reported to have been affected due to the outage, with 406 British Airways flights rescheduled at Heathrow Airport and another 71 aircraft delayed at Gatwick.