British Airways chairman and CEO Alex Cruz has apologised after an IT failure brought about by 'a power surge' left thousands of passengers stranded over the weekend.
Some 75,000 BA passengers are thought to have been affected across Heathrow and Gatwick airports, after all flights were grounded on saturday.
Mr Cruz apologises for travel chaos
It is thought the incident could end up costing BA around £100m in compensation, customer care and lost business. Under EU law all those affected are entitled to compensation.
Mr Cruz vowed to launch an investigation into the incident and pledged 'this will not happen again at British Airways'.
'On Saturday morning we had a power surge. It affected our communications systems. We will make an in-depth investigation to make sure we get to the bottom of why this happened. Absolutely this will not happen again at British Airways,' he added.
The IT systems are now back up and running and BA is operating a full flight schedule at Heathrow and Gatwick on Tuesday 30 May, the company said
Mr Cruz added: 'We absolutely apologise. We are very sorry, we know people have been waiting in the airports in long queues. We are absolutely committed to make sure we fulfil our obligations particularly from a passenger compensation point of view.'
Customers are advised that they can seek advice and guidance on how to claim compensation on the BA website.
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