Pierluigi Paganini
July 19, 2018
The problem had severe repercussions on the air traffic, many passengers also had their flights delayed.
“On one of the busiest days of the summer, British Airways cancelled dozens of flights to and from Heathrow, affecting at least 7,000 passengers
Problems began for BA when the control tower was closed for around 35 minutes on Wednesday afternoon when a fire alarm was triggered. Landings and take-offs were stopped.” reported the British Independent,
The IT problem affected 7,000 passengers and more than 3,000 were forced to spend the night abroad attempting to fly back to London.
Officially the problem was originated by the IT supplier Amadeus that caused disruption to the flights, below the official statement of British Airways on its Twitter account. Reportedly, the British Airways passengers stranded at the airport were advised to ‘look for overnight accommodation or seek alternative travel arrangements’.
It seems that the IT problems affected also online-check in service of the company.
“We are aware that British Airways is currently experiencing an issue which is impacting their ability to provide boarding passes to some passengers. We will be working with the airline to support their efforts to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.” stated a spokesperson for Heathrow.
The problems began a few hours after a fire alarm at Heathrow’s air traffic control tower was triggered causing delays for several airlines. According to the airport, this event is not related to the British Airways issue, while airline glitch has “impacted operation of the airfield for a short while”.
“The vast majority of customers affected by the supplier system issue and the temporary closure of Heathrow airport’s air traffic control tower are now on route to their destinations.”
“The supplier, Amadeus, resolved their system issue last night, and our schedule is now operating as normal.” said a spokesperson for British Airways.”
“We have apologised to our customers for disruption to their travel plans.”
British Airways experienced another technical problem at its IT systems in May 2017.
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(Security Affairs – British Airways, cybersecurity)
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