British Airways said Monday that it does not have “a complete picture” of what caused the catastrophic IT outage that took down its systems in 170 airports across 70 different countries over the weekend.
The impact of the incident, which began on Saturday, continued with a third day of disruption on Monday, a national holiday in the UK. At least 75,000 customers have been affected so far.
“At this stage we know there was an exceptional power surge that collapsed our IT systems, bringing down all our flight, baggage and customer communication systems,” said the CEO of British Airways, Alex Cruz, in a statement Monday.
“It appears to have been so strong that it rendered the back-up system ineffective.”
BA was forced to cancel Saturday flights out of London’s Gatwick and Heathrow airports, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
At Heathrow, short haul flights continued to be affected through Sunday and Monday with cancellations affecting flights to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Marseille, Vienna, Amsterdam, Milan and cities across the UK. Customers complained on social media that they are yet to be reunited with their luggage.
Cruz said: “At the moment, we do not have a complete picture of what happened. Our focus has been on putting things right for the customers affected. When that process is complete, we will hold an exhaustive investigation into the causes of this incident — and do whatever is necessary to ensure it cannot recur.”
He “apologised profusely” to travelers, saying: “We know customers have been having a horrible time. Some have had holidays curtailed or missed special occasions, or had to spend many hours at airports waiting for news.”
Cruz said 95% of flights were back to normal by Monday and that two-thirds of customers will have flown to their destinations by the end of the day.
Earlier Monday, he told Sky News that there is “no evidence that there was a cyber-attack,” and no customer data was compromised.
Those who choose to change their travel dates can pick any alternative dates within the next six months.
BA also promised to honor its obligations under EU compensation rules.