BRITISH Airways has suffered a major IT outage that has left countless flights in Europe grounded.
The issue is causing delays and cancellations for potentially tens of thousands of passengers.
The airline’s website was also down this evening, as well as its mobile app, while internal phone lines had also been cut off.
Reports of issues began emerging at around 6pm, when passengers said they were stuck on tarmacs waiting for clearance to take off.
An IT glitch is reported to have impacted the carrier’s computer software, making it impossible for pilots to file their flight plans electronically, meaning they had to manually call Heathrow Airport.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We are aware of a technical issue that British Airways are investigating.
“And we will be working with them to provide updates to passengers as soon as they are available. Heathrow systems are operating as normal.”
Flight Emergency on X wrote: “British Airways have lost all Communications to aircraft around Europe due to an IT outage, flights will be managed by Heathrow air traffic control to get inbound flights back to base.”
One Brit wrote on X: “British Airways appear to have had a major IT outage…again.
“Flight currently grounded, captain currently furious. Sass flying at about 45,000 feet as he gives fantastic passive aggressive updates.
“He can’t get hold of anyone for an update @British_Airways can you help?”
Another passenger replied: “We’re sitting on the tarmac in Hamburg… same thing, pilots are grounded until they can get clearance to leave, they need to know how heavy the plane is to calculate take off speed etc… so we’re waiting.”
One more added: “Same issue in Naples. The captain says even the internal phone system has stopped working so he can’t contact Heathrow.”
British Airways’s X account responded to the thread at 8.45pm: “Our website is down. We are doing all we can to return online as soon as possible. Hopefully not too long before the Captain has his updates. Thanks for your understanding. Have a good journey. Angela.”
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