BA's Massive IT Meltdown Cost the Airline More Than $100 Million
Last month, British Airways experienced a massive meltdown — a worldwide IT outage, forcing it to cancel more than 700 flights. As it later turned out — after more than 75,000 passengers' travel plans were affected — the outage was caused by a contractor inadvertently switching the power supply off. Now, we know the damage caused to BA, monetarily speaking.
According to Reuters, Willie Walsh, CEO of BA's parent International Airlines Group (IAG), said at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Madrid, Spain that the outage cost the company around £80 million, or $102 million. The £80 million figure is only an initial assessment, too, so the total could creep even higher.
Walsh said that the company is investigating what happened and also said that it wasn't connected to BA's cost-cutting efforts. Following the massive outage, BA also faced more setbacks today when a baggage system at London's Heathrow (LHR) failed. As a result, thousands of passengers had to leave the airport without their checked bags during peak morning travel hours. IAG also owns Aer Lingus, Vueling, Iberia and LEVEL.