BA left to count cost of weekend IT meltdown

Shares in BA's parent company IAG fell 4.5% on Tuesday, the first day of London trading this week

Shares in the parent company of British Airways (BA) fell on Tuesday after a huge IT failure left 75,000 passengers stranded over a holiday weekend, dealing a major blow to an airline that once marketed itself as “the world’s favourite”. 

The British flag carrier had to cancel all flights from London’s Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, and Gatwick on Saturday after a power surge knocked out its computer system, disrupting flight operations, call centres and its website. 

Problems continued over the long weekend, and although BA said it expected to run a full schedule from Heathrow and Gatwick on Tuesday, it was left