UPDATED: BA reports 'good progress' on flight schedule after IT meltdown

British Airways says it making good progress in restoring its full flight schedule in the wake of Saturday IT meltdown as one estimate has put the cost of compensation for the major systems failure as high as £100 million ($US128m). The meltdown affected the airline’s operations worldwide and caused chaos as all flights were halted at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The airline blamed the crippling IT problems on a power supply issue and said there was no evidence it was the result of a cyber attack. It denied a claim by a British union that it was due to a decision to outsource hundreds of IT jobs to India last year. The airline operated a full schedule at Gatwick on Sunday and virtually all of its scheduled long-haul international flights from Heathrow, although the knock-on effects of the disruption resulted in a reduced short-haul program. It expected to improve on this on Monday. “As our IT systems move closer to full operational capacity, we will again run a full schedule at Gatwick and intend to operate a full long-haul schedule and a high proportion of our short-haul program at Heathrow,’’ it said on its website. “Our terminals at Heathrow are still expected to be congested so we ask that you do not to come to the airport unless you have a confirmed booking for today and know that your flight is operating.” He airline said there was a significant number of bags at Heathrow which would be reunited with customers via couriers as soon as possible. The meltdown affected BA flights worldwide as its check-in and operational systems crashed, including call centres, forcing the carrier to communicate via its website and Twitter. Coming during a British bank holiday weekend, It caused long queues and confusion at airports and left planes stuck on runways. The airline extended its flexible booking policy to allow passengers due to fly from the airports Sunday and Monday to rebook to travel up to June 10 even if their flight was operating. Apologising for the disruption, BA said affected customers could claim a full refund or rebook to a future date for travel up until the end of November 2017. It also urged customers to keep any food, transport or accommodation receipts so they could make a  compensation claim. The airline also faces compensation claims under European Union rules requiring payments of up to 600 euros, depending on the delay and the length of the flight. This could mean a compensation bill as high as £100 million, according to The Guardian newspaper. The head of compensation claim site Resolver, James Walker, told the newspaper BA handled BA handled about 120,000 passengers a day in and out of Heathrow and Gatwick, indicating a bill of close to £50m under EU-backed compensation rules. Added to this was the cost of meals, accommodation and courier services for bags. “This is not like an ash cloud or traffic controllers’ strike that can’t be predicted,’’ Walker said. “The computer system breaking down is within its control. BA is going to have to pay out and it looks like its costs will be north of £100m.”