BA's IT failure expected to cost owner IAG £80m

Willie Walsh gave the estimate during the airline giant’s annual general meeting, where the company also apologised to customers and praised management teams for the way they handled the incident.

“On May 27 British Airways suffered a power failure to its primary data centre which led to severe disruption to its flights. Our initial assessment of the gross costs of the disruption is in the order of £80 million. We will update the market at the appropriate time with more details.”

Mr Walsh added that “it was an outstanding achievement by the teams involved”, and stressed that IAG was “working hard to make sure customers are compensated”.

More than 670 flights were cancelled due to a power failure over the spring bank holiday weekend at the end of May, sparking a raft of compensation claims for flight costs, train and hotel expenses, replacement clothes and toiletries.

Under EU law, passengers can claim compensation from BA for cancelled or delayed flights, worth up to 600 euro (£528).

They can also claim expenses for items such as hotels, meals and phone calls.

Some 75,000 passengers were stranded by the IT shutdown.