BA flights were back in the skies Tuesday but the company faced increasing pressure over its response to the huge IT failure that left 75,000 passengers stranded over a holiday weekend and dealt a major blow to its reputation. BA, which once marketed itself as "the world's favorite airline" suffered a public relations disaster after it had to cancel all flights from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Saturday. It blamed a power surge that knocked out its computer system, disrupting flight operations, call centers and its website. Although BA said it expected to run a full schedule from Heathrow and Gatwick on Tuesday, it was left with work to do in the longer term to restore its reputation after a long weekend of chaos and frustration for passengers. British PM Theresa May weighed in on the issue on the campaign trial ahead of the June 8 national election. "It is up to them to sort their IT out and to ensure that they're able to provide the services that people expect them to provide as BA," May said. BA said it was launching a thorough investigation to understand what happened and make sure there was no repeat.<br/>
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The catastrophic IT failure at British Airways that ruined travel plans for 75,000 people has raised questions about some older airlines' focus on costs to the detriment of investment in new computer systems. As BA resumed full service Tuesday, shares in its parent company, International Airlines Group, dropped 3% as investors appeared to worry that the company's quality of service may have been undermined by recent efforts to save money. Disaster struck on Saturday, when the company's computer systems went down and there was no functioning back-up. The airline cancelled all flights and only managed to resume full service on Tuesday. "Although cost cutting has been good for the share price in the last year, it will come back to bite IAG if it stops them from doing what they are supposed to do: Fly passengers to their destinations," said Kathleen Brooks, the research director at City Index. The problem with IT systems is recurring across the industry, particularly among established airlines. In August, Delta cancelled hundreds of flights when a power outage likewise knocked out its computer systems worldwide. Airlines face challenges with their IT systems also due to linkages across their systems. There's further demand on the system when companies consolidate — as has been the case among airlines — since "IT issues get heightened and any vulnerabilities are exposed." Such troubles give an advantage to newer airlines such as Ryanair.<br/>
The airline industry battle between full-service carriers and discounters looks like an increasingly unfair fight. With BA still digging out of its weekend meltdown, Ryanair reported higher profit and announced plans to accelerate its European expansion. It’s the latest sign that legacy carriers are groping for ways to compete beyond just offering customers less and less for higher fares. The looming danger for airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa is that no-frills carriers are putting increasing pressure on the main source of their profits: long-haul travel. Ryanair, which is also moving into main hubs from secondary airports, has signed deals to feed passengers to Air Europa, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA and even Aer Lingus, which has the same parent as British Airways. If Norwegian can show that its ambitious long-haul budget model can work, then the air will indeed become very thin for Europe’s legacy carriers. “Events like what happened with BA at Heathrow and Gatwick can only be good for our business,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said. “We’re certainly seeing a build-up yesterday and today into June, July, August, of people who are not willing to take the risk that they’ll be stranded by BA at Heathrow.” <br/>