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British Airways passengers are facing a weekend of severe travel disruption after a “technical issue” forced the UK flag carrier to cancel around 160 flights on Thursday and Friday and many more were badly delayed. The problems, mainly with short-haul flights to and from the airline’s London Heathrow hub, came as passengers prepared get away during the coming half-term holiday week for many schools. Cancellations on Friday evening suggested at least some disruption would continue into Saturday as aircraft and flight crews were wrongly positioned overnight. A person familiar with the airline’s operations said 30 flights from Heathrow were cancelled on Friday, leading to the scrapping of 60 round trips. Another 20 arrivals at Heathrow were cancelled because outbound flights on Thursday had not been operated. Friday’s disruptions came after around 80 flights were also scrapped on Thursday. Some flights were delayed because the computer problems prevented passengers from checking in online at home and had instead to queue at the airport. BA’s website asked passengers to check their flight status before heading to Heathrow. “We’re aware of a technical issue, which we have been working hard to fix,” the website said. The cancellations are the latest of several episodes when IT failures have forced British Airways to make multiple cancellations. The airline also suffered mass flight cancellations in February and March last year because of computer problems. In common with many European airlines, it suffered severe operational problems last summer as it struggled to handle a spike in travel following the coronavirus pandemic. This week’s disruption comes on top of the latest strike action by some Heathrow security staff belonging to the Unite trade union. Friday was the second of three consecutive days of action by the staff. Heathrow has insisted the action, which it attacked as unnecessary, had no effect on the airport’s operations, which it described as smooth. British Airways said it had apologised to passengers whose flights had been affected and offered them the option to rebook an alternative flight with BA or another carrier, or seek a refund. The airline normally operates about 850 flights daily.<br/>

Malaysian Aviation Group has signed a sustainable aviation fuel offtake agreement with Petronas Dagangan, as part of efforts to develop the green fuel on a commercial scale in Malaysia, the two firms said on Friday. Petronas Dagangan will supply more than 230,000 tonnes of SAF to MAG's airlines - national carrier Malaysia Airlines, and Firefly and MASwings - with the first delivery expected from 2027 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the two companies said in a joint statement. "Moving forward, we target to introduce SAF on selected scheduled services gradually from 2027 onwards," said Philip See, MAG's chief sustainability officer. The SAF will be produced at Petronas' co-processing plant in the state of Malacca, the statement said.<br/>