IAG traffic rises in May; independent investigation to examine BA power failure

British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group reported a rise in traffic in May on the same day its chief executive said the recent meltdown at BA may have been caused by human error.

The airline, which also owns Aer Lingus and Vueling, said group traffic as measured in revenue passenger kilometres rose 1.8% in May from the previous year.

Group capacity measured in available seat kilometres was up 0.8%, while premium traffic increased 5.2%. Meanwhile, the load factor - which measures how full flights were - ticked up to 80.5% from 79.8% in 2016.

IAG also brought up the power failure at British Airways, which caused severe disruptions to flights last month. It said an independent investigation will examine "every aspect" of the power failure, adding that BA is "working hard" to compensate affected passengers as quickly as possible.

BA was forced to cancel 479 flights, or 59% of its operations, on 27 May, and 193 flights, or 23% of its operations, the following day.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh told The Guardian that the systems meltdown, which left 75,000 passengers stranded, may have been caused by a technician switching the power off and on again. He said the technician in question was "authorised to be in the room, but wasn't authorised to do what he did".

“You could cause a mistake to disconnect the power - it’s difficult for me to understand how you can mistakenly reconnect the power.” Walsh said the power was restored to the data centre in “an uncontrolled and uncommanded fashion that caused physical damage to the servers and distribution panels”.