A fire at an electrical substation knocked out power to Heathrow Airport for most of Friday, forcing Europe’s busiest hub to shut down for roughly 18 hours, causing widespread cancellations and rerouting headaches, and stranding roughly 200,000 passengers.

A Virgin Atlantic jet collided with another plane while it was being towed at Heathrow Airport on Saturday, but there were no reports of injuries.

U.S. and British cybersecurity officials are warning of the potential widespread global impact of a Russian cyber-extortion gang’s hack of a file-transfer program popular with corporations.

British Airways has canceled dozens of flights due to computer problems in a rocky kickoff to Europe's summer travel season.

British Airways says it’s suspending sales of short-haul flights from London’s Heathrow Airport for two weeks.

Emirates Air has rejected a demand by London’s Heathrow Airport for airlines to cut the number of passengers on summer flights in a bid to ease travel disruptions.

London’s Heathrow Airport is capping daily passenger numbers for the summer and telling airlines to stop selling tickets as it steps up efforts to quell travel chaos caused by soaring travel demand and staff shortages.

A major British airport is warning passengers to expect the delays plaguing travel to continue for months.

British travelers faced more disruptions during the Easter holiday break as two major airlines, British Airways and easyJet, canceled about 100 flights Wednesday.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, file photo, British Airways planes are parked at Heathrow Airport in London. The parent company of British Airways and Iberia on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021 said it lost 6.9 billion euros ($8.3 billion) last year as the pandemic caused a near-total collapse in international air traffic, and called for digital passes to help revive travel. IAG's after-tax loss compared with a profit of 1.7 billion euros the year before. Its revenue slumped 70% to 7.8 billion euros ($9.4 billion). We’re calling for international common testing standards and the introduction of digital health passes to reopen our skies safely.”

Dozens of British residents in Spain were refused travel because airlines refused to take in as proof of residency documents used until the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union at midnight on Dec. 31, 2020. Airlines refused documents that before Brexit had been valid proof of the Britons' status as residents in Spain, Italy and Germany, although Spanish authorities claimed that the issue had been resolved by mid-Sunday. Around 300,000 British citizens are registered as permanent residents in Spain, although before Brexit, many more had been living full or part-time in the country without officially registering. Spain has been rolling out a new system to register permanent foreign residents called TIE but it’s suffering a backlog due to the high number of requests. “This should not be happening,” said the U.K. embassy in Spain said in a Facebook post.

The airline says the pilot program will offer voluntary testing starting Nov. 25 in partnership with American Airlines for passengers flying to Heathrow from New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Passengers will be tested 72 hours before departure, on arrival at Heathrow and again three days after arrival. Passengers who test positive will be able to rebook their flights free of charge, BA said. Heathrow Airport said last month that it had lost its place as Europe’s busiest air hub as France and Germany relaxed quarantine rules and implemented testing regimes. BA said more airlines may join the testing program in the coming weeks.

LONDON – The parent company of British Airways has cut its fourth-quarter passenger forecast to just 30% of last year’s level as government restrictions imposed to control a new wave of coronavirus infections reduces demand for flights. International Airlines Group made the announcement Thursday as it posted a third-quarter operating loss of 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion), compared with a profit of 1.4 billion euros in the same period last year. The company said it reduced the fourth-quarter passenger forecast because of additional restrictions, including “an increase in local lockdowns and extension of quarantine requirements to travelers from an increasing number of countries.’’The company said that measures meant to mitigate the disruption, such as pre-departure testing and air corridor arrangements, “have not been adopted by governments as quickly as anticipated.''

LONDON – Britain’s information commissioner has fined British Airways 20 million pounds ($25 million) for failing to protect personal data for some 400,000 customers, the largest fine the agency has ever issued. The ICO said in a statement Friday that the airline was processing personal data without adequate security measures. It also noted that it did not detect a 2018 cyber attack for two months. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said says BA’s “failure to act was unacceptable and affected hundreds of thousands of people, which may have caused some anxiety and distress as a result.’’Under the European Union's General Data Protection Rules imposed in 2018, organizations face fines of up to 20 million euros ($23 million) or 4% of annual global turnover — whichever is greater — for the most serious violations.

LONDON – British Airways has replaced CEO Alex Cruz after 4 1/2 years on the job as part of a broad shake-up as the COVID-19 pandemic pummels airlines around the world. International Airlines Group, British Airways' parent company, on Monday named Sean Doyle, previously the boss of Aer Lingus, another carrier in the group, as BA's new chief executive. Gallego led a cost-cutting drive at Iberia Airlines after it merged with British Airways to create IAG. British airlines have been particularly hard hit because travelers from most countries are required to quarantine themselves for 14 days after arrival, killing off most business and holiday travel. Donal Moriarty will become interim chief executive of Aer Lingus, with a permanent appointment to come later.

Aircraft G-CIVY, one of the last two British Airways Boeing 747-400 aircraft takes off for its last flight departure from London's Heathrow Airport, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. The retirement of the fleet was brought forward as a result of the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on the airline and the aviation sector. It remained the largest commercial aircraft in the world until the Airbus A380 first took to the skies in 2007. More than 1,500 jumbos were produced by Boeing, and it has historically been a commercial success for the manufacturer and the airlines. “It’s a beautiful design, a classic like Concorde, and I often think the upper deck made the 747 look more birdlike.”

LONDON British Airways parent company said Thursday it will cut flights due to coronavirus travel restrictions and quarantine requirements and confirmed it is raising 2.7 billion euros ($3.2 billion) through the sale of new shares. Qatar Airways, which owns 25% of IAG, has undertaken to take its share of the cash call. Over the past few weeks, British tourists in particular have faced travel chaos after the government took countries off its safe list. Other airlines have also had to cut back on flights, including EasyJet, which earlier this week bemoaned the unpredictable restrictions. It also said it has reached an agreement in principle with the Unite union over changes to the pay and conditions of British Airways cabin crew, with a ballot expected shortly.

People queue in line to check-in for a British Airways flight to Heathrow airport, Friday Aug.14, 2020 at Nice airport, southern France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)LONDON London's Heathrow Airport, the U.K.'s busiest, unveiled a new coronavirus testing facility Wednesday that it says could halve the length of time people have to stay at home after arriving from countries on the British governments quarantine list. Over the past few weeks, British tourists have faced travel chaos after the government took countries off its safe list at very short notice. The new facility has been set up by aviation services company Collinson and logistics firm Swissport at Heathrows Terminal 2. The statistics agency will increase the number of people it tests under the survey from 28,000 every two weeks to 150,000 by October.

British holidaymakers in France were mulling whether to return home early Friday to avoid having to self-isolate for 14 days following the U.K. government's decision to reimpose quarantine restrictions on France amid a recent pick-up in coronavirus infections. The Netherlands, Malta, Monaco and the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Turks & Caicos have also been added to the quarantine list for the same reason. Travel companies are urging anyone considering a swift return home to check whether they will be able to do so. While the number of new infections in Britain is also rising, they are not thought to be increasing at the same pace as in the countries added to the quarantine list. The quarantine decision is a big blow to France's tourism industry, which is heavily reliant on travelers from Britain.

LONDON The parent company of British Airways reeled to a loss of 3.8 billion euros ($4.5 billion) in the first six months of the year as travel restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic ate into the bottom line. The company announced it plans to raise 2.75 billion euros through a proposed capital increase. Chief Executive Willie Walsh predicted that passenger levels wouldnt return to pre-virus levels until 2023, and that it is restructuring its cost base to reduce each airlines size.The group has already announced 12,000 cuts at British Airways. Walsh says the scale of the challenge eclipses the downturn faced by the industry after the Sept.11, 2001 attacks. Anyone who believes that this is just a temporary downturn and therefore can be fixed with temporary measures, Im afraid seriously misjudges what the industry is going through,'' he said.

The biggest single loan of 1 billion pounds ($1.25 billion) went to German chemical company BASF. British Airways, via its parent group International Airlines Group, borrowed 300 million pounds, while Marks & Spencer borrowed 260 million pounds. Tottenham has borrowed 175 million pounds. Even the National Trust, which looks after the nations natural and historic sites, borrowed 30 million pounds. In total, 8.7 million jobs have been furloughed under the scheme at a cost of 17.5 billion pounds.

BANGKOK – British Airways halted all flights to China and American Airlines suspended Los Angeles flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing as efforts to contain a new virus intensifies. The number of confirmed cases jumped to 7,711, surpassing the 5,327 in mainland China from SARS. The airline cited “the significant decline in demand for travel to and from China.” Flights from Dallas-Fort Worth will continue, the airline said. -Korean Air, South Korea’s biggest airline, said it is also considering grounding some of its flights to mainland China as passenger demand drops. -Taiwan’s Eva Air announced a partial cancellation of flights to and from mainland China for two weeks starting Feb. 2.