British Airways said a power supply issue was to blame for a global computer system failure which sowed confusion and chaos at London's two biggest airports, with thousands of passengers queuing for hours and planes left stuck on runways.
"We believe the root cause was a power supply issue and we have no evidence of any cyber attack," Alex Cruz, Chairman and CEO of British Airways, said in a video message on Twitter.
"We are extremely sorry for the huge inconvenience this is causing our customers and we understand how frustrating this must be especially for families hoping to get away on holiday," he said.
British Airways earlier cancelled all scheduled flights from Heathrow and Gatwick airports in London due to the computer outage.
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A spokesman for Dublin Airport Authority said that two BA flights scheduled to fly from Dublin to Heathrow this morning did not operate.
The airline said terminals at Heathrow and Gatwick had become extremely congested because of the IT failure and all BA flights scheduled for the rest of today had been cancelled.
BA said delays could continue into tomorrow, but most long-haul flights should be able to land as normal in London.
A BA spokeswoman said: "We are working hard to get our customers who were due to fly today on to the next available flights over the course of the rest of the weekend. Those unable to fly will be offered a full refund."
BA is the latest airline to be hit by computer problems. Last month Germany's Lufthansa and Air France suffered a global system outage which prevented them from boarding passengers.
