British Airways has ordered an independent investigation into the systems meltdown that left over 75,000 passengers stranded over the bank holiday weekend on May 27, a top official has said.
The actions of a technician who switched off and then reconnected the power supply to BA's data centre are expected to form the centre of the inquiry, which will be carried out by an as-yet-unnamed external company.
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of the airline's parent company, IAG, said the technician responsible was "authorised to be in the room, but wasn't authorised to do what he did".
He added: "You could cause a mistake to disconnect the power - it's difficult for me to understand how you can mistakenly reconnect the power."
The power was restored to the data centre in "an uncontrolled and uncommanded fashion that caused physical damage to the servers and distribution panels," Walsh said.
If that had not been the case BA could have quickly recovered from the power outage, Walsh claimed.
"That in itself was a problem that we could have overcome probably in a couple of hours, I don't think it would have led to any cancellations."
According to a report in the Guardian, Walsh said BA's communications had been poor after the incident, in which thousands of passengers were stranded at Heathrow before having to queue to leave the airport.
"I wouldn't suggest for one minute we got communications right at BA - we didn't."
He added: "It's damaged us, but it hasn't destroyed us in any way. We've recovered from worse. The BA brand is incredibly resilient."
Speaking at the International Air Transport Association global summit in Mexico, Walsh said of the fiasco: "It's something I wouldn't wish on anybody or any airline, when you see the customers who have suffered. I'm hoping people will be able to learn from the experience we've had and we'll all be better as a result.
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