1551 GMT - The fire near London's Heathrow airport will have a substantial impact on British Airways and its customers "for many days to come,"the airline's Chairman and Chief Executive Sean Doyle says. BA was forced to ground all of its short-haul and the majority of its long-haul flights scheduled for Friday, he says. The airline was due to operate more than 670 flights carrying around 107,000 passengers, with similar numbers planned over the weekend, he adds. Flight and cabin crew personnel are at locations where they weren't supposed to be due to diverted flights, and BA faces a logistical issue to get new crews to operate aircraft given that they are only legally allowable to operate for a certain number of hours, Doyle says. Power shortages are also hindering engineering and maintenance work, he adds. Shares in BA's parent company IAG are down 2.9% at 282.20 pence. (cristina.gallardo@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 21, 2025 11:52 ET (15:52 GMT)
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