British Airways cancels short-haul flights from London Heathrow due to IT problem but denies it was caused by a cyber attack

• British Airways has temporarily canceled short-haul flights from Heathrow due to technical issues.
• It confirmed to Reuters that the problem was not related to a cyber attack.

British Airways was hit by major technical issues, causing the airline to cancel all short-haul flights from Heathrow Airport until Saturday midday GMT.

In a statement to Insider, British Airways said: "We are extremely sorry that due to the continuing technical issues we are facing we have regrettably had to cancel all short-haul flights from Heathrow today until midday."

It added that it "anticipates further disruption during the day."

The airline confirmed to Reuters that the problem was not due to a cyber attack.

Heathrow Airport also apologized for the disruption in a tweet.

According to Sky News, British Airways' website and app were down for several hours on Friday, which prevented customers to book flights or check in online.

The website was back up and running at the time of writing, however.

British Airways said that long-haul services at Heathrow and all flights at Gatwick and London City Airport were due to operate as planned.

Customers will be able to receive a full refund and can opt to rebook their flights at a later date, according to the airline.

One passenger, Ed Hall, told The Press Association that he was stuck on a plane for more than an hour after landing at Heathrow Terminal 5. He said this was because the crew was not able to access any IT systems to learn where passengers could debark the plane.

The outage comes after British Airways canceled several flights in and out of London airports last week after a storm hit the UK, per The Independent. Storm Eunice, as it was known, caused winds of more than 120 miles per hour.