THURSDAY APRIL 19 2001 Computer glitch puts £20m hole in BA income BY ARTHUR LEATHLEY, CITY CORRESPONDENT A COMPUTER breakdown helped to blow a £20 million hole in British Airways’ income last month and will lead to reduced bookings until the end of May. The airline said that passenger numbers fell by 8.9 per cent last month, partly because of the crash which affected the company’s computer reservation system for ten days in March.

Tens of thousands of bookings are believed to have been lost during the computer collapse, which also caused flight delays and cancellations during the second and third weeks of March.

British Airways admitted that the knock-on effect on bookings would affect sales throughout April and May but refused to put a number on the losses it expects to incur as a result of the computer malfunction.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,5-116799,00.html

-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), April 19, 2001