LONDON: ICAG-owned British Airways said that it had to cancel some flights at London's Heathrow Airport due to a technical issue on Thursday, without disclosing the number of affected flights.

The airport had earlier said that the airline was working to resolve a technical issue with a number of its systems, which had affected several departing and arriving flights.

A report by The Independent newspaper said that at least 50 flights were affected due to an IT problem.

British Airways said that a majority of its flights continued to operate on Thursday, adding that affected customers had been contacted and offered options, including a refund or rebooking to an alternative flight with the airline or another carrier.

The British airline has been affected by other IT problems in recent years including a major computer system failure in 2017 that stranded 75,000 passengers over a holiday weekend, sparking a public relations disaster and pledges from the carrier that it would do better in future.