British Airways is launching an inquiry into last week's chaos at Heathrow airport which left hundreds of passengers stranded and further tarnished the carrier's reputation.
Chief executive Rod Eddington is personally heading the postmortem and speculation is rife that it could cost the jobs of senior executives including the man responsible for maintaining operations at London's busiest airport.
"After this weekend I will review what happened," Mr Eddington said. "It will be a very thorough investigation and the action appropriate. I will take tough decisions if neces sary but I'm not flying into decisions."
Early estimates are that the disruption cost the airline upwards of £5m.
Staff, who had to deal with irate passengers, are to be rewarded with free flights. About 17,500 employees, from baggage handlers and check-in staff to engineers will be offered a pair of free tickets to any destination for use over the next 18 months.
The cost of the ticket giveaway has been estimated at £4m, although BA last night refused to give figures.
The chaos at Heathrow was caused by a combination of thunderstorms, restrictions on night flights, staff sick leave and a delay in recruiting new employees. The airline was forced to cancel up to 100 flights and delay many more.
Yesterday, as services returned to some semblance of normality, just three round trips were cancelled, with passengers moved to other flights or other carriers. The affected flights were from Heathrow to New York, Oslo and Zurich.
Mike Street, BA's director of customer services and operations, has been tipped as being in the firing line of the inquiry. His position was bolstered last week by his success in securing a last-minute pay deal which prevented a strike.
Mervyn Walker, UK airports director, and Peter Read, Heathrow operations director, are seen as under pressure.
