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British Airways has been fined more than £183 million after computer hackers last year stole bank details from hundreds of thousands of passengers, its parent group IAG said yesterday.
In a statement, IAG said the United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office intends to issue the airline with a penalty notice under the UK Data Protection Act, totalling £183.39 million ($229.7 million, 205 million euros).
The fine is equivalent to 1.5 percent of British Airways’ turnover in 2017, IAG added.
IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said it would consider appealing the fine as it seeks “to take all appropriate steps to defend the airline’s position vigorously”.
BA’s CEO Alex Cruz said the airline was “surprised and disappointed” by the punishment.
“British Airways responded quickly to a criminal act to steal customers’ data,” he said in the statement.
“We have found no evidence of fraud/fraudulent activity on accounts linked to the theft. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this event caused,” Cruz added. BA had revealed the hack in September, just a few months after the European Union tightened data protection laws with the so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
