Computer problems have hit British Airways operations at London’s Heathrow Airport.

British Airways has cancelled a number of short haul flights after the incident involving a “supplier IT system” on Wednesday evening.

A spokesman said: “As with a number of airlines, we are experiencing some disruption at Heathrow a result of an issue with a supplier IT system.

“We are working with our supplier to urgently resolve the matter and are sorry for the disruption to our customers’ travel plans.”

It is believed the problem has not hit all of the IT systems used by the airline and most are working as normal.

Virgin Atlantic said it is not affected by any IT issues at Heathrow.

The failure is a blow as airlines gear up for the peak holiday period.

It added to earlier disruptions caused by a fire alert at Heathrow’s air traffic control tower on Wednesday afternoon.

The alert disrupted services at Terminal 5 for BA, and briefly forced flights to be diverted to other airports.

A Heathrow Airport spokesman said the alarm “impacted operation of the airfield for a short while” on Wednesday afternoon.

A British Airways spokesman said: “As a result of the temporary closure of Heathrow Airport’s air traffic control tower earlier this afternoon, a small number of flights from all airlines were forced to divert to alternative airports.

“We are doing all we can to keep any knock-on disruption to our services to a minimum and are sorry for the disruption to our customers’ travel plans. ”

A Gatwick Airport spokesman said: “We only had two diverts from Heathrow Airport as a result of the earlier action – one from Glasgow at 5pm and the other was from St Petersburgh at 5.10pm.”