British Airways CEO Alex Cruz denied cost-cutting was the cause of a major IT outage that disrupted thousands of travellers and has said he will not resign over the incident.

Giving his first media interview since the global computer failure on Saturday (27 May), Cruz apologised "profusely" over the outage and pledged to let it not happen again.

More from IBTimes UK

He said it was caused by a power surge which "only lasted a few minutes" but had persisted to cause problems because the back-up system had not worked properly.

Cruz's denial follows reports he adopted a "slash and burn" management style, which involved cutting 700 jobs in the UK and outsourcing BA's IT systems to India.

"I can confirm that all the parties involved around this particular event have not been involved in any type of outsourcing in any foreign country," he told Sky News.

"They have all been local issues around a local data centre."

When asked by the BBC whether he would resign over the incident, he said: "I don't think it would make much use for me to resign at this particular point in time.

"I think I'm working very closely with my team to make sure, again, that we work on the rest of the disrupted passengers to make sure we address all their needs."

Cruz revealed that 75,000 passengers had been affected in total, but said that three-quarters of those will have reached their destinations by the end of Monday.

He added that BA is operating more than 95% of its flights on Monday, with all of its Gatwick services and long-haul flights from Heathrow going ahead.

More than 90% of BA short-haul flights from Heathrow would also be operating.

"We know that there have been holidays interrupted and personal events that have been interrupted and people waiting in queues for a really long time," Cruz added.

"We absolutely profusely apologise for that and we are absolutely committed to provide and abide by the compensation rules that are currently in place."

It is believed BA could be liable for up to £150m ($172m) in pay-outs to passengers, who are obligated to £200 per day for accommodation, £50 for transport, and £25 per person for meals.