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BA CEO: Heathrow T5 chaos 'not our finest hour'
Woes continue with more flights cancelled on day two...

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Friday 28 March 2008

The problems at Heathrow's new £4.3bn Terminal 5 (T5) have continued into a second day following the chaos caused by baggage system problems on the first day of operation yesterday.

British Airways (BA) confirmed 80 per cent of scheduled flights will be running from T5 today, including all long-haul destinations.

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Passengers for flights scheduled for today are now able to check in baggage despite this being suspended on Thursday evening.

T5 staff, along with volunteers from across BA, worked through the night to ensure today's operations in the terminal run more smoothly.

A BA statement said: "We continue to closely monitor the situation and again apologise to customers for any disruption caused."

BA CEO, Willie Walsh, said in a statement: "Yesterday was definitely not British Airways' finest hour. We disappointed many people and I apologise sincerely. I take responsibility for what happened. The buck stops with me."

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The airline attributed yesterday's problems to a combination of factors including staff car parking and security and log on problems for baggage handlers.

Walsh said: "In isolation, they would not have had the impact they did, but in combination they led to a level of disruption we never took control of during the day. Both British Airways and BAA made mistakes, but I am taking responsibility for the mistakes we made. We have to correct those and make this fantastic terminal work. Our performance was not good enough."

Walsh said a better start had been made today and the situation will improve as staff become "accustomed to the building and the quirks of the systems".

"British Airways will be in this terminal for 40 years. It is not going to be judged on the basis of the first few days - and it is up to us to ensure that it becomes the resounding success the travelling public deserves," he added.