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Heathrow T5: The end in sight for first day blues?
BA CEO: "We will not rest"

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Monday 31 March 2008

The problems at Heathrow's new Terminal 5 appear to be lessening four days after the less than perfect opening day.

Around 87 per cent of flights (both arrivals and departures) are due to run today, with a similar proportion operating tomorrow.

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So far 299 flights have been cancelled due to the problems which first emerged on Thursday when a number of issues - including car parking, baggage system problems and staff familiarisation - blighted the first operational day of the terminal.

British Airways (BA) has drafted in 400 extra workers to help reunite passengers with luggage stuck in the backlog created over the past few days.

A statement issued yesterday from BA CEO Willie Walsh, said the baggage system is now working better after problems not encountered during extensive trials occurred from "time to time".

Walsh added that the backlog of bags generated by the problems is not affecting the day-to-day running of the baggage system and the issues are being addressed by a team of engineers and IT specialists from both BA and Heathrow operator BAA.

Plans to shift long-haul flights from Terminal 4 to the new terminal by the end of April remain in place but are under review.

Walsh said: "We will not rest until our service has been restored to the high standard customers rightly expect."

He added that BA and BAA remain "confident that these early difficulties can be overcome" and the terminal will be "highly valued by customers and our staff in the near future and for many years to come".

BA has partly attributed the problems to "staff familiarisation" with the new systems and processes in Terminal 5.

Unite, the union that represents baggage handlers, is working with BA to help alleviate the problems.

A Unite spokesman said: "What goes to the heart of the issue is it's an automated [baggage] system and there are issues around how the workforce are fitted into that automated system and what happens if something goes wrong."

He added: "We're saying that this fully automated system of baggage handling is absolutely fine and dandy but clearly something is going wrong here. The bottom line is we want Terminal 5 to work."