Holiday Rentals News - BA to start moving long-haul flights to Terminal 5

BA to start moving long-haul flights to Terminal 5

After a shaky start, business at Heathrow's Terminal 5 is picking up pace. British Airways (BA) has announced that it is to move some of its long haul flights to the building next month. Despite delays, the move is finally to go ahead and all long-haul flights should be transferred to the terminal by the end of October, TravelWeekly reveals.

From June 5th, BA's flights to New York and seven other of its long-haul destinations will take off from Terminal 5, which will in total make up one quarter of the airline's current long-haul operations from Heathrow's Terminal 4. The original plan had been for BA to switch its operations to Terminal 5 in just two stages, which would have seen all its long-haul services using the terminal from the end of April. However, the chaos that surrounded the terminal's opening on March 27th led to the process being put on hold.

Speaking of BA's revised plans, the airline's chief executive Willie Walsh said: "We announced on April 11th we will move our Terminal 4 long-haul programme into Terminal 5 in phases in the interests of customers. Terminal 5 is now working well." BA is not the only party involved, as Colin Matthews of airport operator BAA explained: "We reached this decision jointly. BAA and BA have worked together to resolve the initial problems at Terminal 5 and to plan this next move." The destinations that will be served from Terminal 5 as of June 5th are Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos, Phoenix, Abuja and Bangalore.

The postponement of the switchover has reportedly triggered claims for compensation from rival airlines, who are waiting to move into BA's old terminal slots. Earlier this week, Walsh admitted that he was aware of problems with Terminal 5 before it welcomed its first flights. The Times reports how the chief executive has taken responsibility, describing the operation as "a calculated risk" but one that he decided to take. "You can't point the finger at anyone else,” he went on to say. Walsh expressed regret at past events, but felt that the cost of moving BA's move to the terminal would have been "many times" greater than those incurred by the problematic first few days.

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