Air Transport

One year on from the disastrous opening of Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport, British Airways and BAA believe they are now delivering a world-class passenger experience.

T5 opened for business on 27 March 2008 amid great fanfare. But after just a few hours on that March morning T5 rapidly descended into chaos as the baggage system failed. British Airways cancelled hundreds of flights, passengers missed their connections and thousands of bags were lost.

BA says that T5 is now working with 20 million people having used it since it opened. Customer feedback scores are the best in its history and it has been achieving its best punctuality and baggage delivery standards for a decade.

Hear what BA and BAA have to say about Terminal 5 one year on….

In this video (below) Terminal 5's operations manager Nick Cole tells Mark Pilling Airline Business Editor what's next at the Terminal and Julia Simpson, corporate communications at British Airways states her case for Heathrow's proposed third runway.

Margaret Thorburn, vice-chair of HACAN, one of the most prominent environmental groups that campaigns against the further expansion of Heathrow explains why it is time to stop the airport growing.

Airline Business Blog posts on Terminal 5