British Airways Ready For Heathrow T5

Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 will open in March, standing five times the size of Terminal 4 and costing £4.3 billion. As the biggest operator at Heathrow, British Airways, with its exclusive use of Terminal 5 has contributed £330 million of that total figure.

 Because of their monopoly at London Heathrow, British Airways has suffered from delays, queues and baggage problems more than any of the other airlines, yet it is hoped that this huge investment will minimise future queuing and ensure passengers are kept flowing through check in. A British Airways spokesman insisted that there “should be minimal queuing” as an expected 80% of passengers are to check in at a self-service kiosk or check in online by April 2008 – a 30% rise on the amount that were doing so by the end of 2007.

“The idea is to keep passengers flowing,” says the spokesman."Passengers have a negative perception and it will take time to win back trust. We have to show it has changed." British Airways are confident that the new Terminal 5 will enjoy much success and restore faith in the airline. A BA spokesman confirmed: “We are confident Terminal 5 will make going through Heathrow more pleasant. Passengers have a negative perception and it will take time to win back trust. We have to show it has changed. But we believe people will want to fly BA in order to go through the terminal.”

British Airways have also released details of which services are to be operated from Terminal 5 and when they are due to start. From 27th March, all domestic flights and almost all European flights will be moved to T5. From 30th March, most of the intercontinental flights will move to T5. Flights to Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tripoli, Johannesburg, Algiers, Tokyo, Hong Kong will on move on the same date, as will all flights to Algiers. Houston and Dallas flights will initially move to Terminal 4 from 30th March, before resuming from Terminal 5 as of 30th April.

It is expected that the new Terminal will be capable of handling some 30 million passengers per year and up to 90,000 passengers per day. Facilities to be included in T5 will include 112 shops and restaurants with 9,000 public seats, as well as six lounges, including an arrivals lounge, with 96 showers.