5th June for BA’s Heathrow Terminal 5 long-haul flights

11.5.2008   (Independent on Sunday)

British Airways will start transferring its Heathrow long-haul flights to the
new Terminal 5 (T5) on 5 June, it was announced today.

 

 

 

 

BA and Heathrow operator BAA said eight long-haul flights, including services
to New York, will move from Terminal 4 to T5 on that day.

 

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the rest of the flights will be transferred
in phases to the new £4.3bn terminal, which had a shambolic opening on 27 March
with flights cancelled and bags going astray.

 

 

 

 

 

The other seven destinations for which flights will be transferred on 5 June
are Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos, Phoenix and Abuja in Nigeria.

 

The 5 June transfers account for about a quarter of BA’s Terminal 4 schedule.

 

Mr Walsh said today: “As we announced on 11 April, we will move our Terminal
4 long-haul programme into Terminal 5 in phases. We have taken this decision in
the interests of customers, who remain our priority at all times.

 

“T5 is now working well, and we are pleased we can confirm our plan to move in
some additional flights on 5 June.”

 

BAA chief executive Colin Matthews said: “I am pleased that we have reached this
decision jointly. BAA and BA have worked together effectively to resolve the initial
problems at T5, and to plan this next move.

 

“We continue to work together intensively to complete the migration of the remaining
long haul services as soon as is practicable.”

Independent on Sunday

New date for BA’s Heathrow Terminal 5 flights

 

and

After Terminal 5, British Airways seeks new operations supremo       10.5.2008 (Indpendent)

British Airways has hired headhunter Whitehead Mann to search for a chief operating
officer to replace the two directors who lost their jobs after the Terminal 5
fiasco at Heathrow.

 

This is a new role created after chief executive Willie Walsh sacked Gareth Kirkwood,
director of operations, and David Noyes, director of customer services, in April
after T5’s bungled opening.

Carol Leonard, head of Whitehead Mann’s board practice, is leading the hunt for
a heavy-weight industrialist who can combine operations with customer services.
BA sources said the post was created to provide strong backing for Mr Walsh but
denied the chief operating officer would be a potential successor. Mr Walsh is
expected to stay for another five years, although some analysts believe he should
have resigned over T5.

Meanwhile, Ferrovial, the Spanish owner of BAA, will inject £400m into its airports
to stop its bonds being downgraded.