Disruption continues at London Heathrow's T5
01 Apr 2008
Disruptions continued for the fifth straight day at London Heathrow's new £4.3 billion ($8.6 billion) Terminal 5, of which British Airways (BA) is the sole occupant, with 54 flights cancelled. More than 300 flights have been cancelled since the new terminal began operations.
Bad news continues to pile up, along with the baggage, with reports emerging that the backlog of hold baggage has gone up to some 28,000 pieces. An additional 50 flights have already been cancelled for Tuesday and Wednesday, with the possibility that disruptions would continue for the remainder of the week as well.
Meanwhile, an under pressure BA CEO, Willie Walsh, issued another apology to passengers through a statement on Sunday. "We will not rest until our service has been restored to the high standard customers rightly expect," he promised. He said that the "baggage system is now generally working better."
Walsh said that a team of engineers and IT specialists from the airline and the airports operator, BAA, were working to address the "issues" with the baggage system. He also said that more than 400 BA volunteers were also helping to sort out the backlog of undelivered baggage.
"This backlog is not affecting the day-to-day operation of the baggage system and we are making every effort to reunite delayed bags with their owners," Walsh said.
Walsh also said that he remained "confident that these early difficulties can be overcome, and that the terminal will be highly valued by customers and our staff in the near future and for many years to come."
