With $31.7 million in losses, T5 to be costly launch for British Airways

London: British Airways has said it expects to operate a full schedule, to and from London Heathrow's Terminal 5, on Saturday and also the next week. It also calculates its losses from the disastrous opening  of the terminal to be in the region of around £16 million ($31.7 million).

This figure reflects all costs associated with the disruption in addition to lost revenue opportunities. It noted that the "impact was borne by the short-haul schedule, where there were 300 cancelled flights, equating to 0.2 percentage points of capacity."

BA flew 9.4 billion RPKs in March, down 2.8% from the year-ago month, against a 1.6% decline in capacity to 12.47 billion ASKs. Load factor slipped 0.9 point to 75.4%.

It also said that it may take a financial hit of around £16 million ($31.7 million) from the disastrous opening of troubled opening is estimated to be, BA said yesterday, reflecting all costs associated with the disruption in addition to lost revenue opportunities. It noted that the "impact was borne by the short-haul schedule, where there were 300 cancelled flights, equating to 0.2 percentage points of capacity."

BA flew 9.4 billion RPKs in March, down 2.8% from the year-ago month. Load factor slipped 0.9 point to 75.4%.