British Airways' T5 blues continue with computer glitches, flight cancellations and pilot anger
08 Apr 2008
When trouble comes, it comes in droves – as British Airways (BA) would now be reminded, with poor weather, computer glitches at London Heathrow's (LHR) Terminal 5 and pilot anger making life miserable for UK's flag carrier.
For the record, BA cancelled 126 flights at LHR on Sunday - 114 because of heavy snowfall and 12 because of computer glitches at T5. Another 34 flights at T5 were cancelled on Monday, this time because of a scheduling backlog.
The embattled airline also cancelled another 32 flights at Gatwick on Sunday.
For a change, BA passed on blame for 12 flight cancellations to the airport operator, BAA, asking it to resolve issues at T5 as soon as possible."As a result of the continuing BAA baggage system failure in Terminal 5, we have had to cancel six short-haul return flights [six in and six out] on Sunday," BA said. "We are urging BAA to resolve these issues as soon as possible."
Until now, BA has taken full blame for all the troubles at T5.
Weather and computer glitches apart, another front opened up for the embattled carrier as the British Airline Pilots Association fired off an open letter to institutions and the UK government, characterising the failings at T5 are "symptomatic of BA's loss of focus in delivering a sound operation."
