NEWS | Wednesday, 09 July 2008

The first 100 days of Heathrow’s T5

London Heathrow Terminal 5 is preparing for a busy summer ahead as it celebrates 100 days since opening in March.
British Airways has already looked after almost five million customers travelling through the terminal and has handled more than 38,000 flights since the opening date.
The new £4.3 billion terminal at Heathrow has also played a key part in improving the airline’s punctuality and baggage performance.
Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, said: “Every day I get emails, letters or comments from customers telling me how much they enjoy using the terminal.
“When the terminal opened, it was handling around 40,000 customers a day. As the summer holidays approach, passenger numbers are expected to rise from an average 57,000 a day at present to more than 65,000 a day.
“We have worked tirelessly to improve every aspect of our operational performance and our customers are seeing the benefits. Our punctuality and baggage performance levels are significantly improved on this time last year and check-in queues are much reduced.
“We know there is scope for further improvement and we are absolutely committed to achieving it. But we have made a very encouraging start to life in our new home.”
Queuing times at the airport have been radically reduced with 79% of British Airways customers saying they queued for less than 5 minutes at Terminal 5, a big improvement on this time last year when only 56% were able to make this claim.
The opening of Terminal 5 allowed British Airways to radically overhaul the airline’s airport lounges and the investment has delivered strong results with 80% of British Airways customers saying they are very satisfied with the new Galleries lounges at T5.
British Airways will shortly create a dedicated check-in area for business class customers and open an additional business class lounge in Terminal 5 “B”. Extra facilities are also being put in place to help business class customers through ticket presentation as they approach security.
More long-haul flights are expected to migrate to Terminal 5 in September.