BAA ‘unaware’; BA ‘failed for foresee’ Terminal 5 problems
08.05.08
Colin Matthews, the chief executive of airport operator BAA, told a committee of MP's yesterday that he ‘was unaware’ that Heathrow Terminal 5 was not ready when it opened for business on March 27. British Airways' chief executive Willie Walsh added that the airline had 'failed to predict' the problems that blighted the opening of the new terminal.
Speaking in front of the Government’s Transport Committee in a special inquiry in to the disastrous opening of the giant new terminal yesterday, Mr Matthews said baggage systems had not been tested sufficiently and lifts were out of order. Other problems included paintwork not finished, toilets unavailable and staff facing security delays.
The BAA boss said that the baggage system had been tested at full load about 20 times. However, he admitted that ‘the totality of the testing regime did not adequately replicate the reality of the first days of operations’. The baggage system was now ‘good’, he said.
Mr Matthews also said that there had, as yet, been no inquiry into exactly who was responsible for the problems that beset the airport. He said: ‘We have put all resources towards fixing things for passengers.' The next priority was helping BA move all its Heathrow flights to the terminal, he added. The MP's accused him of being ‘complacent’ and said the debacle had made a ‘fool out of this country’.
BAA's non-executive chairman, Sir Nigel Rudd, said he was ‘bitterly disappointed’ about the opening of the terminal. He said: ‘It was clearly a huge embarrassment to the company, me personally and the board. Nothing can take away that failure. We had all believed genuinely that it would be a great opening, which clearly it wasn't.’
‘In a project as huge as Terminal 5, the problems had a cumulative effect. We have apologised, but my view of the matter is that there were a number of problems that might have been foreseen, but none that would have led to the stopping of the opening of the terminal.’
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the airline failed to predict the problems that blighted the opening of Terminal 5. He told MP's he had believed the terminal was ready for its opening in March, but with hindsight, he would have done things differently.
Mr Walsh said that he was aware of some problems beforehand, but decided to go ahead with the move after scaling it down. He said: ‘We believed that, while there were known risks, the opening would be successful.’
‘A combination of factors’ had caused the problems, he said, including that the airline had compromised on testing the new building and BA staff were not given enough training. He added: ‘Our staff weren't as familiar as they should have been and that impacted on their performance. If we were to do it again, we would do things differently.'
The disastrous opening of the £4.3bn terminal forced the airline to cancel 430 flights. BA also lost 20,000 bags and saw passenger numbers fall by 220,000 in April compared to a year earlier. Mr Walsh said BA had reduced the number of bags still waiting to be reunited with their owners to 125.
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