Flights move to T5 after delays

The long-haul move to T5 has gone smoothly so far

British Airways' transfer of some long-haul flights to Heathrow's Terminal 5 is progressing smoothly, more than a month later than planned.

Flights have arrived from the US, Nigeria and South Africa. Two planes had also left for New York, BA said.

BA had hoped to move almost its entire long-haul operation from Terminal 4 at the end of April but severe disruption at T5's opening postponed the move.

The problems at T5 cost a number of top executives their jobs.

Chief executive Willie Walsh was under pressure from investors, with some calling for him to resign.

Mr Walsh turned down his annual bonus as a result of the problems.

On Thursday, a BA spokesman said: "So far everything is going well."

There were small delays on flights from New York, but BA said that this was down to US air traffic control, rather than any issues with T5 and its operations.

More staff

Further routes are expected to move in September and the rest by November.

The £4.3bn terminal opened in March but chaos quickly ensued causing flights to be cancelled and bags to go missing.

FLIGHTS MOVING TO TERMINAL 5 5 June: New York JFK, Abuja, Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos and Phoenix 17 September: Services to 29 destinations including Washington DC, Buenos Aires and Kuwait October: All remaining 15 daily services

Lifts were also left out of action and staff struggled to get through security.

However, the BA spokesman said the firm was now in a much better position to deal with the increase in flights.

"We have more rostered staff on duty and we will have extra staff on hand who have volunteered," he said.

"On that first day in March, we moved 394 flights. Today it's just 15 so it's all on a much smaller scale."

Mr Walsh also said T5 was now working well and customers told him they were "really enjoying travelling through there".

The other seven destinations transferring are New York, Abuja in Nigeria, Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, and Phoenix, Arizona.

When the move is finally completed, T5 will handle more than 500 flights a day.