13 April 2008

British Airways (BA) says the earliest date it will move the remainder of its long-haul Heathrow operations to Terminal 5 from T4 is 5 June.

Were working with BAA to organise a phased approach and havent finalised a plan yet, but in May there are two bank holidays and half term so to make sure theres no impact on customers in that period, well wait until June, BA head of corporate sales Richard Tams told ABTN.

Our prime concern is that were not taking steps back from the good operation now established at T5 weve been operating a full service since Tuesday [8 April] and we want to continue to give passengers that good service.

Lessons have been learned from the carriers awry move to its new Heathrow home - The first day at T5 didnt go how we would have liked and we want to deliver for customers this time.

Around 40,000 passengers 60 flights will be affected by the later-than-planned move, originally slated for the end of April.

A number of airlines including one of BAs main Heathrow competitors, bmi have reacted with outrage at news of the delay, which will have a knock-on effect as many carriers were scheduled to reshuffle at the airport.

But Tams said: Nobody wants Heathrow not to operate as best it can we hope they [other airlines] understand thats why we have to do this. We wouldnt want it to impact on the perception of Heathrow overall.

Bmis CEO Nigel Turner complained of a complete lack of consultation following todays (11 April) decision, but a spokesman for operator BAA told ABTN: In terms of bmi, it shouldnt be materially affected by the announcement.

Were meeting with them [Heathrow carriers] this afternoon, and further discussions are scheduled next week with the airline community to look at the potential impact and looking at strategies to minimise and mitigate that.

We still dont know what the effect will be theres a three-week window after 5 June, and aside from the work already started at T4, the airlines themselves have to do quite a lot of work around the terminals before they move we need to get our heads around those things, and see if theres any way of compressing things [that refurbishment work] or making them happen simultaneously - thats part of what were discussing.

He said BAA has not been approached about compensation, but it would be discussed on an airline basis.

Were hoping the airport community as a whole will work through this together. What [BA CEO] Willie Walsh said is right its in nobodys interest to see wide-scale disruption at Heathrow. Weve learned a lot of lessons from T5, and weve got a lot more confidence through the terminal in the last four or five days as its been running really well. We now just need to get some consistency.