BA chief admits failing to predict T5 problems
Wednesday, 07 May 2008 19:02
BA chief admits failing to predict Heathrow Terminal 5 problems
The chief executive of British Airways has admitted his company failed to predict the problems that led to the chaotic opening of Heathrow's new Terminal 5.
Willie Walsh told the House of Commons' transport select committee that BA had been aware of several of the problems that led to hundreds of passengers being delayed and displaced last month.
Mr Walsh said despite knowing about these problems, the company decided to scale down its operations with regards to the move in the hope it would still run according to plan.
However, he admitted to MPs that under-trained staff and poor preparation of the terminal's infrastructure had resulted in the multitude of problems.
The chief executive of Heathrow's operating company BAA, Colin Matthews, was accused by MPs of "making a fool out of the country" and being "complacent" about the potential problems of such a move.
The flag-carrying airline had initially planned to move 92 per cent of its operations to the newly opened Terminal 5 on March 30th.
And despite foreseeing some problems, which resulted in the move being split into four separate stages, the airline and BAA failed to adequately address the issues.
"Our staff weren't as familiar as they should have been and that impacted on their performance," Mr Walsh added.
"If we were to do it again, we would do things differently."