Terminal 5 chaos ‘avoidable’
Better preparation could have prevented the problems at Heathrow Terminal Five’s opening last spring, concludes a Transport Select Committee report.
Insufficient communication between the owner of the new terminal, BAA, and its operator, British Airways, could have greatly reduced major complications with the baggage system and security searches according to a report published today by the committee.
Under-trained staff were also to blame, The Opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 report said.
Regular meetings between the two main organising bodies “only occurred as an afterthought, once things had started going wrong.”
MPs noted their expectation of various typical start-up difficulties, but were astonished to learn how little collaboration occurred between BAA and BA.
“We were struck by how much ‘hoping for the best’ BAA had engaged in prior to the opening of Terminal 5”, said committee chair Louise Ellman.
“Distinctly unimpressed” by this lack of preparation, Ms Ellman said she deeply regrets the “Heathrow hassle” that exasperated over 36,500 passengers on March 27th this year.
“What should have been an occasion of national pride was in fact an occasion of national embarrassment.”
The committee did commend the progress BAA and BA have made to increase their interaction.
But BAA has still faced much criticism, especially by a Competition Commission publication which called it a monopoly that should be broken up.
