Terminal Five plagued by technical problems

T5's systems let BA down on opening day

The opening of Heathrow’s Terminal Five has been plagued by a faulty IT infrastructure which caused major problems in various areas including baggage distribution and staff work allocation.

“We have cancelled flights earlier in the day in order to protect the majority of the schedule and get passengers accommodated in later flights,” said a British Airways (BA) spokesman.

“It is true that we had some teething problems, but it does not mean we were not able to cope with the demand,” he said.

One of BA’s main worker-focused tools designed for use at T5 is a staff allocation platform, which is intended to quickly screen staff in case of high-pressure events.

Although staff familiarisation processes have been carried out for a year prior to the opening, BA blamed its own training as one of the reasons for the disruption.

“You can train staff as much and as long as you want, but the when it comes to the people element of processes you can never achieve perfection,” said the BA spokesman.

“So while these faults cannot be expected, we hope that they can be accepted and that the public will bear with us,” he said.

Luggage handling at the most technically-advanced terminal in the world is intended to be a stress-free process, with a system capable of handling high volumes of bags and delivering luggage to carousels at unprecedented speeds, according to BA.

But seven out of 534 flights across the operation have departed T5 without bags and 33 flights were cancelled. There were also problems detected in the car parking provision of the terminal.