First plane touches down at new Heathrow terminal

The new £4.3bn (€5.5bn) Terminal 5 has opened for business at London's Heathrow Airport today, with the first plane landing eight minutes early.

Under the command of British Airways' first woman pilot Captain Lynn Barton, 51, the BA flight from Hong Kong touched down at 4.42am - the first of 380 planes to use the terminal on its first day.

Mark Bullock, managing director of Heathrow airport operator BAA, said: "This is an incredibly exciting day for us and one which marks a turning point for Heathrow."

However, some lifts and escalators were not working this morning and both BAA and BA have warned that the new terminal could take some time to "bed down".

One somewhat unimpressed visitor was Agar Burton, from central London, who was meeting his wife Andrea, off the Hong Kong first flight.

Mr Burton said: "The new terminal doesn't seem very user friendly. One of the lifts was not working, the signs are not clear and you are not sure where you are."

A "flash mob" protest involving about 500 demonstrators is due to take place at Terminal 5 around 11am.

The protest is against airport expansion with the demonstrators insisting that their protest will be peaceful.

First into the arrivals hall from the Hong Kong flight was Pam Woodall who said that she'd been "very excited" to be on the first flight to arrive.

She went on: "The new terminal looks great. It's stunning."