BAA chief apologises to UK MPs on T5

The head of Heathrow operator BAA told MPs today that he was “not aware” in advance that there were likely to be problems with the airport’s new Terminal 5 (T5).

BAA chief executive Colin Matthews also told the House of Commons Transport Committee that 17 of T5’s lifts were still not working – more than five weeks after the £4.3bn (£5.5bn) facility’s disastrous opening on March 27.

He apologised “unreservedly” for the T5 difficulties, admitted that BAA was to blame for “some of the problems” and added that BAA had not yet investigated “who knew what or when” in advance about the likely problems the terminal might face.

The £4.3bn (€5.5bn) new terminal, officially opened by the Queen on March 14, had a catastrophic operational opening on March 27 with dozens of flights delayed, the baggage system failing and huge queues building up.

It was several days before British Airways was able to run a full service from T5 and the airline postponed to June its planned April 30 transfer of its long-haul flights to the new terminal.