BAA apologises again for disastrous opening of T5
[November 3rd 2008]
Airport operator BAA has apologised again for the disastrous opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 after the publication of a report by the House of Commons Transport Select Committee.
In its report published today the Transport Select Committee concludes: “The opening of Terminal 5 revealed serious failings on the part of both BAA and British Airways. Like both organisations, we acknowledge the inevitability of 'teething problems' but deeply regret that so many were allowed to bring the operation of Heathrow's newest terminal to a halt”.
In response BAA, which currently operates six other airports in addition to Heathrow including Gatwick and Stansted, states: "We note the findings of the Transport Select Committee, and apologise again that the opening of T5 in March failed to live up to passengers' and our expectations”.
The Committee also criticises BAA for its initial response during the inquiry into the opening of T5. “We were concerned that during our first evidence session, representatives from BAA were unhelpful and ill-prepared. They provided us with no satisfactory explanation as to how this national embarrassment had been allowed to unfold,” the report states.
"We acknowledge that the Committee did not get all the answers it wanted at the first hearing. We focused on fixing the problems at T5 and not investigating until those problems were resolved once and for all. Had we diverted our resources to investigating rather than solving the problems, we could not have fixed them as quickly as we did," BAA says in its defence.
The Transport Select Committee also supports the Competition Commission’s provisional findings in its inquiry into BAA. “This reinforces the view we have previously expressed, that BAA is a monopoly that needs to be broken up,” it says.
However, there are positive things to come out of the report. “We are glad that our inquiry has enabled the BAA, British Airways and Unite to describe how they are working together to make Terminal 5 a success,” states the Committee.
BAA is keen to suggest that after its troubled opening T5 is now a success. "Terminal 5 has been open for seven months and has been used by more than 11.5 million people. The level of passenger satisfaction at T5 is high, and indeed consistently higher than European counterparts. We regularly exceed performance targets for cleanliness, wayfinding and security queues have been less than five minutes nearly 98% of the time,” the airport operator concludes.
Written by: Nick Purdom
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