Terminal 5 shambles continue

The chaos at London Heathrow Terminal 5 seems to carry on today.

British Airways cancelled a fifth of its flights from Heathrow's Terminal 5 this morning as it admitted the £4.3billion facility was not ready to be opened.

The airline continues to offer apologies. It has set up an information line for passengers: 0800 727 800 and service updates are available at www.ba.com.

I think today’s Metro summed this national embarrassment very well with a question; ‘Why can’t BA and BAA get you from A to B without A BA**S-UP?’

Picture: Daily Mail

A380 superjumbo lands in Heathrow

The world's biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 superjumbo, has touched down at Heathrow after its first commercial flight to Europe.

The 471 passengers applauded loudly on landing at the west London airport which had spent over £100 million to accommodate the jet which had taken off 14 hours earlier from Singapore's Changi airport.

The Dubai-based carrier Emirates will start A380 services to Heathrow in December and Australian carrier Qantas is also expected to use the superjumbo to fly to London.

In the future, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will be flying the A380 at Heathrow, where both Terminal 3 and the new £4.3 billion Terminal 5 can take the new aircraft.

All of those on board were given a certificate with their names on to mark the event, with intrepid traveller Mark Barden, 45, from Southampton possibly the most worthy recipient.

Mr Barden, a male nurse, flew out to Singapore to be on the inaugural flight. After just eight hours in the Far East, he was then flying back for his third A380 trip in two days and was even contemplating going in to work on Thursday.

And Roger and Sue Simpson from Fowey, Cornwall, had expected to be on a conventional jumbo jet but found to their pleasure that their flight had been earmarked as the inaugural A380 European run.

Mr Simpson, 56, a retired environmental manager, said: "This plane is a step in the right direction. It's quiet, less-polluting and roomy."

Passengers sat in three classes - first, which has 12 luxury suites with 23-inch TV and cinema screens and double beds; business, where 60 people can enjoy flat-bed sleeping; and economy where nearly 400 passengers have seat-back screens and more room than rival aircrafts.

The aircraft's huge wings are manufactured in Broughton, North Wales, and Filton, Bristol, while the superjumbo is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

Source: msn news UK

London Heathrow Terminal 5 - quick facts

Today, Her Majesty the Queen will officially open controversial London Heathrow Terminal 5, which will open its door to the passengers on March 27.

Some quick facts about Terminal 5:

• Cost: £4.5bn
• Construction: 7,5 years, 100 million man hours
• Aircraft stands: 50, to be increased to 60 by 2010
• Annual passengers traffic: 30 million
• Car park spaces: 3,800
• Self service check-in kiosks: 96
• Standard check-in desks: 54
• Security lanes: 20
• Bags processed per hour: 12,000
• Lifts: 192
• Escalators: 105
• Seats: 9,140 (excluding catering outlets)
• Toilet blocks: 112
• Toilets: 800
• Baby change facilities: 32
• Retail units: 112, including Cartier, Caviar House, Boss, Bally, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Tie Rack (including 25 food and drink outlets)
• Children's play areas: 3 (for toddlers to 7 year olds)
• Designed :by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners

It is a big shopping mall really ;)

American Airlines moves from Gatwick to Heathrow

After 26 years at London Gatwick Airport, the American Airlines are moving to London Heathrow.

The American Airlines’ planning senior vice-president Henry Joyner said: "We want to strengthen our competitive position within the new open skies regime, so it makes sense to focus our efforts in London at Heathrow.

"These changes do not impact the total number of American flights to and from London. We'll operate up to 18 daily departures to Heathrow this summer from seven US airports."


The last American Airline service from Gatwick will be will be a Dallas/Fort Worth connection on April 13.

UK domestic flights passengers to be fingerprinted on Heathrow’s Terminal 5

From next month all passengers boarding flights from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 will be fingerprinted.

Heathrow’s Terminal 5 will accommodate yearly for 4 million domestic passengers. To make sure the same person who checked in boards the airplane, all passengers will our fingerprints taken, as well as being photographed, when they check in and then the procedure will be repeated while boarding.

BAA, the Heathrow’s owner, sees biometric security check as a way to prevent criminals, terrorists and illegal immigrants trying to bypass border controls and assures all biometric data will be destroyed after 24 hours and will not be passed on to the police.

If biometric is to be used to prevent immigrants, how come it is to be implemented on domestic flights terminal? Even security mad U.S. does not fingerprint their domestic passengers.

American Airlines cross Atlantic with just five people on board.

The American Airlines Boeing 777, able to carry 245 passengers on board, made a nine-hour journey from Chicago to Heathrow with just five passengers on board, using usual 22,000 gallons of fuel. It is 4,400 gallons per passenger.

Richard Dyer, of Friends of the Earth, said: "Flying a virtually empty plane is an obscene waste of fuel.

"Through no fault of their own, each passenger's carbon footprint for this flight is about 45 times what it would have been if the plane had been full."

To sum up the equivalent of this huge carbon footprint a car would have to travel 123,000 miles or the average British household would use up its five years gas and electricity supplies.

So much for green initiatives.

Heathrow delays to be expected.

A British Airways aircraft, a Boeing 777 flight BA38 from Beijing met difficulties while landing at Heathrow Airport. Passengers are reported to acquire only minor injuries.

The traffic at Heathrow is ongoing, however delays are to be expected.

British Airways has set up a helpline for concerned relatives: 0800 389 4193