London Heathrow T5

[Luke Chittock]

Howdy all

Sorry... bit late posting this one:

Media Release


RELOCATION, RELOCATION, RELOCATION

26 March 2008: The biggest airport move in UK aviation history takes place this week as British Airways undertakes the unprecedented logistical challenge of relocating more than 1,000 ground vehicles, aircraft and items of support equipment to its new home at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

Between 11pm on March 26 and 4am on March 27, the airline has to move most of its Heathrow equipment up to three miles from one end of the airfield to the other without disturbing the flight schedule of the world’s busiest international airport.

Heathrow’s southern runway will be closed for these five hours, while a convoy of more than 1,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment are driven from Terminals 1 and 4 to Terminal 5.

The convoy moving up to Terminal 5 includes:
27 shorthaul aircraft
360 baggage trailers (help to move bags from baggage hall to aircraft side)
95 baggage tugs (pull the baggage trailers from baggage hall to aircraft side)
106 baggage elevators and conveyors (help to load bags from aircraft side into the hold)
240 cargo containers
122 cars and vans
16 ground power units
22 sets of aircraft steps
10 toilet servicing units

The convoy will be moved by a team of 250 staff including up to 150 volunteers, especially trained for the overnight move.

Such a time-limited move of this magnitude has never taken place before at any UK airport, let alone at the country’s global hub.

More than 2,500 Heathrow based customer service and baggage staff will also overnight change the terminal they work in. A further 3,000 staff will move from Terminal 4 into Terminal 5 on April 30.

Up to 13,000 Heathrow based cabin crew and 2,800 pilots will move into a new crew reporting centre within Terminal 5 from May 1.

British Airways’ planners are consulting regular updates of wind and weather forecasts and reports from air traffic controllers so they can implement contingency arrangements to attempt to deal with every type of potential last-minute disruption.

Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, said: “This is an historic move for this airline and for UK aviation. Nothing on this scale has been attempted before.

“Everyone knows the exceptional congestion that Heathrow endures as the world’s busiest international airport. But we are relocating to a completely new terminal without requiring any kind of shutdown by the airport authorities.

“Heathrow will be operating at full capacity on March 26 from four terminals and again at full capacity on March 27 from five terminals. Putting up the ‘closed for business’ sign is not an option. This is a massive logistical exercise, which is without parallel.”

All the aircraft and ground equipment will be moved initially from their normal overnight positions at Terminals 1 and 4 to nearby holding areas. When air traffic controllers give the go-ahead they will then be moved along the southern runway’s taxiways, to a second holding point close to Terminal 5.

From there, the equipment will be reallocated individually to the correct part of the Terminal 5 campus, which covers the size of Hyde Park.


Ends


Notes to editors:

1. The first arrival at Terminal 5 will be BA026 from Hong Kong at 4.50am. The first departure will be BA302 to Paris at 6.20am. A further 380 flights will then depart or arrive from the terminal during its first day of operations.

2. A second phase of British Airways’ move will take place between 11pm Tuesday April 29 and 4am Wednesday April 30, when a further 500 pieces of ground equipment and 120 flights will be moved and begin to operate to and from Terminal 5.

3. Photographs of the equipment and maps of Heathrow showing how the convoy will move from Terminals 1 and 4 to Terminal 5 are available.

[Tim C]

Thanks Luke some good info there. Quite a few of us saw the Doco on the tv the other night on the launch of T5. It looks great.

Cheers

[Montague S]

excellent info there, Luke...I see the first flight using the terminal is BA from Hong Kong.

[Luke Chittock]

G'day Montague et al

excellent info there, Luke...I see the first flight using the terminal is BA from Hong Kong.

Amazing huh? And i'm sure you will be pleased to know that it actually arrived 1min early... and the BA302 PAR bound flight departed bang on time.

Regards

Luke/PER

[Montague S]

G'day Montague et al



Amazing huh? And i'm sure you will be pleased to know that it actually arrived 1min early... and the BA302 PAR bound flight departed bang on time.

Regards

Luke/PER

G-BNLH? :p

[Andrew P]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7317352.stm

Flights from Heathrow's new £4.3bn Terminal 5 are departing with hand baggage only after luggage check-in was suspended due to a processing backlog.

sounds a real stuff-up:D

Banjo

[David Ramsay]

Flights from Heathrow's new £4.3bn Terminal 5 are departing with hand baggage only

So nothing has changed at Heathrow. :rolleyes:

[NickN]

From this mornings Daily Telegraph site....

By Avril Ormsby

March 28, 2008 08:48am

THE opening of London Heathrow Airport's $9.4 billion Terminal 5 has ended in chaos, with its new baggage handling system suspended and dozens of flights cancelled.

The state-of-the-art baggage system is meant to help smooth the journeys of millions of passengers travelling through the world's busiest international air gateway.

But the first day saw at least 33 short-haul flights cancelled and enraged passengers suffering hours of delays because of a backlog caused by technical problems.

Passengers wanting to fly overnight were told they would be able to board if they were taking only hand luggage on the flight.

British Airways (BA), which has its new home at T5, blamed the disruption on "teething problems".

It apologised, saying customers who had not checked-in could travel with hand baggage only, re-book or receive a refund.

Baggage handling was only one of a series of problems facing passengers. Others included car parking troubles, staff security screening and general confusion over the unfamiliar layout.

"This is not unexpected following one of the most complex and largest airport moves in history," BA said.

About 97 per cent of its flights went ahead as normal, it said.

Journalist Mark Jones was left sitting on a plane for two hours.

"At one point the luggage was returned to the terminal because the system said our flight had already departed," he said.

Tight security was in place in expectation of demonstrations by green protesters against the expansion of the airport.

In the event, about 200 eco-demonstrators appeared in the main entrance wearing Stop Airport Expansion T-shirts.

Authorities had been on heightened alert after a series of security breaches at Heathrow.

On the eve of the Queen formally opening the terminal this month, a man ran onto a runway, while in February, protesters broke into the airport and wrapped a banner around a plane.

The terminal is the equivalent size of about 50 soccer pitches.

The first passengers to arrive at the new terminal were from Hong Kong at 4.50am, while the first outbound plane left the airport at 6.20am bound for Paris

[David Wallace]

What was the doco, and is it on the internet to download?

[Adam Stone]

It seems to be suffering from a Terminal Illness;)

[Nick W.]

It seems to be suffering from a Terminal Illness;)

Oh dear...


:)

[Simon Hoby]

What was the doco, and is it on the internet to download?


There are several different news stories and docos about T5 on youtube. Just try searching for "Heathrow Terminal 5" or something similar.

You can also try looking for a torrent, but I haven't seen it out there.

[Ash W]

The latest is BA are planing to postpone the next phase of the move to T5 which was meant to happen on April 30 until it is all settled down.

I know I won't be in any great hurry to try and use the new terminal. My next trip should be on the Eurostar and the one after that leaves from Gatwick, so hopefuly come late May when I will probably first get to use it it will be all bedded in and working. Well working as well as anything can in the UK.

[Tim C]

BA trucks its luggage mountain to Milan for sorting

Ben Webster, London | April 03, 2008


BRITISH Airways is sending thousands of suitcases by truck to a warehouse in Milan because its staff at Heathrow are unable to cope with the backlog of at least 20,000 bags that missed their flights from Terminal 5.

Domestic passengers' bags are being driven to Manchester, and to Scotland, where they will be sorted, screened and dispatched to their owners.

BA said problems with the automated baggage system at the new terminal meant it could not be used to process delayed bags, which had to undergo more rigorous screening.

It was expected to cancel 50 flights yesterday and another 32 today, bringing the total number of cancellations since the terminal opened last Thursday to 430.

The airline and BAA, which owns Heathrow, have given conflicting accounts of the size of the baggage mountain.

BA claimed on Sunday afternoon that there were 15,000 bags, but on Monday morning BAA said the figure was 28,000.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said on Monday night that the number was 19,000 and that 5000 would be on their way to owners by Tuesday. But on Tuesday afternoon, BA's press office said it was still sorting through 20,000 mislaid bags.

The airline said it was sending bags belonging to customers in mainland Europe to a "specialist sorting facility" in Milan. The facility is understood to belong to a contractor that sends batches of bags by courier all over Europe.

Despite taking at least 24 hours to get to Milan by truck, it can be quicker than by air because bags travelling by road do not have to be screened.

However, many travellers' bags are likely to find their way to hotels after the owners have flown home - they may then be returned to Milan to be resorted.

A BA spokesman said: "When a bag travels with its owner it is screened once. When a bag flies without its owner, it requires an enhanced level of screening."

Tighter security for bags flying without their owners was introduced after the Lockerbie disaster of 1988, which was caused by a bomb in an unaccompanied suitcase. BA said that passengers whose bags were lost could claim for "immediate expenses" but failed to define what this covered or how much it would reimburse.

The Times

[Bob C]

How sad it is for the travelling public, the aviation industry in
general and BAA and BA in particular that Heathrow's new T5 continues to
be a PR nightmare and operational debacle. You would have thought that all systems had been tested to the limit and fully operational with the bugs
ironed out before the terminal opened.

According to an industry newsletter I read, things are so bad that BA doesn't know how many bags have been misplaced - at one stage they said 15,000 but more than 25,000 may have been delayed. No one really knows when passengers and bags will be reunited and some industry sources are suggesting weeks.

Apparently, BA is even sending bags in bulk to Italy where a private company is sorting them and then driving them to their owners across Europe.

So much for the so-called 'world class' baggage system that was claimed would 'work perfectly on day one'.

But the problems don't end there with many flights still being cancelled and other systems breaking down. On one day last week, with thousands of frustrated passengers trying to find out what was happening, BA only had 2 of 26 customer service (?) booths open.

And one of the weak excuses offered for this disaster was that both the airport's and BA's employees couldn't find their way to the new staff carparking at the airport, meaning that people were reporting for duty up to two hours late. Unelievable, if true !!

So much for BA's earlier boasts about how smoothly their move to the new
terminal would be, and how well they had tested everything prior to
the start of service there.

Compare this debacle to the apparently smooth and glitch free
operations of Changi's new terminal three and Beijing's massive new
airport.

Has anyone heard any different ?

What did they do right that Heathrow didn't ?

[Ash W]

But one thing no baggage system can be pre-tested 100%. T5 was tested on trail runs, but there could never be a full test until it is put to use.

What you have said about the lost bags is very true, all missing interntaional bags are being trucked to Italy, apparently flying them is a safety risk. From there they are being sent to their owners. One issue that has come up is holiday makers may find their bags going to hotels days after they have checked out, so may well end back in Italy. Domestic bags are heading to some place in the north of the UK for sorting.

IMO I reckon the change should have been more gradual, say take all long haul flights first then the european one, it might have lessened the pain and lowered the risk somewhat.

[Kurt A]

BA faces further Heathrow delays

Delays continue to hamper Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 with snow causing the cancellation of over 100 flights overnight.
Twelve of those flights stemmed from problems with the baggage system, which have caused hundreds of cancellations. Snow also led to the cancellation of 51 BA flights from Gatwick.

-travelweekly

[Ray venn]

After spending many years traveling there on an almost monotonous basis the news is hardly a suprise to me or anyone that has passed through Heathrow in the past. The staff appear to time there breaks so that when several flights at a time come in they are not there and all concerned from the flights are forced to wait (If you can imagine that episode of the Simpsons where Patty and Selma don't let the line at the DMV move all day). The other thing that you realise is that the staff are very reluctant to go outside there job description by even an inch, so when there job is to sell newspapers they wont be assisting you if you want to buy a magazine! (Just an example)

T5 might look good but you would have liked to have thought that with all the media attention Heathrow gets they would've gotten it right at least on the first day, but no, nothing has changed, and hope and optimism is quickly crushed.

RayV

[Ash W]

Pretty well summed up. Sadly living in the UK at present this attitude (and over regulation) just seems to be the english way. It is no surprise they are no longer the world power they once were.

[Kurt A]

British Airways Deferred Moving Long Haul Services to Terminal 5

British Airways has delayed the transfer of more long-haul services to Heathrow's problem-plagued Terminal 5 from April 30 till at least June 5.

"We are making this decision in the interests of customers," said British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh. "Though Terminal 5 is now working well, we need to have confidence that good service can be maintained when the terminal is handling larger numbers of customers."

The opening of the 4.3 billion- pound ($8.5 billion) terminal has been a public relations disaster for British Airways, which had hoped the new building would put an end to constant delays and overcrowding at Heathrow airport.

British Airways cancelled more than 600 flights in the first 12 days of operations at Terminal 5 after a glitch in the automated baggage system and what the company called ``staff familiarization'' issues. The decision to delay the second stage of the move will disrupt plans of other airlines that are moving into the free space.

At one point, more than 15,000 pieces of luggage went missing. Walsh said Friday that three-quarters of those have now been returned.
British Airways has said the problems have cost it some $32 million in lost revenue and compensation through March.

The delay by British Airways could lead to compensation claims against Heathrow's operator BAA.

The carriers that had expected to move into the terminal space vacated by British Airways, including Alitalia SpA, Air Transat and Aeroflot, must now wait.

British Airways has been criticized by shareholders and its own pilots for opening Terminal 5 prematurely. Management's ``arrogance'' turned the airline into a ``laughing stock,'' the British Air Line Pilots Association said in a letter on April 7.

Mr Walsh stood by his airlines decision to open Terminal 5, ``I'd make it clear that the decision to go forward on the 27th of March was a decision I agreed to,'' Walsh said. ``I was confident we could make it work.''
-eTravel

[Gerald A]

15-Apr-2008 : In the wake of the disastrous opening of the new Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport, British Airways has acted by announcing that operations director, Gareth Kirkwood and customer services director, David Noyes, would be leaving the company.

The two senior executives have paid the price for the fiasco surrounding the opening of the new facility, which saw hundreds of flights cancelled and some 28,000 bags going astray.

It was inevitable that Kirkwood’s position would become untenable after the shambolic first week of operations. Kirkwood also remains under investigation by the US Department of Justice for alleged price-fixing while in his previous position as head of British Airways World Cargo. The DoJ has not yet ruled out pressing for the extradition of Kirkwood and nine other present and former employees implicated in the cartel activity.

Chief executive Willie Walsh will be hoping that the pressure on his position will ease following the announcement, despite an earlier statement that “the buck stops with me".




Gerald

[Grant Smith]

BRITISH Airways dismissed two of its longest-serving managers earlier this week for their part in the shambolic opening of Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport.

The move came as chief executive Willie Walsh acted to deflect demands for his own resignation after more than 500 flights were cancelled and 28,000 bags lost.

BA announced that operations director Gareth Kirkwood and customer services director David Noyes would be "leaving the company" and that their departures "follow the airline's move to Terminal 5".

Each had been employed by BA for more than 20 years.

The announcement came only four days after Mr Walsh had said: "If people want to assign blame for this, it comes to me."

Mr Walsh, who joined BA three years ago, had also said there was "little value or merit in trying to apportion blame".

On Monday, however, BA came under renewed pressure to take action when Standard Life Investments, a key shareholder, discussed the T5 debacle at a meeting with Martin Broughton, the BA chairman. Senior members of Balpa, the pilots' union, have called for Mr Walsh to resign over the mishandling of the opening.

He still has the support of the City, but some investors have said privately that much depends on how he performs in the next few months.

Douglas McNeill, a Blue Oar Securities transport analyst, believes the dismissals might not stem the calls for Mr Walsh to resign.

He said: "The announcement of the two departures is intended to relieve the pressure on the company and on Willie Walsh. It may not do so."

It took BA almost two weeks to operate a full service at T5. Staff had not been trained properly to use the new baggage system and there were also glitches in the software that controls it.

BA announced last Friday that the transfer from T4 to T5 of 120 daily long-haul flights, planned for April 30, would be postponed until June. It emerged this week that the transfer might be not be completed until October.

This would disrupt the schedule for upgrading Heathrow's older terminals.

BA said 10 days ago that the problems at T5 had cost it pound stg. 16million ($34 million) in lost revenue and compensation, though the final cost is expected to be higher.

The carrier said it intended to appoint a chief operations officer to combine the roles of the two executives who were leaving.

Mr Noyes, who joined BA in 1985, had been involved with T5 for about three years.

He gave a series of pledges about how successful the new facility would be in a press briefing two weeks before it opened.

He said: "We are confident that this building is operationally ready."

BA lost 28,000 bags in the first four days of T5's operation, and thousands of passengers are waiting to be reunited with their bags.

Some insurance companies are refusing to cover passengers for lost luggage or cancellations at T5 if they have taken out new policies since the terminal opened.

The Times


Bugger

[Gerald A]

May 9, 2008

British Airways and airports operator BAA said on Friday they would move a new phase of long haul flights to Heathrow's Terminal 5 building on June 5.

The two companies last month postponed the move to "at least June 5" following the chaotic opening of the new terminal, which saw flights cancelled, passengers stranded and baggage lost.

They confirmed flights to and from eight long haul destinations would now move to T5 on that date, including those to New York and Beijing. "Terminal 5 is now working well," BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh said in a statement.

(Reuters)




Gerald

[Philip Argy]

The acceptance testing for the baggage handling system in T5 was a case study in how not to do things from what I've read. It has to be one of the worst exercises in recent history and brings no credit to those involved. I have no first hand knowledge but reports at the time said that standard sized light packages were used for testing, instead of the variety of shapes, sizes, weights, loose straps etc that eventually messed things up when the system went live.

What I really want to know is how they have fixed the problems or are there just some expedient workarounds that leave everything vulnerable to another disaster?