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BAA accepts some blame for Terminal 5 fiasco
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews has accepted blame for some of the problems at the Heathrow Terminal 5 opening.
Appearing before the House of Commons Transport Committee, Matthews said he did not know T5 was not ready for business when it opened on March 27.
“We have not sought to blame others. Some of the problems were undoubtedly our fault and some were not,” he said.
Problems with baggage handling meant thousands of bags were delayed.
According to Press Association reports, Matthews claimed the baggage system had been tested at full load about 20 times.
He said the airports operator had not yet been able to investigate fully what went wrong because it has been too busy trying to correct the problems.
He admitted that 17 lifts were still not working at the new terminal, five weeks after the opening.
MPs accused Matthews of being “complacent” and said the disastrous opening had made a “fool out of this country”.
Matthews appeared in front of the Committee with BAA chairman Sir Nigel Rudd.
Rudd said he was “bitterly disappointed” about the opening. He said although there were some problems that might have been foreseen, none would have led to a delay in opening.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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