British Airways will resume its move to Heathrow’s Terminal 5 on June 5 with the transfer of its eight daily services to and from New York JFK.
Daily services to seven other destinations will also move on that day – to Abuja, Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos and Phoenix. The combined operations amount to one-quarter of BA’s current long-haul operations from Terminal 4.
BA had planned to move to Terminal 5 in just two stages, with long-haul services due to switch at the end of last month. But the chaos following the terminal’s opening on March 27 led to a postponement and the carrier’s remaining operations will move in stages, to be completed by October.
This has triggered angry demands for compensation from rival airlines that are waiting to move into the refurbished terminal areas vacated by BA.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: “We announced on April 11 we will move our Terminal 4 long-haul programme into Terminal 5 in phases in the interests of customers. Terminal 5 is now working well.”
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews added: “We reached this decision jointly. BAA and BA have worked together to resolve the initial problems at T5 and to plan this next move.”
The date of the next phase in the move remains unknown.
BA had hoped to avoid a phased move to Terminal 5 out of concern it would sow confusion among passengers. Transfers between Terminals 5 and 4 for those who go to the wrong terminal require a rail, bus or taxi journey.