British Airways moves finally to new terminal June 5

Shola Adekola, Lagos - 12.05.2008

British Airports Authority (BAA) and British Airways confirmed last week that the first phase of the move of additional flights into Heathrow Terminal 5 will take place in June.

According to the airline in Lagos, services to and from eight long-haul destinations will be switched from Terminal 4 to Terminal 5 on June 5.

These flights, which included services to and from New York JFK, also included other seven destinations which are Abuja, Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos and Phoenix.

British Airways flies eight times a day to New York JFK, and provides a daily service on the other routes. All these flights operate currently from Terminal 4. Combined, they amount to about a quarter of the airline's Terminal 4 schedule.

Commenting on the development, British Airways chief executive, Willie Walsh, said “as we announced on April 11, we will move our Terminal 4 long-haul programme into Terminal 5 in phases. We have taken this decision in the interests of customers, who remain our priority at all times.

“Terminal 5 is now working well, and we are pleased we can confirm our plan to move in some additional flights on June 5,” the BA chief executive said.

In the same vein, the BAA chief executive, Colin Matthews, said “I am pleased that we have reached this decision jointly.”