BA delays moving long-haul services to T5

British Airways is to delay moving its long-haul services to Terminal 5 by two months.

The airline has announced that the rest of its operations would be moved to its new terminal in June, instead of the original date of 30 April.

The disastrous opening of Heathrow’s £4.3bn Terminal 5 last month saw hundreds of flights cancelled and thousands of pieces of luggage lost.

In a joint statement with Heathrow operator BAA, British Airways said: “We will work together to iron out any remaining problems, including the baggage system and its operation, and develop a robust timescale for phasing the move of Terminal 4 services into Terminal 5.”

Colin Matthews, BAA’s chief executive, said: “BAA fully recognizes that the inauguration of Terminal 5 has not been as smooth as we and BA would have wished.

“In the last few days passengers have seen significant improvement and our goal is to complete that process as soon as possible before continuing the next phase of transforming the rest of the airport.”