BAA boss makes T5 apology to MPs

The head of Heathrow operator BAA has said he did not know in advance that there were likely to be problems with Terminal 5.

And more than five weeks after T5 opened, BAA chief executive Colin Matthews told the House of Commons Transport Committee that 17 of T5's lifts were still not working.

He apologised "unreservedly" for the difficulties at the £4.3 billion facility following its disastrous opening on March 27, with dozens of flights delayed, the baggage system failing and huge queues building up.

Mr Matthews admitted that BAA was to blame for "some of the problems" and added that the company had not yet investigated "who knew what or when" in advance about the likely problems the terminal might face.

It was several days before British Airways was able to run a full service from T5 and the airline postponed to June its planned April 30 transfer of its long-haul flights to the new terminal.

Mr Matthews was appearing before the committee with BAA chairman Sir Nigel Rudd. "I am bitterly disappointed about the opening of T5," Sir Nigel said.

"My view of the matter was that there were a number of problems that might have been foreseen but none that would have led to a postponement of the terminal."

MPs expressed incredulity that BAA bosses seemed unaware of the misgivings of some people ahead of the T5 opening.

Mr Matthews said: "I am not hiding anything. I have concluded that my first responsibility was to fix issues with passengers. I have not made time available to have an investigation on who knew what or when."

As far as the initial baggage problems were concerned, Mr Matthews told MPs: "There were trials and tests of the baggage system. With the benefit of hindsight, we were not successful."

Sir Nigel said: "This is clearly a huge embarrassment to me, the company and the board. Nothing can take away that sense of failure. We all worked extremely hard to make this work. We all believed, genuinely, that this was going to be a great opening."

He added that Hong Kong's new airport "did not work for two years".

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