Airport operating group BAA confirmed on the 13^th May that Mark Bullock – the managing director of Heathrow Airport when Terminal 5 opened two months ago – is to leave his current position.

Mr Bullock, said BAA, had “chosen to leave” owing to a shift in management rules.

Heathrow T5 Flight Cancellations, Baggage Loss

Earlier this month, MPs said that the issues with Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 had “made a fool out of the country”, and demanded that they be explained.

As has been well documented, during the initial days that T5 was open for business, large numbers of flight cancellations occurred and thousands of items of baggage were lost.

BA Staff Lost

In April, British Airways announced that it was losing two of its most prominent members of staff in the wake of the T5 fiasco.

According to Colin Matthews, Chief Executive of BAA, Mark Bullock had "made a significant contribution to BAA and to Heathrow Airport in particular, and...led the airport through a particularly challenging period."

Mr Bullock’s position will be filled by Mike Brown, presently the London Underground’s chief operating officer.

Earlier in May, the Transport Select Committee was told that, at the point T5 opened its doors to the public, Mr Bullock “was unaware” of the new facility’s unreadiness.

T5’s new hi-tech baggage system had not undergone sufficient testing, and the lifts were not working, the committee heard.

Sir Nigel Rudd, non-executive chairman of BAA, told MPs that the opening of T5 had left him “bitterly disappointed."

"It was clearly a huge embarrassment to the company, me personally and the board", he said.

T5 Long-Haul Departures

British Airways recently confirmed that its long-haul departures – currently flown out of Terminal 4 – would relocate to Terminal 5 next month. Originally, such a move was meant to have taken place in April.

Source – Airport International’s London Reporter

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