British Airways has confirmed that the airline's long-haul flights will move to Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 in June.

The airline announced that services to New York JFK, Beijing, Cape Town, Cairo, Abuja, Bengalaru (Bangalore) and Phoenix will move to T5 on Thursday 5th June.

It was initially planned to move BA's long haul flights to Heathrow Terminal 5 at the end of April. However, following the chaotic opening few weeks of operation at the new terminal, BA announced in early April it was delaying the move of its intercontinental services to the summer. Currently, the services operate from Terminal 4.

BA's Chief Executive, Willie Walsh, said: "Terminal 5 is now working well and we are pleased we can confirm our plan to move in some additional flights".

The transfer of the services is set to add around 7,500 passengers per day to the terminal's passenger throughput.

Heathrow-New York JFK Flights

Some airline industry analysts believe there is much riding on the move of the long haul services to T5.
John Strickland told the Guardian that it would be "extremely serious" for BA if the problems seen when the facility opened were repeated with the addition of the intercontinental flights.

Strickland argued that BA cannot afford to let disruption affect the prestigious New York JFK service in particular.

This is the airline's most profitable route, but as a result of the new Open Skies treaty liberalising transatlantic air travel the airline, Strickland says, is likely to see an increase in competition.

He said: "BA really has to perform on that route, which has the most demanding, discerning and fleet-of-foot customers".

Foreign Terminal 5 Passengers "Unchecked"

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that some foreign passengers using Terminal 5 have been able to enter the UK without showing their passports.

BA admitted that some passengers arriving from international flights had been treated as domestic passengers, meaning they bypassed immigration.

A BA statement said: "When Terminal 5 initially opened there were a very small number of incidents where passengers from international flights were bussed to the wrong zones".

The airline added "that this matter has been addressed" and that "new processes" were now in place to prevent the error happening again.

Source - Airport International's London Reporter

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