[Luke Chittock]

Howdy all

Sorry... bit late posting this one:

Media Release


RELOCATION, RELOCATION, RELOCATION

26 March 2008: The biggest airport move in UK aviation history takes place this week as British Airways undertakes the unprecedented logistical challenge of relocating more than 1,000 ground vehicles, aircraft and items of support equipment to its new home at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

Between 11pm on March 26 and 4am on March 27, the airline has to move most of its Heathrow equipment up to three miles from one end of the airfield to the other without disturbing the flight schedule of the world’s busiest international airport.

Heathrow’s southern runway will be closed for these five hours, while a convoy of more than 1,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment are driven from Terminals 1 and 4 to Terminal 5.

The convoy moving up to Terminal 5 includes:
27 shorthaul aircraft
360 baggage trailers (help to move bags from baggage hall to aircraft side)
95 baggage tugs (pull the baggage trailers from baggage hall to aircraft side)
106 baggage elevators and conveyors (help to load bags from aircraft side into the hold)
240 cargo containers
122 cars and vans
16 ground power units
22 sets of aircraft steps
10 toilet servicing units

The convoy will be moved by a team of 250 staff including up to 150 volunteers, especially trained for the overnight move.

Such a time-limited move of this magnitude has never taken place before at any UK airport, let alone at the country’s global hub.

More than 2,500 Heathrow based customer service and baggage staff will also overnight change the terminal they work in. A further 3,000 staff will move from Terminal 4 into Terminal 5 on April 30.

Up to 13,000 Heathrow based cabin crew and 2,800 pilots will move into a new crew reporting centre within Terminal 5 from May 1.

British Airways’ planners are consulting regular updates of wind and weather forecasts and reports from air traffic controllers so they can implement contingency arrangements to attempt to deal with every type of potential last-minute disruption.

Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, said: “This is an historic move for this airline and for UK aviation. Nothing on this scale has been attempted before.

“Everyone knows the exceptional congestion that Heathrow endures as the world’s busiest international airport. But we are relocating to a completely new terminal without requiring any kind of shutdown by the airport authorities.

“Heathrow will be operating at full capacity on March 26 from four terminals and again at full capacity on March 27 from five terminals. Putting up the ‘closed for business’ sign is not an option. This is a massive logistical exercise, which is without parallel.”

All the aircraft and ground equipment will be moved initially from their normal overnight positions at Terminals 1 and 4 to nearby holding areas. When air traffic controllers give the go-ahead they will then be moved along the southern runway’s taxiways, to a second holding point close to Terminal 5.

From there, the equipment will be reallocated individually to the correct part of the Terminal 5 campus, which covers the size of Hyde Park.


Ends


Notes to editors:

1. The first arrival at Terminal 5 will be BA026 from Hong Kong at 4.50am. The first departure will be BA302 to Paris at 6.20am. A further 380 flights will then depart or arrive from the terminal during its first day of operations.

2. A second phase of British Airways’ move will take place between 11pm Tuesday April 29 and 4am Wednesday April 30, when a further 500 pieces of ground equipment and 120 flights will be moved and begin to operate to and from Terminal 5.

3. Photographs of the equipment and maps of Heathrow showing how the convoy will move from Terminals 1 and 4 to Terminal 5 are available.