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  #21  
Old 16th April 2008, 06:02 AM
Gerald A Gerald A is offline
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15-Apr-2008 : In the wake of the disastrous opening of the new Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport, British Airways has acted by announcing that operations director, Gareth Kirkwood and customer services director, David Noyes, would be leaving the company.

The two senior executives have paid the price for the fiasco surrounding the opening of the new facility, which saw hundreds of flights cancelled and some 28,000 bags going astray.

It was inevitable that Kirkwood’s position would become untenable after the shambolic first week of operations. Kirkwood also remains under investigation by the US Department of Justice for alleged price-fixing while in his previous position as head of British Airways World Cargo. The DoJ has not yet ruled out pressing for the extradition of Kirkwood and nine other present and former employees implicated in the cartel activity.

Chief executive Willie Walsh will be hoping that the pressure on his position will ease following the announcement, despite an earlier statement that “the buck stops with me".

Gerald
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  #22  
Old 18th April 2008, 06:44 AM
Grant Smith Grant Smith is offline
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Default BA Fires top pair over T5 shambles

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BRITISH Airways dismissed two of its longest-serving managers earlier this week for their part in the shambolic opening of Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport.

The move came as chief executive Willie Walsh acted to deflect demands for his own resignation after more than 500 flights were cancelled and 28,000 bags lost.

BA announced that operations director Gareth Kirkwood and customer services director David Noyes would be "leaving the company" and that their departures "follow the airline's move to Terminal 5".

Each had been employed by BA for more than 20 years.

The announcement came only four days after Mr Walsh had said: "If people want to assign blame for this, it comes to me."

Mr Walsh, who joined BA three years ago, had also said there was "little value or merit in trying to apportion blame".

On Monday, however, BA came under renewed pressure to take action when Standard Life Investments, a key shareholder, discussed the T5 debacle at a meeting with Martin Broughton, the BA chairman. Senior members of Balpa, the pilots' union, have called for Mr Walsh to resign over the mishandling of the opening.

He still has the support of the City, but some investors have said privately that much depends on how he performs in the next few months.

Douglas McNeill, a Blue Oar Securities transport analyst, believes the dismissals might not stem the calls for Mr Walsh to resign.

He said: "The announcement of the two departures is intended to relieve the pressure on the company and on Willie Walsh. It may not do so."

It took BA almost two weeks to operate a full service at T5. Staff had not been trained properly to use the new baggage system and there were also glitches in the software that controls it.

BA announced last Friday that the transfer from T4 to T5 of 120 daily long-haul flights, planned for April 30, would be postponed until June. It emerged this week that the transfer might be not be completed until October.

This would disrupt the schedule for upgrading Heathrow's older terminals.

BA said 10 days ago that the problems at T5 had cost it pound stg. 16million ($34 million) in lost revenue and compensation, though the final cost is expected to be higher.

The carrier said it intended to appoint a chief operations officer to combine the roles of the two executives who were leaving.

Mr Noyes, who joined BA in 1985, had been involved with T5 for about three years.

He gave a series of pledges about how successful the new facility would be in a press briefing two weeks before it opened.

He said: "We are confident that this building is operationally ready."

BA lost 28,000 bags in the first four days of T5's operation, and thousands of passengers are waiting to be reunited with their bags.

Some insurance companies are refusing to cover passengers for lost luggage or cancellations at T5 if they have taken out new policies since the terminal opened.

The Times
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  #23  
Old 10th May 2008, 05:29 AM
Gerald A Gerald A is offline
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Default British Airways To Move More Flights To T5

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May 9, 2008

British Airways and airports operator BAA said on Friday they would move a new phase of long haul flights to Heathrow's Terminal 5 building on June 5.

The two companies last month postponed the move to "at least June 5" following the chaotic opening of the new terminal, which saw flights cancelled, passengers stranded and baggage lost.

They confirmed flights to and from eight long haul destinations would now move to T5 on that date, including those to New York and Beijing. "Terminal 5 is now working well," BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh said in a statement.

(Reuters)

Gerald
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  #24  
Old 10th May 2008, 05:57 PM
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Philip Argy Philip Argy is offline
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The acceptance testing for the baggage handling system in T5 was a case study in how not to do things from what I've read. It has to be one of the worst exercises in recent history and brings no credit to those involved. I have no first hand knowledge but reports at the time said that standard sized light packages were used for testing, instead of the variety of shapes, sizes, weights, loose straps etc that eventually messed things up when the system went live.

What I really want to know is how they have fixed the problems or are there just some expedient workarounds that leave everything vulnerable to another disaster?
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