TERMINAL 5 HAS OVERCOME TEETHING TROUBLES TO WIN ENTHUSIASTIC PRAISE
31 July 2008The launch could not have been worse: the queues, the tempers, the mounds of luggage, confused officials and public relations disaster. Since that wintry opening in March, five million people have passed through Terminal 5. British Airways is now operating three quarters of all its flights out of its new Heathrow home: the premier route, to JFK in New York, switched from Terminal 4 last month with barely a whisper of complaint. Indeed, quietly and slowly, the plaudits are beginning to come in. Most passengers are getting through check in in only ten minutes. A new business lounge is soon to open, in addition to the six already in use. More than 65,000 passengers a day are now using T5. And only a very few lose their bags.
With operations at last running normally, BA has launched a belated public relations campaign. Turning around a bad image, however, is almost as cumbersome as steering a 747 round a beacon. A lost reputation can takes months to recover, especially as other envious airlines and rival operators are happy to indulge in the general Schadenfreude at BA's initial woes.
As the summer rush builds up, however, passengers can see how T5 comes into its own. Britain's largest freestanding structure may be full of people, but it is extraordinarily tranquil. The soaring parabola blankets the hubbub, a comfort for passengers fretting over flights. The 5,500 glass panels shed daylight all over BA's operations, if not on its fare structure. Trees, shrubs and ground cover give an impression of greenery, even if there is a way to go on carbon emissions. BA, soon to become Europe's largest airline, can at last be proud of Europe's largest terminal.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
The Times
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