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LONDON, ENGLAND - BRITISH Airways said on Friday that it was delaying until June the transfer of its longhaul flight operations to London Heathrow's new terminal, which has suffered severe problems since its recent launch.
Almost all of British Airways' Terminal 4 long-haul services had been due to switch to Heathrow's new Terminal 5 on April 30.
'We are making this decision in the interests of customers,' BA chief executive Willie Walsh said in a statement.
'Though Terminal Five is now working well, we need to have confidence that good service can be maintained when the terminal is handling larger numbers of customers,' he added.
BA's decision is a joint move taken with BAA, the operator of Heathrow.
Terminal 5 opened amid great fanfare on March 27 but was immediately hit by logistical problems.
It was not until April 8 that BA was able to offer a full shorthaul flight schedule in and out of the terminal, which cost 4.3 billion pounds (S$11.8 billion) to build.
Thousands of passengers lost their bags and hundreds of flights had to be delayed or cancelled because of the debacle which has cost the airline at least 16 million pounds, according to its own estimates. -- AFP
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