15 seconds ago 2009-12-04T04:50:03-08:00
LONDON – British Airways PLC said Wednesday that it will not shift its remaining long-haul flights to Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 until after the busy summer period.
As the carrier confirmed the flights would be moved from other terminals at the airport in September and October, Heathrow owner BAA revealed it had spent 24 million pounds ($47.5 million) opening the problem-plagued terminal.
BAA also announced a rise in first-quarter net profit to 482 million pounds ($954.4 million) from 73 million pounds a year ago.
However, the rise was largely due to a one-off gain from the sale of World Duty Free Europe Ltd. to Autogrill SpA, and the company swung to an operating loss in the period of 51 million pounds ($100.9 million), from an operating profit of 107 million pounds. It blamed rising costs for security and maintenance.
Terminal 5 was heralded as a savior for the overcrowded Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe, but technical glitches and staffing issues saw it descend into chaos with passengers stranded by hundreds of canceled flights. At one point, some 15,000 pieces of luggage were missing.
BA had originally intended to shift all flights from other terminals at the airport to Terminal 5 in just a couple of days at the end of April, and its announcement earlier this year that the transfer would instead take several months angered rival carriers waiting for the airline to vacate its slots at other terminals.
BAA, which was bought by Spain's Grupo Ferrovial last year, has since held talks with the affected airlines, which include Alitalia SpA, Air Transat and Aeroflot.
After switching some long-haul flights to Terminal 5 in early June, BA and BAA said on Wednesday that it will move some 30 daily arrivals and departures from Terminal 4 on Sept. 17, including services to and from Washington, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Toronto, Mexico City, Nairobi, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha and Kuwait.
The final set of 15 daily departures and arrivals will take place "at the end of October," the companies said.
"Terminal 5 is working well, and this phased move has been planned in the interests of our passengers and the smooth operation of Heathrow over the busy summer period," they added in a statement.
Once the transfers are completed, BA will be handling a total of around 510 flights each day out of Terminal 5, comprising around 150 long haul flights and 360 short haul flights.
BAA is under pressure to improve its service after Britain's Competition Commission said last month that it may force the company to sell one of its London airports, which also include Gatwick and Stansted, to encourage competition and service.
BAA said it plans to use the 517 million pounds ($1 billion) it raised by selling its duty free shops to help repay borrowings, revealing it had net debt of 7.4 billion pounds ($14.7 billion) at the end of the quarter.
Investors are concerned about the company's level of borrowings, following its announcement earlier this month that it plans to raise 400 million pounds ($792.2 million) from shareholders.
