Century celebrations for Terminal 5

Terminal 5 is gearing up for a busy summer after celebrating 100 days of operation last Friday, since opening in March. In those 100 days British Airways has looked after almost five million customers travelling through the terminal and has handled more than 38,000 flights.

The new £4.3 billion terminal at Heathrow is seeing significant gains in improved punctuality and baggage performance.

Willie Walsh, British Airways' chief executive, said: "Every day I get emails, letters or comments from customers telling me how much they enjoy using the terminal.

"When the terminal opened, it was handling around 40,000 customers a day. As the summer holidays approach, passenger numbers are expected to rise from an average 57,000 a day at present to more than 65,000 a day.

"We have worked tirelessly to improve every aspect of our operational performance and our customers are seeing the benefits.

"Our punctuality and baggage performance levels are significantly improved on this time last year and check-in queues are much reduced.

"We know there is scope for further improvement and we are absolutely committed to achieving it. But we have made a very encouraging start to life in our new home."

British Airways is looking at creating a dedicated check-in area for business class customers and will shortly open an additional business class lounge in Terminal 5 "B".

Extra facilities are also being proposed to help business class customers through ticket presentation as they approach security.

Key milestones for Terminal 5

March 27 - Terminal opens for business


April 18 - Millionth customer uses the terminal

May 1 - 4,000 shorthaul cabin crew and pilots start to use the terminal as their duty reporting centre

June 5 - An extra eight longhaul routes, including the flagship New York JFK route, move into the terminal. More than 420 flights operate in and out of the terminal on a normal weekday.

June 25 - 12,000 longhaul cabin crew and pilots start to use the terminal as their duty reporting centre. The Compass Centre (old crew reporting centre at Heathrow) closes and is handed back to its landlord.

September 17 - A further 29 longhaul routes will move from Terminal 4 into Terminal 5, taking the number of flights per day to more than 480.

End of October - The final longhaul routes move in and the number of flights per day will grow to approximately 510.