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Terminal Case
No one ever thought it could get as bad as this. The disaster-zone known as London Heathrow airport's Terminal 5 (T5) is estimated to have cost British Airways (BA) £50m at this point in time.
Share prices for BA at the London Stock Exchange have plummeted. The rumour in the City is that BA will miss its profit targets for the current financial year.
Belatedly, the British government has snapped into action. Aviation minister Jim Fitzpatrick has issued a statement saying that at least 28,000 cases have been seperated from their owners at T5. This is above a recent previous figure of 15,000. Several thousand of the cases have been sent to Milan, Italy, for sorting. Travellers have not been so fortunate.
Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers says: "Yet again the state of Heathrow is a national embarrassment". (Eursoc mentioned this fact at the beginning of the fiasco).
The total of flight cancellations since last week has escalated to 403. More cancellations are expected.
The disgrace has reached the highest level of the Foreign Office. Foreign secretary David Miliband has joined criticism of BA as it emerged that a furious European Union counterpart telephoned him to say that his luggage had been lost at T5.
How do you solve a major problem like this ? It appears that only the god of airport management has the answer.
