Extra staff drafted in as Heathrow opens Terminal 5 to BA flights

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BA put on extra staff to cope with the new flights in an effort to avoid the chaotic scenes when the £4.3billion new facility opened at the end of March.

The first flight in - from Lagos in Nigeria - was on time at 5.55am, with the second, from New York, touching down on schedule at 6.25am.

Flying start: The first two long-haul British Airways flights to land at Heathrow's Terminal 5 arrived on time this morning

A BA spokesman said: 'So far everything is going well and we are hoping for a trouble-free day. We have more than enough staff to cope. Passengers from the first flight were through in just seven minutes.'

The shambolic opening of the terminal on March 27, when flights were cancelled and bags went astray, prompted BA to postpone a planned April 30 move of long-haul operation from Heathrow Terminal 4 to T5 until June.

The airline later announced the move would be done in phases, with eight destinations moving today, more on September 17 and the rest at the end of October.

The eight destinations moving across today are New York; Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria; Bangalore; Beijing; Cairo; Cape Town; and Phoenix in Arizona, USA.

Chaos: Fed-up passengers found themselves in long queues when the new terminal opened in March

The BA spokesman said: 'We have staff at Terminal 4 in case some people got there for their flight, although we have been in contact with passengers and travel agents telling them about the transfer.

'On that first day in March, we moved 394 flights. Today it's just 15 so it's all on a much smaller scale.'