British Airways has postponed indefinitely a multi-million-pound television campaign advertising Terminal 5.

Like many of its flights, the airline said the campaign, which was due to begin on Friday, had been delayed.

The advertisements were to show the benefits of the £4.3billion terminal. Travellers were assured of a "simple and calm experience through online check-in and fast bag-drop facilities".

A BA spokeswoman said: "Our priority is to resolve the problems we have had and deliver the level of service our customers expect from us. We will launch the campaign later this year.

"We are confident that it is the right campaign and it will be as successful then as we thought it would be now." Prime Minister Gordon Brown today issued an apology to the thousands of travellers stranded by cancelled flights and baggage delays at Heathrow.

Questioned by a French journalist about whether Britain could learn from France on how to build major infrastructure projects, he replied: "I am sorry about the trouble as a result of the failure to get the baggage handling system in line. BA and [airport owner] BAA have to take responsibility and make sure passengers get their baggage and flights return to normal."

The Conservatives raised fears that the T5 fiasco could be repeated at the 2012 Olympics. Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said: "Over the next three years, BAA plans a major upgrade of Heathrow's terminals. Already the timetable has slipped so that work is unlikely to be finished for the Games. It is imperative that when each of the newly renovated terminals reopens, we do not see the same scenes of chaos and frustration that have accompanied the opening of T5."

But BA chief Willie Walsh today claimed passengers had written to him praising the new terminal. He said people had "loved" the terminal, adding: "I still believe in a year's time I'll tell you what a success T5 was."

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