A lack of IT testing contributed tothe disastrous openingofHeathrow's Terminal 5, British
Airways' chief executive, Willie Walsh, told MPs last
week.
Construction work was not finished on time by the airport's
owner, BAA, which meant IT testing and staff training were
"compromised" before the opening on 27 March, Walsh said at the
Transport Select Committee on Wednesday. Crucial IT errors were
also missed.
"If I were to pick one issue I would have done differently, it
is that, having recognised the importance of testing and having
designed six months of testing, we subsequently compromised on
that," said Walsh.
The problems included a software filter being left on the BAA
baggage system. It was used to restrict baggage-system data to the
BAA testing operation, and ensure it was not sent to other baggage
systems. However, it was not taken off until 31 March, when BA IT
staff discovered it. It interfered with messages coming into the
system and meant a number of bags were not recognised.
In addition to this, the servers could not cope with the number
of messages the baggage system generated. Walsh said the amount of
data the servers had to cope with was greater than expected.
He said the airline was aware of some of the problems before the
opening, but took a "calculated risk" and decided to go ahead.
BA lost £16m in the first five days of operation, but Walsh said
losses would have been "many times that" if the opening had been
postponed. More than 500 flights were cancelled and 23,000 bags
lost as a result of the problems. All but 125 of these bags have
been reunited with their owners.
In addition to the IT problems, there were issues with staff
parking, with getting staff through security because they didn’t
know which security gates were open, and with air bridge jetties.
On opening, 28 lifts were not working - this is now down to 17.
MPs called the terminal opening a "national humiliation" and
accused BAA's chief executive, Colin Matthews, and non-executive
chair of the board, Nigel Rudd, of complacency when they could not
answer several of their questions.
Matthews said he had spent his time trying to fix problems,
rather than apportioning blame, but the BAA officials were told
they would have to investigate further and provide written answers,
or return to another evidence session.