The managing director of Heathrow airport has become the
first management casualty at airport-owner BAA after the
troubledTerminal 5opening in March, the
company announced yesterday.
BAA said Mark Bullock, managing director since 2004, "chose to
leave" because of a change to the role. The change is part of an
overall structural change putting a "renewed focus on day-to-day
operations", announced by Colin Matthews, who joined as chief
executive in April.
Bullock will be replaced by Mike Brown, currently chief
operating officer of London Underground.
The management structure at BAA has been in a state of upheaval
since its takeover nearly two years ago by a consortium led by
Spain's Ferrovial.
Bullock's departure came only weeks after two senior managers at
British Airways were dismissed.
The problematic opening of Terminal 5 was caused in part by
faulty BAA IT systems. Their
baggage system, which was designed and built with IBM and
Vanderlande, suffered a number of faults during the terminal's
first couple of weeks. Terminal 5's only airline, British Airways,
ended up misplacing more than 32,000 bags.