BA cancels flights as Heathrow T5 chaos drags on

By Golnar Motevalli and Pete Harrison

HEATHROW (Reuters) - British Airways canceled a fifth of flights from its new $8.6 billion terminal at London's Heathrow airport as its high profile launch gave way to a second day of chaos and embarrassment on Friday.

Passengers hoping for an early end to the problems at the state-of-the-art terminal were told a further 54 short-haul and European flights would be cancelled on Saturday although all long-haul ones would operate as normal.

"I'd again like to apologize to those customers who have suffered disrupted journeys or baggage delays," BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh said in a statement.

"Our staff in the terminal are being supported by around 450 volunteers and they're working really hard to look after our customers and offer them the world class experience that we know Terminal 5 can deliver."

It was a public relations disaster for the carrier that once styled itself the "world's favorite airline" -- and weighed on its shares.

BA said it dropped the short-haul flights on Friday to ease congestion as it tried to recover from the mess left by Thursday's opening, when nearly 70 flights were cancelled and passengers were left distraught.

Jackie Bachmann, 40, from Switzerland encountered baggage problems as she traveled with four other snooker players to an amateur competition in Glasgow.

"We had problems with our bags and his snooker cue is missing," she said. "Now we are waiting here for the next flight to Glasgow."

RIVALS CAPITALISE

BA shares fell more than 3 percent on Friday, hit by the T5 chaos and jitters ahead of Sunday's start of the "open skies" deal to create greater competition on trans-Atlantic routes.

"I don't think it will be material, but it's certainly bad for sentiment and not good for the BA brand," BlueOar Securities analyst Douglas McNeill said. "You'd need several days of severe disruption to really impinge on BA's financial performance."

Adebayo Oniwinde, 52, a missionary from Lagos, was one of those caught up in the chaos.

"I made a booking on a BA flight to Oslo," he said. "I was going to travel at 1 o'clock. Now I'll have to wait eight hours."

BA's rivals, which resent Spanish-owned airport operator BAA gifting BA its own dedicated terminal, were quick to capitalize.

Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic said 200 BA passengers had already switched across to longhaul Virgin flights because of the problems.