More than 1.4 million Middle East passengers have passed through British Airways’ exclusive hub Terminal 5 at London Heathrow since regional flights moved to the $6.55 billion base in October 2008.

British Airways also recently welcomed its 50 millionth customer through the doors of Terminal 5 as the busy summer holiday season moves into full swing.

“Now in its third summer of operations, Terminal 5 has become an acclaimed facility by travellers around the world – and is looking forward to the launch of further improvements,” said Paolo De Renzis, British Airways’ area commercial manager, Middle East.

“Since our regional flights transferred to the terminal we have operated more than 10,000 sectors between London and the Middle East and carry, on average, around 70,000 passengers a month to and from the region.”

“It has helped to transform operations at Heathrow and continues to give customers the best travel experience they have had at the world’s busiest and most congested international airport,” added De Renzis.

As measured by industry standards, British Airways has improved its punctuality at Heathrow from an average of around 50 per cent of on time departures each month when it was split located in Terminal 1 and 4, to an average of around 80 per cent since moving to Terminal 5.

In addition, due to Terminal 5, British Airways now has the best baggage performance of any major European hub based carrier, a statement said.

According to BA, overall levels of punctuality and baggage operations are set to improve further when the new GBP300 million third part of the terminal campus, known as T5 C, opens for customers in early summer 2011.

Andy Lord, British Airways director of operations, said: “We are delighted to have welcomed our 50 millionth customer into Terminal 5. Although we know how much our customers really love the calm atmosphere and great customer service in the terminal, we are aiming to make even more improvements in the year ahead.

“Terminal 5 ‘C’ will make a real difference when it is fully operational next summer and will mean that more than 95 per cent of our services will be served by an ‘air bridge’. That’s an extra three million customers each year who won’t have to use a bus to get to or from their aircraft,” he added.

Since Terminal 5 opened in March 2008, customers have also consistently given British Airways its most positive ever feedback scores in a monthly survey of more than 35,000 randomly selected customers, the statement said. – TradeArabia News Service