British Airways canceled a fifth of flights from its new Terminal 5 Friday, causing more headaches for passengers a day after the opening of its 4.3-billion-pound ($8.6 billion) new home at London's Heathrow airport descended into chaos due to collapse of its baggage system. It's certainly not the way Europe's third-largest airline hoped its big day would go. For months the carrier had been telling passengers that the new terminal would put an end to “Heathrow hassle,” a phrase coined by travelers exasperated by the creaky infrastructure, endless queues created by new security measures and the recurring menace of lost luggage. British Airways cancelled more flights Friday from Heathrow airport's expensive new terminal the day after a disastrous launch, but warned of more disruption as the airline's boss said sorry to passengers. Twenty percent of flights were cut as BA admitted it was still experiencing difficulties with the multi-billion-pound Terminal Five, which opened to the public Thursday, and said problems are likely to extend into Saturday. More than 30 departing flights were grounded Friday after 34 were cancelled 24 hours earlier when the supposedly state-of-the-art baggage handling system had to be shut down. “Yesterday was definitely not British Airways' finest hour,” said the airline's chief executive Willie Walsh, adding: “We disappointed many people and I apologise sincerely.” BA, which has sole use of the terminal, blamed the problems on “a combination of factors”, including delays at the staff car park and computer glitches which plagued the baggage sorting system. The $8.7 billion (5.6-billion-euro) terminal is the first new addition for 20 years to Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, situated to the west of London. Opened by Queen Elizabeth II earlier this month amid great fanfare, it descended into chaos Thursday. T5 simply did not deliver on its promises. By early evening, British Airways had to turn away all passengers with check-in bags. Travelers flying in weren't much luckier, often waiting several hours for their bags. Escalators stopped working. Staff didn't know how to operate the machinery. Only a portion of the check-in counters were opened. In the end the airline has to cancel 33 flights to ease delays. As the British media published a flurry of front-page articles about the “Heathrow farce” Friday, British Airways shares fell 2 percent in London. Shares of Grupo Ferrovial, the Spanish infrastructure giant that owns Heathrow operator BAA, slipped 0.3 percent in Madrid. Although a myriad of glitches combined to create the chaos, the luggage system seems to have been the main culprit. That was a surprising development considering the special attention that was given to the system all along. In an interview during a tour of T5 late last year, Jonathon Counsell, head of T5 development for British Airways, told MarketWatch he was well aware that the luggage system would be absolutely crucial to the smooth running of operations on day one. Executives in charge of the project, he said, were very mindful that it was the failure its luggage system that made Denver International a case study in how not to open an airport. But Counsell emphasized at the time that given the extensive testing of the system at T5, passengers wouldn't be treated to scenes of strewn luggage in London come March. BA apologized for the delays and disruptions in a statement issued overnight. __
