No repeat of Heathrow's T5 disaster, says Dubai

AIRPORT EXPANSION: Dubai has promised there will be no repeat of the chaos at Heathrow's T5 when Terminal 3 opens. (ITP Images)

Dubai has promised there will be no repeat of the disaster that befell the new Terminal 5 (T5) at London's Heathrow airport when Dubai International Airport's third terminal opens.

The much-heralded 4.3 billion-British pound ($8.41 billion) T5 opened for business on March 27, but a series of problems, including the failure of the baggage system, meant thousands of passengers lost their luggage and hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled.

The opening of the new terminal, exclusively for the use of British Airways (BA), has cost the airline at least 16 million pounds so far and forced it to delayed moving its long-haul flights to the terminal until June.

RELATED: BA delays switching Mideast services to T5

Dubai Airports Chief Executive Paul Griffiths, former CEO of London Gatwick Airport, said he had been watching T5's opening woes intently, describing them as "sobering".

“It’s a very serious thought that occurs to you when you see it elsewhere, that if you don’t manage this in a thorough and professional way, it could be us,” Griffiths said, UAE daily the National quoted on Monday. “But that is why we were determined to learn from the experiences.”

Dubai has refused to be drawn on an opening date for the new Terminal 3, which will be for the exclusive use of state carrier Emirates, and Griffiths said one of the pitfalls companies fall into when opening a new terminal was announcing a launch date years in advance.

“When you look at airport terminals around the world and those that have been successful and unsuccessful, two things stand out: those that have been successful chose an opening date based on readiness of the facility, rather than announcing a launch date years in advance and sticking to it," he told the newspaper.

Dubai Airports has said it will not announce the launch date for Terminal 3 until all testing has been completed.

Griffiths said the airport has been making good progress with systems testing.

“We continue to make sure we’re putting large loads on it, week by week, improving reliability,” he said.

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