LONDON, March 28: British Airways was forced to cancel 20 per cent of flights on Friday from Heathrow airport’s new 4.3-billion-pound terminal as it struggled to get back on track after a disastrous first day.

A total of 34 flights were grounded and baggage delayed after it opened for business on Thursday, with passengers complaining of chaotic organisation at what is supposed to be a jewel in Britain’s airport system.

British Airways, which has sole use of the terminal, blamed the problems on “a combination of factors”, including delays at the staff car park.

The airline apologised to furious passengers for what it said were “teething problems.” The $8.7 billion terminal is the first 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 on Thursday.

Long queues built up and some passengers flying into the terminal had to wait so long to be reunited with their luggage that they gave up, and asked for their bags to be sent on.

British Airways waited until shortly before 2am (0200 GMT) on Friday before releasing a statement explaining what had gone wrong.

“We sincerely apologise to those customers who have suffered disrupted journeys and baggage delays during the first day in Terminal Five,” chief executive Willie Walsh said.

The airline said the problems were caused by factors including “delays at the staff car park and at security and log-in problems for baggage handlers reporting for duty.

“These caused operational problems throughout the day associated with processing customers’ baggage.” Reports said staff complained they had not been trained to use the complex technology — check-in machines and luggage systems — in the new terminal.

The airline said it would operate all long-haul flights on Friday, but most services to destinations such as Asia and the United States have not yet been transferred to the new terminal and are due to be moved over in a month’s time.

Some passengers had to spend the night on the floor of the terminal.

A 15-year-old schoolgirl, Katharine Crane, said she risked missing an important school entrance exam because of the delays.

She said: “I need to get to Brunei where my father lives to take this exam so we were flying via Hong Kong today. We still don’t know if we can get on a flight tomorrow so it looks like I’m going to miss it. If I don’t take the exam, I can’t go to the school.”

Her mother, Teresa Crane, said: “They haven’t practised before they took the public in, that’s the problem to my mind. Hong Kong airport has always run so successfully, why can’t the British do the same?” One Greek couple said they were not prepared to pay the 200 pounds being demanded by local hotels and so were prepared to stay up all night for their 8am flight to Athens.

The pair, who did not wish to be named, said: “I don’t think we’re going to sleep but we just didn’t want to pay that kind of money.

We come from Greece where we have lots of complaints about Olympic airlines but you always think British Airways is going to be perfect.” Thousands of volunteers had been used to test the terminal over the past weeks.

The new terminal, which has been 15 years in planning and construction, will be able to handle 30 million passengers a year.

Heathrow, used by a total 68 million passengers a year, has for years been plagued by overcrowding in its hotch-potch of ageing buildings due to soaring demand for air travel.—AFP