A Very British Launch Day

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Heathrow Terminal 5 (or 'T5' if you're into that sort of thing) opened today in what was a very British display of disorganisation, cock-up and chaos. The £4.6bn (€5.9bn; $9.2bn) terminal had already seen hundreds of volunteers through the doors to test the systems and make sure everything was working as per spec.

By close of play this evening however, only one of the 18 passenger lifts was working, over 30 flights had been cancelled and anyone wanting to fly tonight was going without their hold baggage. Beautiful.

Heathrow operators BAA seem keen to open a third runways at this place too. I can't wait to see what sort of mess that'll turn out to be. I tell you what, why don't we stop trying to squeeze the entire population of the globe through that horrible shambles of an airport and have more direct flights to/from the regional airports. You know, have British Airways act as an actual national carrier, instead of a feeder airline for its Heathrow/Gatwick operations. Just a thought.

And finally... I've been a little unfair to us Brits: the launch day of St. Pancras International Railway Station went swimmingly - and that was only £800m (€1bn; $1.6bn). So you see, it is possible to open new things in the UK without making a complete hash of it.

References:
BBC News
BA Terminal 5
BAA Terminal 5
St Pancras International
BBC News: First train from St Pancras arrives in Paris

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