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British Airways boss Willie Walsh admitted today in the House of Commons that with hindsight he would not have gone ahead with the opening of Terminal 5 on March 27.

The BA chief executive told the Commons Transport Select Committee: "I regret not postponing it now, but I believed the opening would be successful."

Walsh admitted he was aware of problems in the run-up to the opening and this had led BA and airport operator BAA to scale back the opening.

"The original plan was to move all operations in one go, " Walsh told the MPs.

In the event, BA moved only its short-haul flights at the end of March. It has since postponed the switch of long-haul operations from April to June and beyond.

Walsh also admitted staff training had been inadequate. "The training regime was compromised because of delays in completing the building, " he said.

"We did not provide sufficient familiarisation and I regret we put our people in that position."

He insisted a combination of factors led to chaos over three days following the opening, with hundreds of flights cancelled, others delayed and more than 23,000 bags misplaced.

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