British airways’ move to Terminal 5 at London Heathrow airport: A statistical analysis of transfer baggage performance

This paper investigates transfer baggage performance when British Airways’ occupancy of Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport took place. Operational data on transfer baggage performance are collated from BA performance scorecards and the Gini coefficient is used as a measure of consolidation of flight operations within a single terminal and in the investigation of correlation of consolidated flights in Terminal 5 with transfer baggage performance variation. The relationship between consolidation of operations in the terminal and improving transfer baggage performance is found to be significant. In addition, there is evidence of significant changes in transfer baggage performance on switch phases of flights as they were moved to Terminal 5 in steps. The exclusive use of a terminal gives improved performance.

Research highlights
► The study looks at some of the benefits that British Airways gained by moving its operations at Heathrow Airport to an exclusive terminal; Terminal 5.
► Statistical analysis shows a correlation between the distribution of British Airways operations at terminals and the efficiency of its baggage handling.
► The gains of consolidating operations at Terminal 5 extend beyond those of improved baggage handling which is shown in the trend.