Comment: Breathtaking T5

”On time and within budget.” It's a mantra that we heard repeatedly during a press visit to BAA's sparkling new edifice of Terminal 5 last week.

It depends what sort of time you mean though as British Airways - T5's proud new tenant - commercial director Robert Boyle noted wryly: ”BAA submitted its application for T5 in 1993.”

That's a cool 15 years to get the time and budget spot on, although it's difficult to be churlish about a project that looks so stunning and which will undoubtedly make a huge difference to the long-suffering Heathrow passenger.

Designed by Rogers, Stirk, Harbour & Partners (of Lloyds Building fame), the £4.3bn ($8.5bn) structure - slated for a 27 March opening - takes on the effect of a glittering palace as dusk falls and the full scale of its massive dimensions becomes really apparent.

And after a year of almost unrelentingly disastrous Heathrow headlines, BA must be pinning an awful lot of hope in T5's capacity to lift it from the infrastructural quagmire that has so bedevilled what is still the UK's premier airport.

But is BA building up - rightly - an enormous air of expectation - only to possibly deflate its passengers at the last minute? BA CEO Willie Walsh told me as the media swarmed over every inch of the colossal building: ”As we have got closer to the date, we realised that there would not be enough parking stands to accommodate all the BA flights.

”90% of our services will go from here.”

Well, that's important, particularly as the airline is not even due to take the keys to its 12 Airbus A380 aircraft until 2012 onwards. From June to October this year, the remaining 10% of BA services not housed in the shiny new T5 will move into toe-curlingly dreadful T3.

Ostensibly, the move is being billed as housing all BA's Oneworld partners under the same roof, i.e. American, Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Iberia, Finnair, JAL, Lan Chile, Malev, Royal Jordanian and Qantas.

So, from early 2009, BA routes to Singapore, Bangkok and Sydney, as well as all joint service flights with Qantas will move to T3. But services to Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Lisbon and Helsinki will also go to the dreaded T3.

BA is keen to counter any negativity however: ”Customers will enjoy a smooth, swift and reliable service at T3. Queues will be minimal, allowing passengers to speed through the airport.”

What terminal can BA be referring to? Despite its claim that ”significant investment” is being made in T3, anyone who has had the misfortune to slog through its interminable security and then emerge into the claustrophobic confines of its windowless interior, will need a large amount of convincing.

It may well be a different experience for BA's premium passengers - Virgin Atlantic has long recognised T3's limitations and has its glorious Clubhouse and now an Upper Class wing to speed its passengers through.

But for the majority of people, it will be far different. The problem is that BA will have built such an air of expectation with T5 that it will very quickly become the benchmark.

But for the lucky 90%, it will be some benchmark coming with reams of statistics to make the head spin: Capable of handling 30m passengers per year, T5 is the size of 50 football pitches over five floors, has 30,000 sq m (323,000 sq ft) of glass, features 96 self-service check-in kiosks and 96 fast-bag drop counters and has 18km (11m) of baggage belts. Oh and 300,000 trees, shrubs and plants.

As Boyle pointed out: ”We hope to finally banish the long queues and have a truly competitive transfer system. We know that the success of the baggage system will be absolutely crucial to the success of the terminal.”

BA also claims that check-in will take less than five minutes and that progress through security will mean no more than ten minutes queuing - if it's more, BAA will pay compensation.

But it's really in the lounges or Galleries as BA likes to call them, where those lucky enough to possess business or first class tickets will really have to rub their eyes in disbelief.

Gliding up escalators, passengers pass under the ”Cloud” ” a Troika Studio-designed stylised cloud that uses flip dot technology and which evokes the click-clack sound so rarely heard now but which still survives in Paris” Gare du Nord station.

And those Galleries. Where to start? They are quite simply a breath of fresh air. Remember this is BA, calm, traditional, full of heritage etc and yes, there”s certainly an element of refinement and luxury that runs through all six lounges ” Concorde (first class), Galleries First Lounge (first and Gold), three Galleries Club lounges (Club World and Europe, Gold, Silver), Galleries Arrivals Lounge (first, club and Executive), as well as an Elemis Travel Spa in Club and Arrivals.

But seeing really is believing; BA is not trying to be Virgin, it's well, BA, but it has delivered a world-class experience here.

Designers Davies and Baron, aka David Davies and Stuart Baron (SAS, Qantas, Air New Zealand, Tesco, Unilever, Marks & Spencer) set out to recreate the atmosphere of a top hotel rather than the standard lounge offering and they have certainly succeeded.

Polished steel and glass screens dot the vast first class interior breaking up the eyeline, while chandeliers are a feature of all lounges, Champagne bars are de rigeur and there”s even a cinema in the Club area.

Lighting is key and changes mood according to the time of day, while a nice, eccentric touch is the collection of large model horses, complete with lampshades for hats. Terraces overlooking the vast concourse and the re-energising Elemis Travel Spa, also complement what is a truly impressive piece of work.

Of course, what looks good with very few people in will have to be put to the test at 6pm on a busy Monday evening. Or when weather and delays conspire to pack the Galleries out.

But BA, despite herding 10% of its passengers off to the wilds of T3, has a veritable hit on its hands. What with the equally stunning St Pancras opening last year, the UK is finally starting to make its transport mark. Fingers crossed, the 2012 Olympics can deliver similar outstanding legacies.