BA's Heathrow chaos enters day 5, revenue hit seen

British Airways cancelled more flights during a fifth day of chaos at its new airport terminal as analysts at Citibank forecast the disruption is likely to cost it up to 25 million pounds ($49.7 million).

BA shares fell by as much as 5 percent on Monday after the airline scrapped more than 50 flights from Heathrow and investment bank Goldman Sachs put a "sell" rating on the shares.

Nearly 250 flights have been cancelled since Thursday's troubled opening of the $8.6 billion showcase Terminal 5, with thousands of bags stranded in its vast underbelly following problems with the baggage system. Staff have struggled with parking, security and access to the terminal, which is the size of 50 soccer pitches and was heralded by BA as the best facility in the world.

The high-profile opening has quickly turned into a public relations disaster and analysts said revenue will also be hit.

"Based on daily revenue of 23 million pounds and disruption costs of 100 to 200 pounds per passenger, we estimate the earnings impact so far to be 15 to 25 million," Citibank analysts said in a note.

Opposition Conservative transport spokeswoman Theresa Villiers called Heathrow a national embarrassment. Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said it would take up to a week to get a backlog of 28,000 bags back to their owners and called the disruption "extremely regrettable". Prime Minister Gordon Brown was disappointed and embarrassed by what had happened, he said.