Terminal fiasco forces exit of 2 BA managers

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Europe's third-biggest airline has cancelled hundreds of flights and misplaced tens of thousands of pieces of luggage following the opening of the new 4.3-billion-pound ($8.5 billion) Terminal 5 at Heathrow last month.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways <BAY.L> is parting company with two senior managers following the airline's chaotic move to a new terminal at London's Heathrow airport.

Europe's third-biggest airline has cancelled hundreds of flights and misplaced tens of thousands of pieces of luggage following the opening of the new 4.3-billion-pound ($8.5 billion) Terminal 5 at Heathrow last month.

The airline said on Tuesday that Gareth Kirkwood, director of operations, and David Noyes, director of customer services, would both be leaving the company.

A spokesman declined to say whether they had chosen to go or been asked to leave.

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A source close to the matter said they would not receive any special payments beyond their contracted entitlements.

"The departures follow the airline's move to Terminal 5," British Airways (BA) said in a brief statement.

"The airline is looking to appoint a chief operations officer to combine both roles."

BA said earlier this month that the disruption at Terminal 5 had so far cost it about 16 million pounds ($31.6 million).

At 1125 GMT (7:25 a.m. EDT), BA shares were down 2.4 percent at 210.25 pence, underperforming a 0.8 percent rise on the UK's benchmark FTSE-100 index <.FTSE>. The stock has fallen over 12 percent since the opening of Terminal 5.

(Reporting by Mark Potter, Editing by Mike Elliott, Paul Bolding)