LONDON (Bloomberg) — British Airways Plc said the transfer of long-haul flights to a fifth terminal at London's Heathrow airport went smoothly, avoiding the chaos that blighted the building's opening in March.

The 15 daily departures and 15 arrivals will boost daily passenger numbers at the terminal by as much as 15 percent to 53,000, said airline spokesman Michael Johnson.

Europe's third-largest carrier was forced to postpone moving more long-distance flights to Terminal 5 after the building's opening led to 12 days of cancellations and delays. London-based British Airways and airport operator BAA Ltd., owned by Spanish builder Grupo Ferrovial SA, blamed inadequate employee training and glitches in the baggage system for the chaos at the £4.3 billion ($8.4 billion) facility.

"So far the move has gone smoothly," Johnson said by telephone. "We have enough people on the ground to cope with the increased passenger numbers. There could well be teething problems as the day moves on but we're cautiously optimistic."

The carrier has moved about 150 baggage handlers to Terminal 5 from Terminal 4, where the long-haul flights were previously based. That's in addition to 800 baggage handlers stationed at the concourse since it opened on March 27. The number of check-in staff has increased to about 680 from 600.

British Airways had been due to shift the rest of its operations to Terminal 5 on April 30. It said last month the move will now take place in three phases, with the last at the end of October. Once the changes are complete, Terminal 5 will handle about 510 flights a day.

Eight routes were transferred to the new terminal yesterday, comprising eight daily departures to New York's John F. Kennedy airport and once-a-day flights to Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Phoenix, Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria and Bangalore in India.

Before Terminal 5's opening, Heathrow was handling 68 million travellers a year in buildings designed for 45 million. The space created by the shift will be used to relocate other carriers around the airport, with 54 of the hub's 90 airlines slated to eventually move to other buildings.

Air France-KLM, Europe's biggest carrier, Italy's Alitalia SpA and OAO Aeroflot of Russia are due to move to Terminal 4 from Terminal 2, which is scheduled to be demolished and replaced by 2012.