BAA and British Airways confirmed that the first phase of the move of additional flights into Heathrow Terminal 5 will take place in June. Services to and from eight long-haul destinations will be switched from Terminal 4 to Terminal 5 on June 5.

These flights include services to and from New York JFK. The other seven destinations are Abuja, Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos and Phoenix.

British Airways flies eight times a day to New York JFK, and provides a daily service on the other routes. All these flights operate currently from Terminal 4. Combined, they amount to about a quarter of the airline's Terminal 4 schedule.

Willie Walsh, British Airways' chief executive, said: "As we announced on April 11, we will move our Terminal 4 long-haul programme into Terminal 5 in phases.

"We have taken this decision in the interests of customers, who remain our priority at all times.

"Terminal 5 is now working well, and we are pleased we can confirm our plan to move in some additional flights on June 5."

Colin Matthews, BAA chief executive, said: "I am pleased that we have reached this decision jointly.  BAA and BA have worked together effectively to resolve the initial problems at T5, and to plan this next move."

"We continue to work together intensively to complete the migration of the remaining long haul services as soon as is practicable."