North East passengers flying from Newcastle to London will be among the first in the world to experience Heathrow's new state-of-the-art Terminal 5, when flights into the new facility start operating from tomorrow, Thursday March 27.

The first flight from our region to land at T5 will touch down at 7.35am tomorrow morning.

British Airways, which operates up to six flights a day between Newcastle and Heathrow, will have exclusive use of Terminal 5 for the vast majority of its worldwide services, including all domestic flights to and from Newcastle International Airport.

Passengers using T5 will benefit from a modern spacious terminal building, improved facilities and the promise of faster and more reliable baggage delivery.

The opening of T5 will offer additional benefits for BA's transfer customers. North East travellers with connecting flights at Heathrow T5 to destinations across the world will be able to transfer to their next flight without changing terminals, eliminating one of the major frustrations that has blighted passenger journeys through the world's busiest airport until now.

Chris Sanders, Newcastle International's head of airline relations, said: "Over 500,000 customers from the North East fly with British Airways between Newcastle and Heathrow every year. We are confident that their experiences of Heathrow will be completely transformed from Thursday onwards, particularly for those customers with onward connections from T5 to destinations around the world, who will now save considerable time and avoid the inconvenience of having to change terminals at Heathrow.

"British Airways operates extremely popular and successful services between Newcastle and Heathrow, but the opening of T5 will further strengthen this key route. Tomorrow's opening will mark a step-change in the quality of facilities on offer and the efficiency of service that customers can expect."

Facilities provided for departing passengers at the new T5 include Harrods, Prada, Tiffany's and Gordon Ramsey's new Plane Food restaurant.

Work on T5 began in September 2002. The terminal was officially opened by the Queen on March 14 2008. When fully complete in 2011, T5 will have the capacity to handle 30 million passengers a year.