British Airways is investing more than £25 million in a new fleet for Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

The 550-strong fleet will include 239 Renault Kangoo and Traffic vans ready for the terminal’s opening in March 2008.

As well as the more traditional vehicles, the investment also includes other specialist vehicle types such as baggage tractors, loading equipment, passenger buses and cargo tugs.

A spokesman for BA said the vehicles were coming into the fleet in phases, although all the vans have already arrived.

“We’re getting more vehicles in as the months progress and we hope to have most in by September. Then we’ll have six months of testing before Terminal 5 opens.

“The vans are used for moving engineers, parts and so on around the airport. It’s a big site, about the size of Hyde Park, so we need good, reliable vehicles.”

Geoff Want, BA’s director of ground operations, said: “Terminal 5 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the airline and the new ground equipment fleet will be critical to the overall success of the move.

“The new fleet will enable us to better manage our operations and have the right equipment to meet the different layout around the new terminal buildings.

“When we ordered each of the vehicle types one of the key considerations was their environmental performance.

“We will retire many of our oldest vehicles in the next few months which has the benefits of reducing emissions, improving customer experience and giving staff better working conditions.”

More than 300 of the new vehicles will be fitted with telematics to enable the vehicle condition to be remotely monitored and help to ensure an improved maintenance programme.