Heathrow's T5 officially opened - PHOTOS

The Queen is expected to open the £4.3bn Terminal 5 at London Heathrow airport today, a week before it throws its doors open to the public.

• View photos of Terminal 5 opening
• Take a virtual tour of Terminal 5

But the British Airports Authority (BAA) has warned that there will be a bedding-in period at the new facility, to allow its owners to sort out any potential last-minute problems.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday, BAA's director of capital projects Andrew Wolstenholme said: "It [T5] won't be fully bedded in until a few weeks after opening. Snags will come out naturally after opening. Until we have a full load in the building, we won't know what teething problems there are but they will iron themselves out naturally. We are confident it will be a clean opening."

A select group of 300 delegates will today have the opportunity to see the airport before thousands of British Airways passengers put it to the test. The Queen is expected to officially open the building later today.

The five-year-long project has been subject to extensive testing over the past few weeks. Over 12,000 bags per hour have been run through the baggage-handling system daily, while thousands of people test out other areas of the terminal.