A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
London Heathrow Airport | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner/Operator | Heathrow Airport Holdings | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Greater London Urban Area | ||||||||||||||
| Location | London Borough of Hillingdon, England, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||
| Opened | 25 March 1946 | ||||||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||||||
| Built | 1929 | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 83 ft / 25 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°28′39″N 000°27′41″W / 51.47750°N 0.46139°W | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  LHR/EGLL  LHR/EGLL  LHR/EGLL  LHR/EGLL | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2023) | |||||||||||||||
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Heathrow Airport (/ˌhiːθˈroʊ, ˈhiːθroʊ/),[6] called London Airport until 1966 (IATA: LHR, ICAO: EGLL),[7] is the main international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others being Gatwick, City, Luton, Stansted and Southend). The airport is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings, owned mostly by Qatar Investment Authority, Public Investment Fund and CDPQ.[8] In 2023, Heathrow was the busiest airport in Europe,[9] the fourth-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic and the second-busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic. As of 2023, Heathrow is the airport with the most international connections in the world.[10]
Heathrow was founded as a small airfield in 1930[11] but was developed into a much larger airport after World War II. It lies 14 miles (23 kilometres) west of Central London on a site that covers 4.74 square miles (12.3 square kilometres). It was gradually expanded over 75 years and now has two parallel east–west runways, four operational passenger terminals and one cargo terminal.[7] The airport is the primary hub for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
Location
Heathrow is 14 miles (23 km) west of Central London.[7] It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Hounslow, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Hayes, and 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Staines-upon-Thames.
Heathrow falls entirely within the boundaries of the London Borough of Hillingdon, and under the Twickenham postcode area, with the postcode TW6. It is surrounded by the villages of Sipson, Harlington, Harmondsworth, and Longford to the north and the neighbourhoods of Cranford and Hatton to the east. To the south lie Feltham, Bedfont and Stanwell while to the west Heathrow is separated from Slough, Horton and Windsor in Berkshire by the M25 motorway. The airport is located within the Hayes and Harlington parliamentary constituency.
As the airport is located west of London and as its runways run east–west, an aircraft's landing approach is usually directly over the Greater London Urban Area when the wind is from the south-west — as it is, most of the time.
The airport forms part of a travel to work area consisting of (most of) Greater London, and neighbouring parts of the surrounding Home Counties.
History
Heathrow Airport began in 1929 as a small airfield (Great West Aerodrome) on land southeast of the hamlet of Heathrow from which the airport takes its name. At that time the land consisted of farms, market gardens and orchards; there was a "Heathrow Farm" approximately where the modern Terminal 2 is situated, a "Heathrow Hall" and a "Heathrow House." This hamlet was largely along a country lane (Heathrow Road), which ran roughly along the east and south edges of the present central terminals area.
Development of the whole Heathrow area as a much larger airport began in 1944 during World War II. It was intended for long-distance military aircraft bound for the Far East. By the time some of the airfields runways were usable, World War II had ended, and the UK Government continued to develop the site as a civil airport. The airport was opened on 25 March 1946 as London Airport. The airport was renamed Heathrow Airport in the last week of September 1966, to avoid confusion with the other two airports which serve London, Gatwick and Stansted.[12] The design for the airport was by Sir Frederick Gibberd. He set out the original terminals and central-area buildings, including the original control tower and the multi-faith Chapel of St George's.
Operations
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Facilities
Heathrow Airport is used by over 89 airlines flying to 214 destinations in 84 countries. The airport is the primary hub of British Airways and is a base for Virgin Atlantic. It has four passenger terminals (numbered 2 to 5) and a cargo terminal. In 2021 Heathrow served 19.4 million passengers, of which 17 million were international and 2.4 million domestic. The busiest year ever recorded was 2019 when 80.9 million passengers travelled through the airport. Heathrow is the UK's largest port by value with a network of over 218 destinations worldwide. The busiest single destination in passenger numbers is New York, with over three million passengers flying between Heathrow and JFK Airport in 2021.[13]
In the 1950s, Heathrow had six runways, arranged in three pairs at different angles in the shape of a hexagram with the permanent passenger terminal in the middle and the older terminal along the north edge of the field; two of its runways would always be within 30° of the wind direction. As the required length for runways has grown, Heathrow now has only two parallel runways running east–west. These are extended versions of the two east–west runways from the original hexagram. From the air, almost all of the original runways can still be seen, incorporated into the present system of taxiways. North of the northern runway and the former taxiway and aprons, now the site of extensive car parks, is the entrance to the access tunnel and the site of Heathrow's unofficial "gate guardian". For many years the home of a 40% scale model of a British Airways Concorde, G-CONC; the site has been occupied by a model of an Emirates Airbus A380 since 2008.[14] Heathrow Airport has Anglican, Catholic, Free Church, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh chaplains. There is a multi-faith prayer room and counselling room in each terminal, in addition to St. George's Interdenominational Chapel in an underground vault adjacent to the old control tower, where Christian services take place. The chaplains organise and lead prayers at certain times in the prayer room.[15]
The airport has its resident press corps, consisting of six photographers and one TV crew, serving all the major newspapers and television stations around the world.[16]
Most of Heathrow's internal roads’ names are coded by their first letter: N in the north (e.g. Newall Road), E in the east (e.g. Elmdon Road), S in the south (e.g. Stratford Road), W in the west (e.g. Walrus Road), C in the centre (e.g. Camborne Road).
Cargo
The top cargo export destinations include the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates handling 1.4 million tonnes of cargo in 2022. Top products exported were books, salmon and medicine.[17]
Flight movements
Aircraft destined for Heathrow are usually routed to one of four holding points. Air traffic controllers at Heathrow Approach Control (based in Swanwick, Hampshire) then guide the aircraft to their final approach, merging aircraft from the four holds into a single stream of traffic, sometimes as close as 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) apart. Considerable use is made of continuous descent approach techniques to minimise the environmental effects of incoming aircraft, particularly at night.[18] Once an aircraft is established on its final approach, control is handed over to Heathrow Tower.
When runway alternation was introduced, aircraft generated significantly more noise on departure than when landing, so a preference for westerly operations during daylight was introduced, which continues to this day.[19] In this mode, aircraft take off towards the west and land from the east over London, thereby minimising the impact of noise on the most densely populated areas. Heathrow's two runways generally operate in segregated mode, whereby landings are allocated to one runway and takeoffs to the other. To further reduce noise nuisance, the use of runways 27R and 27L is swapped at 15:00 each day if the wind is from the west. When landings are easterly there is no alternation; 09L remains the landing runway and 09R the takeoff runway due to the legacy of the now rescinded Cranford Agreement, pending taxiway works to allow the roles to be reversed. Occasionally, landings are allowed on the nominated departure runway, to help reduce airborne delays and to position landing aircraft closer to their terminal, reducing taxi times.
Night-time flights at Heathrow are subject to restrictions. Between 23:00 and 04:00, the noisiest aircraft (rated QC/8 and QC/16) cannot be scheduled for operation. Also, during the night quota period (23:30–06:00) there are four limits:
- A limit on the number of flights allowed.
- A Quota Count system which limits the total amount of noise permitted, but allows operators to choose to operate fewer noisy aircraft or a greater number of quieter planes.[20]
- QC/4 aircraft cannot be scheduled for operation.
- A voluntary agreement with the airlines that no early-morning arrivals will be scheduled to land before 04:30.
A trial of "noise-relief zones" ran from December 2012 to March 2013, which concentrated approach flight paths into defined areas compared with the existing paths which were spread out. The zones used alternated weekly, meaning residents in the "no-fly" areas received respite from aircraft noise for set periods.[21] However, it was concluded that some residents in other areas experienced more noise as a consequence of the trial and that it should therefore not be taken forward in its current form. Heathrow received more than 25,000 noise complaints in just three months over the summer of 2016, but around half were made by the same ten people.[22]
In 2017, Heathrow introduced "Fly Quiet & Green", a quarterly published league table (currently suspended due to the Covid pandemic) that awards points to the 50 busiest airlines at the airport, ostensibly based on their performance relative to each other across a range of seven environmental benchmarks, such as NOx emissions.[23] Heathrow has acknowledged, but not attempted to refute, criticism over discrepancies and a lack of transparency over the way in which the figures are calculated.[24] The airport has always refused to publish a breakdown showing how many "Fly Quiet points" each performance benchmark has contributed towards the total score it awards to an airline, thereby putting obstacles in the way of any independent auditing of the published results.[25] Among other criticisms of the league table are the unexplained omission of some of the poorer performers among the 50 busiest airlines[26] and the emphasis on relative rather than absolute performance,[27] so an airline could well improve its "Fly Quiet" score quarter-on-quarter even if its environmental performance had in fact worsened over the period.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic Heathrow has seen a big increase in cargo-only flights, not only by already established carriers at the airport operating cargo-only flights using passenger aircraft, but also several cargo-only airlines.[28]
Arrival stacks
Inbound aircraft to London Heathrow Airport typically follow one of several Standard Arrival Routes (STARs). The STARs each terminate at one of four different VOR installations, and these also define four "stacks"[29] where aircraft can be held, if necessary until they are cleared to begin their approach to land. Stacks are sections of airspace where inbound aircraft will normally use the pattern closest to their arrival route. They can be visualised as a helix in the sky. Each stack descends in 1,000 feet (305 m) intervals from 16,000 feet (4,877 m) down to 8,000 feet (2,438 m). Aircraft hold between 7,000 and 15,000 feet (2,134 and 4,572 m) at 1,000-foot intervals. If these holds become full, aircraft are held at more distant points before being cleared onward to one of the four main holds.
The following four stacks are currently in place:
- The Bovingdon stack is for arrivals from the northwest. It extends above the village of Bovingdon and the town of Chesham, and uses the VOR BNN ("Bovingdon"), which is situated on the former RAF Bovingdon airfield.
- The Biggin Hill stack on the southeast edge of Greater London is for arrivals from the southeast. It uses the VOR BIG ("Biggin"), which is situated on London Biggin Hill Airport.
- The Lambourne stack in Essex is for arrivals from the northeast. It uses the VOR LAM ("Lambourne"), which is situated adjacent to Stapleford Aerodrome.
- The Ockham stack in Surrey is for arrivals from the southwest. It uses the VOR OCK ("Ockham"), which is situated on the former Wisley Airfield.
In high-traffic situations, Air Traffic Controllers can opt to utilise a number of RNAV STARs to either send traffic to a non-standard stack or move traffic from one stack to another. These are not allowed to be used for flight planning and will be assigned by ATC tactically.
Third runway
In September 2012, the Government of the United Kingdom established the Airports Commission, an independent commission chaired by Sir Howard Davies to examine various options for increasing capacity at UK airports. In July 2015, the commission backed a third runway at Heathrow, which the government approved in October 2016.[30][31][32] However, the England and Wales Court of Appeal rejected this plan for a third runway at Heathrow, on the basis that the government failed to consider climate change and the environmental impact of aviation.[33] On 16 December 2020, the UK Supreme Court lifted the ban on the third runway expansion, allowing the construction plan to go ahead.[34]
Regulation
Until it was required to sell Gatwick and Stansted Airports, Heathrow Airport Holdings, owned mostly by FGP and Qatar Investment Authority and CDPQ[8] held a dominant position in the London aviation market and has been heavily regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as to how much it can charge airlines to land. The annual increase in landing charge per passenger was capped at inflation minus 3% until 1 April 2003. From 2003 to 2007 charges increased by inflation plus 6.5% per year, taking the fee to £9.28 per passenger in 2007. In March 2008, the CAA announced that the charge would be allowed to increase by 23.5% to £12.80 from 1 April 2008 and by inflation plus 7.5% for each of the following four years.[35] In April 2013, the CAA announced a proposal for Heathrow to charge fees calculated by inflation minus 1.3%, continuing until 2019.[36] Whilst the charges for landing at Heathrow are determined by the CAA and Heathrow Airport Holdings, the allocation of landing slots to airlines is carried out by Airport Co-ordination Limited (ACL).[37]
Until 2008, air traffic between Heathrow and the United States was strictly governed by the countries' bilateral Bermuda II treaty. The treaty originally allowed only British Airways, Pan Am and TWA to fly from Heathrow to designated gateways in the US. In 1991, Pan Am and TWA sold their rights to United Airlines and American Airlines respectively, while Virgin Atlantic was added to the list of airlines allowed to operate on these routes. The Bermuda II Air Service Agreement was superseded by a new "open skies" agreement that was signed by the United States and the European Union on 30 April 2007 and came into effect on 30 March 2008. Shortly afterwards, additional US airlines, including Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, US Airways and Delta Air Lines started services to Heathrow. Following Brexit, the US and UK signed a new US-UK Air Transport Agreement in November 2020 incorporating all the essential elements of Open Skies, which came into effect in March 2021.[38]
The airport was criticised in 2007 for overcrowding and delays;[39] according to Heathrow Airport Holdings, Heathrow's facilities were originally designed to accommodate 55 million passengers annually. The number of passengers using the airport reached a record 70 million in 2012.[40] In 2007 the airport was voted the world's least favourite, alongside Chicago O'Hare, in a TripAdvisor survey.[41] However, the opening of Terminal 5 in 2008 has relieved some pressure on terminal facilities, increasing the airport's terminal capacity to 90 million passengers per year. A tie-up is also in place with McLaren Applied Technologies to optimise the general procedure, reducing delays and pollution.[42]
With only two runways, operating at over 98% of their capacity, Heathrow has little room for more flights, although the use of larger aircraft such as the Airbus A380 has allowed some increase in passenger numbers. It is difficult for existing airlines to obtain landing slots to enable them to increase their services from the airport, or for new airlines to start operations.[43] To increase the number of flights, Heathrow Airport Holdings has proposed using the existing two runways in 'mixed mode' whereby aircraft would be allowed to take off and land on the same runway. This would increase the airport's capacity from its current 480,000 movements per year to as many as 550,000 according to British Airways CEO Willie Walsh.[44] Heathrow Airport Holdings has also proposed building a third runway to the north of the airport, which would significantly increase traffic capacity.[45]
Security
Policing of the airport is the responsibility of the aviation security, a unit of the Metropolitan Police, although the British Army, including armoured vehicles of the Household Cavalry, has occasionally been deployed at the airport during periods of heightened security.[46] Full body scanners are now used at the airport, and passengers who refuse to use them are required to submit to a hand search in a private room.[47] The scanners display passengers' bodies as cartoon figures, with indicators showing where concealed items may be.[47]
For many decades Heathrow had a reputation for theft from baggage by baggage handlers. This led to the airport being nicknamed "Thiefrow", with periodic arrests of baggage handlers.[48][49]
Following the widespread disruption caused by reports of drone sightings at Gatwick Airport, and a subsequent incident at Heathrow, a drone-detection system was installed airport-wide to attempt to combat disruption caused by the illegal use of drones.[50][51]
Terminals
Heathrow Airport currently consists of four operational passenger terminals. The former Terminal 1 closed in 2015.
Terminal 2
The airport's newest terminal, officially known as the Queen's Terminal, was opened on 4 June 2014 and has 24 gates.[52][53] Designed by Spanish architect Luis Vidal, it was built on the site that had been occupied by the original Terminal 2 and the Queens Building.[54][55] The main complex was completed in November 2013 and underwent six months of testing before opening to passengers. It includes a satellite pier (T2B), a 1,340-space car park, and a cooling station to generate chilled water. There are 52 shops and 17 bars and restaurants.[56]
The airlines moved from their original locations over six months, with only 10% of flights operating from there in the first six weeks (United Airlines' transatlantic flights) to avoid the opening problems seen at Terminal 5. On 4 June 2014, United became the first airline to move into Terminal 2 from Terminals 1 and 4 followed by All Nippon Airways, Air Canada and Air China from Terminal 3. Air New Zealand, Asiana Airlines, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, South African Airways, and TAP Air Portugal moved in on 22 October 2014.[57]
Flights using Terminal 2 primarily originate from northern Europe or western Europe. It is primarily used by Star Alliance airlines (consolidating the airlines under Star Alliance's co-location policy "Move Under One Roof"). The terminal is also used by SkyTeam member China Airlines along with a few non-aligned airlines. Terminal 2 is one of the two terminals that operate UK and Irish domestic flights.
The original Terminal 2 opened as the Europa Building in 1955 and was the airport's oldest terminal. It had an area of 49,654 m2 (534,470 sq ft) and was designed to handle around 1.2 million passengers annually. In its final years, it accommodated up to 8 million. A total of 316 million passengers passed through the terminal in its lifetime. The building was demolished in 2010, along with the Queens Building which had housed airline company offices.[58]
Terminal 3
Terminal 3 opened as the Oceanic Terminal on 13 November 1961 to handle flight departures for long-haul routes for foreign carriers to the United States and Asia.[59] At this time the airport had a direct helicopter service to central London from the gardens on the roof of the terminal building. Renamed Terminal 3 in 1968, it was expanded in 1970 with the addition of an arrivals building. Other facilities added included the UK's first moving walkways. In 2006, the new £105 million Pier 6 was completed[60] to accommodate the Airbus A380 superjumbo; Emirates and Qantas operate regular flights from Terminal 3 using the Airbus A380.
Redevelopment of Terminal 3's forecourt by the addition of a new four-lane drop-off area and a large pedestrianised plaza, complete with a canopy to the front of the terminal building, was completed in 2007. These improvements were intended to improve passengers' experience, reduce traffic congestion and improve security.[61] As part of this project, Virgin Atlantic was assigned its dedicated check-in area, known as 'Zone A', which features a large sculpture and atrium.
As of 2013[update], Terminal 3 has an area of 98,962 m2 (1,065,220 sq ft) with 28 gates, and in 2011 it handled 19.8 million passengers on 104,100 flights.[62]
Most flights from Terminal 3 are long haul flights from North America, Asia and other foreign countries other than Europe. Terminal 3 is home to Oneworld members (with the exception of Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Royal Air Maroc, all of which use Terminal 4), SkyTeam members Aeroméxico, Delta Air Lines, Middle East Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and several long haul unaffiliated carriers. British Airways also operates several flights from this terminal, as does Iberia and Vueling.
Terminal 4
Opened in 1986, Terminal 4 has 22 gates[citation needed] and is situated to the south of the southern runway next to the cargo terminal and is connected to Terminals 2 and 3 by the Heathrow Cargo Tunnel. The terminal has an area of 105,481 m2 (1,135,390 sq ft) and is now home to the SkyTeam alliance, except China Airlines which uses Terminal 2, and Aeroméxico, Delta Air Lines, Middle East Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic which use Terminal 3, Oneworld carriers Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, and Gulf Air and to most unaffiliated carriers. It has undergone a £200 million upgrade to enable it to accommodate 45 airlines with an upgraded forecourt to reduce traffic congestion and improve security. Most flights that go to Terminal 4 are flights coming from East Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East as well as a few flights to Europe. An extended check-in area with renovated piers and departure lounges and a new baggage system were installed, and four new stands were built to accommodate the Airbus A380; Qatar Airways operates regular A380 flights. Etihad Airways and Malaysia Airlines operate regular A350 flights. China Southern Airlines, El Al,[63] Etihad Airways, Gulf Air, and Vietnam Airlines operate regular Boeing 787 flights.
Terminal 5
Terminal 5 lies between the northern and southern runways at the western end of the Heathrow site and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 14 March 2008,[64] 19 years after its inception. It opened to the public on 27 March 2008, and British Airways and its partner company Iberia have exclusive use of this terminal, which has 50 gates,[citation needed] including three hardstands. The first passenger to enter Terminal 5 was a UK ex-pat from Kenya who passed through security at 04:30 on the day. He was presented with a boarding pass by British Airways CEO Willie Walsh for the first departing flight, BA302 to Paris. During the two weeks after its opening, operations were disrupted by problems with the terminal's IT systems, coupled with insufficient testing and staff training, which caused over 500 flights to be cancelled.[65] Terminal 5 is exclusively used by British Airways as its global hub. However, because of the merger, between 25 March 2012 and 12 July 2022, Iberia's operations at Heathrow were moved to the terminal, making it the home of International Airlines Group.[66] On 12 July 2022, Iberia's flight operations were moved back to Terminal 3. On 7 July 2020, American moved to Terminal 5, to allow for easier connections from American's transatlantic flights to British Airways flights during the pandemic. However, all the American flights, except JFK, have returned to Terminal 3. China Southern Airlines used Terminal 5 due to the pandemic until it was relocated to Terminal 4 in November 2022.
Built for £4.3 billion, the terminal consists of a four-story main terminal building (Concourse A) and two satellite buildings linked to the main terminal by an underground people mover transit system. Concourse A is dedicated to British Airways's narrowbody fleet for flights around the UK and the rest of Europe, the first satellite (Concourse B) includes dedicated stands for BA and Iberia's widebody fleet except for the Airbus A380, and the second satellite (Concourse C), includes 7 dedicated aircraft stands for the A380. It became fully operational on 1 June 2011. Terminal 5 was voted Skytrax World's Best Airport Terminal 2014 in the Annual World Airport Awards.[67]
The main terminal building (Concourse A) has an area of 300,000 square metres (3,200,000 sq ft) while Concourse B covers 60,000 square metres (650,000 sq ft).[68] It has 60 aircraft stands and capacity for 30 million passengers annually as well as more than 100 shops and restaurants.[69] It is also home to British Airways' Flagship lounge, the Concorde Room, alongside four further British Airways branded lounges.[70] One of those lounges is the British Airways Arrivals Lounge which is located land-side.
A further building, designated Concourse D and of similar size to Concourse C, may yet be built to the east of the existing site, providing up to another 16 stands. Following British Airways' merger with Iberia, this may become a priority since the combined business will require accommodation at Heathrow under one roof to maximise the cost savings envisaged under the deal. A proposal for Concourse D was featured in Heathrow's most recent capital investment plan.[when?]
The transport network around the airport has been extended to cope with the increase in passenger numbers. New branches of both the Heathrow Express and the Underground's Piccadilly line serve a new shared Heathrow Terminal 5 station. A dedicated motorway spur links the terminal to the M25 (between junctions 14 and 15). The terminal has a 3,800 spaces multi-storey car park. A more distant long-stay car park for business passengers is connected to the terminal by a personal rapid transit system, the Heathrow Pod, which became operational in the spring of 2011.[71] An automated people mover (APM) system, known as the Transit, transports airside passengers between the main terminal building and the satellite concourses.[72]
Terminal assignments
As of 2 September 2023, Heathrow's four passenger terminals are assigned as follows:[73]
| Terminal | Airlines and alliances |
|---|---|
| Terminal 2 | Star Alliance, China Airlines and several short-haul non-aligned airlines |
| Terminal 3 | Oneworld (except Iberia, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Air Maroc and Qatar Airways), Aeromėxico, Delta Air Lines, Middle East Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and several long-haul non-aligned airlines |
| Terminal 4 | SkyTeam (except Aeromėxico, China Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Middle East Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic), Malaysia Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways as well as most non-aligned airlines |
| Terminal 5 | British Airways (most destinations), Iberia |
Following the opening of Terminal 5 in March 2008, a complex programme of terminal moves was implemented. This saw many airlines move to be grouped in terminals by airline alliance as far as possible.[74]
Following the opening of Phase 1 of the new Terminal 2 in June 2014, all Star Alliance member airlines[75] (with the exception of new member Air India which moved in early 2017[76]) along with Aer Lingus and Germanwings relocated to Terminal 2 in a phased process completed on 22 October 2014. Additionally, by 30 June 2015 all airlines left Terminal 1 in preparation for its demolition to make room for the construction of Phase 2 of Terminal 2.[77] Some other airlines made further minor moves at a later point, e.g. Delta Air Lines merging all departures in Terminal 3 instead of a split between Terminals 3 and 4.[78] Iberia moved to Terminal 5 on 1 June 2023.[79]
Terminal usage during the COVID-19 pandemic
Heathrow Airport has four terminals with a total of 115 gates, 66 of which can support wide-body aircraft and 24 gates that can support an Airbus A380. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Heathrow's services were sharply reduced. It announced that as of 6 April 2020, the airport would be transitioning to single-runway operations and that it would be temporarily closing Terminals 3 and 4, moving all remaining flights into Terminals 2 or 5.[80] Dual runway operations were restored in August 2020. Heathrow returned to single-runway operations on 9 November 2020. On 11 December 2020, Heathrow announced Terminal 4 would be shut until the end of 2021.[81] Terminal 4 was used sporadically during 2021 for red list passengers who would be subject to mandatory hotel quarantine.[82] Terminal 3 was reopened for use by Virgin Atlantic and Delta on 15 July 2021, and Terminal 4 was reopened to normal operations on 14 June 2022.[83][84]
Former Terminal 1
Terminal 1 opened in 1968 and was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II in April 1969.[85][86] Terminal 1 was the Heathrow base for British Airways' (BA) domestic and European network and a few of its long haul routes before Terminal 5 opened. The acquisition of British Midland International (BMI) in 2012 by BA's owner International Airlines Group meant British Airways took over BMI's short-haul and medium-haul destinations from the terminal.[87] Terminal 1 was also the main base for most Star Alliance members though some were also based at Terminal 3. Prior to the opening of terminal 5, all domestic and Common Travel Area departures and arrivals needed to use terminal 1, which had separate departure piers for these flights.
Terminal 1 closed at the end of June 2015, the site is now being used to extend Terminal 2[88] which opened in June 2014. A number of the newer gates used by Terminal 1 were built as part of the Terminal 2 development and are being retained.[89][90] The last tenants along with British Airways were El Al, Icelandair (moved to Terminal 2 on 25 March 2015) and LATAM Brasil (the third to move in to Terminal 3 on 27 May 2015). British Airways was the last operator in Terminal 1. Two flights of this carrier, one departing to Hanover and one arriving from Baku, marked the terminal closure on 29 June 2015. British Airways operations have been relocated to Terminals 3 and 5.[91]
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
The following airlines operate regularly scheduled passenger flights at London Heathrow Airport:[92]
Cargo
Air traffic and statistics
Overview
When ranked by passenger traffic, Heathrow is the eighth busiest airport internationally, behind Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Denver International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Dubai International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, and Istanbul Airport, for the 12 months ending December 2022.[136] London Heathrow Airport was noted as the best-connected airport globally in 2019 according to the OAG's Megahubs Index with a connectivity score of 317. Dominant carrier British Airways was recorded as holding a 51% share of flights at the hub.[137]
In 2015, Heathrow was the busiest airport in Europe in total passenger traffic, with 14% more passengers than Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport[138] and 22% more than Istanbul Atatürk Airport.[139] Heathrow was the fourth busiest European airport by cargo traffic in 2013, after Frankfurt Airport, Paris–Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.[140]
In 2020, Heathrow's passenger numbers dropped sharply by over 72%, (a decrease of 58 million travellers compared to 2019), due to the impact caused by restrictions and/or bans on travel caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. More than four million passengers travelled on domestic and international flights in and out of Heathrow in March 2023, meaning it was once again the busiest airport in Europe after falling to the second spot in November 2022.[141]
Annual traffic statistics
Overviewedit
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
