London Heathrow Airport (IATA: LHR, ICAO: EGLL), often referred to as Heathrow, is the third busiest airport in the world, after Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O'Hare. Heathrow, however, handles more international passengers than any other airport. Heathrow is the United Kingdom's busiest and best-connected airport, as well as being Europe's largest (See 2.1 Busiest Airport Claims).

The airport is located at the southern end of the London Borough of Hillingdon, 15 miles (24 km) west of Charing Cross in Central London. It has two parallel main runways running east-west and four terminals. A new terminal, Terminal 5, is under construction and there are plans to redevelop or rebuild other terminals.

Heathrow Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P527) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

Heathrow is situated at the edge of Greater London. It is surrounded by built-up areas to the north (Harlington, and Cranford), to the east (Hounslow and Hatton), and to the south (East Bedfont and Stanwell). To the west the M25 motorway separates the airport from Colnbrook in Berkshire.

Heathrow started life in the 1930s as the Great Western Aerodrome. Privately owned by Fairey Aviation, it was used primarily for testing. The land was originally acquired from the vicar of Harmondsworth. The airport was named after the hamlet Heath Row, which was demolished to make way for the airport and was located approximately where Terminal 3 now stands. At first, it had no commercial traffic and Croydon Airport was the main airport for London.

In 1944 Heathrow came under the control of the Ministry of Air. Harold Balfour (later Lord Balfour), then Under-Secretary of State for Air (1938-1944), wrote in his 1973 autobiography Wings over Westminster, that he deliberately deceived the government committee that a requisition was necessary in order that Heathrow could be used as a base for long-range transport aircraft in support of the war with Japan. In fact, Balfour wrote, he always intended the site to be used for civil aviation and used a wartime emergency requisition order to avoid a lengthy and costly public inquiry. The Royal Air Force never made use of the airport and control was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 1 January 1946 - the first civil flight that day being to Buenos Aires, via Lisbon for refuelling.

The airport opened fully for civilian use on 31 May 1946 and by 1947 Heathrow had three runways, with three more under construction. These older runways, built for piston-engined planes, were short, and criss-crossed to allow for all wind conditions. The first concrete slab of the first modern runway was ceremonially placed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. She also opened the first terminal building, the Europa Building (later Terminal 2), in 1955. Shortly afterwards the Oceanic Terminal (later Terminal 3) became operational. At this time the airport had a direct helicopter service from central London and gardens on the roof of the terminal building. Terminal 1 was opened in 1968, completing the cluster of buildings at the centre of the Heathrow site. The location of the original terminals in the centre of the site has since become a constraint to expansion. This decision reflected an early assumption that airline passengers would not require extensive car parking, as air travel was then only affordable to the wealthy - who would, of course, be chauffeur-driven.

In 1977, the London Underground was extended to Heathrow - connecting the airport with Central London in just under an hour via the Piccadilly Line. The loop to Terminal 4 was inactive for some months in 2006 during the construction of an extension to Terminal 5.

Terminal 4 was built away from the three older terminals, to the south of the southern runway. It opened in 1986 and became the home for then newly-privatised British Airways. In 1987, the British Government privatised the British Airports Authority (now just "BAA plc"), which controls seven of Britain's airports, including Heathrow.

Heathrow now has four passenger terminals (numbered 1 to 4) and a cargo terminal. Permission for a fifth passenger terminal (Terminal 5) was granted in November 2001, and construction is now well under way. It is expected to open in 2008, with construction of all satellite buildings completed in 2011.[6]

When originally constructed, Heathrow had six runways, arranged in three pairs at different angles, with the passenger terminal in the centre. With growth in the required length for runways, Heathrow now has just two parallel runways running east-west. Runway 23, a short runway for use in strong South-Westerly winds, was recently decommissioned and now forms part of taxiway A. The Department for Transport has issued a 'consultation document' in which one option is the construction of a third parallel east-west runway for frequent use, involving the demolition of local residential areas.

Overnight flights into Heathrow are currently restricted by government order, with preference for quieter airliners, but could be eliminated entirely if the government loses its appeal against a recent judgement by the European Court of Human Rights.

The airport has been owned and operated by BAA since before its privatisation in 1987. In order to prevent monopoly profits, the amount BAA is allowed to charge airlines to land aeroplanes at Heathrow is heavily regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority. Until 1 April 2003, the annual increase of the cost of landing per passenger was capped at inflation minus 3%. This has meant that landing charges have been falling in absolute terms. The average landing cost per passenger in April 2003 was £6.13, similar to landing charges at Gatwick and Stansted. In order to reflect the fact that Heathrow, as an international hub, is more popular with passengers and airlines, the CAA agreed that BAA will be allowed to increase landing charges at Heathrow by inflation plus 6.5% per year for the next five years. When Terminal 5 opens in 2008, landing charges are expected to be £8.23 per passenger. Landing fee restrictions at Gatwick and Stansted will remain tighter.

There have been calls for the slot allocation process to be made a free market at Heathrow and elsewhere. (See e.g. Centre for Land Policy Studies ). See also for an account of the economics of the European Airline market.

In addition, air traffic between Heathrow and the United States is 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 the US. In 1991 PAA and TWA sold their rights to United Airlines and American Airlines respectively, and Virgin Atlantic Airways was added to the list of airlines allowed to operate on these routes. In 2002, American Airlines and British Airways announced plans to coordinate the scheduling of their trans-Atlantic routes but plans were dropped after the United States Department of Transportation made approval conditional on the granting of further access slots to Heathrow to other US airlines. AA and BA considered the slots too valuable and dropped the plans. The Bermuda bilateral agreement conflicts with the Right of Establishment of the United Kingdom in terms of its membership in the EU, and as a consequence the UK was ordered to drop the agreement in 2004.

Construction is complete on the extension of pier 6 at Terminal 3. The pier has been designed specifically for efficient operation of the new Airbus A380; the first A380s are due to start arriving at Heathrow during 2007. The first A380 test flight into Heathrow took place on 18 May 2006.

Heathrow is the world's third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic, after Atlanta-Hartsfield-Jackson and Chicago-O'Hare in the United States. However, Heathrow has the highest number of international passengers, making it the world's busiest international airport, and is claimed by its operator BAA to be "the hub of the aviation world". [5]

In 2004 Heathrow was the busiest airport in Europe in terms of total passenger traffic (31.5% more passengers than at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport or Frankfurt International Airport), but was third behind Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt in terms of plane movements (9.5% fewer planes than at Charles de Gaulle, and 0.3% fewer planes than at Frankfurt). The airport was also third in terms of cargo traffic (24.8% less cargo than at Charles de Gaulle and 23.2% less than at Frankfurt).

In 2005 total passenger numbers rose 0.9% to 67.7 million. [6] This low rate of growth reflects the fact that in advance of the completion of Terminal 5, growth in the London flights market is necessarily concentrated at London's other airports.

Film

The airport is a regular backdrop for films. In 2003 it was particularly visible in the Richard Curtis romantic comedy Love Actually. A secret camera installed at the arrivals hall at Terminal 4 captured the reunions between people coming off planes and those meeting them. Snippets of some of the more expressive greetings were played at the beginning and end of the movie.

Heathrow was also the location for the final scenes of the 1988 film A Fish Called Wanda, featuring (among others) former Monty Python stars John Cleese and Michael Palin.

A more surprising appearance of the airport was in the 1964 movie Dr. Strangelove. General Ripper's office at the fictitious Burpelson Air Force Base is decorated with a large aerial photo, presumably of the base; but in fact this is Heathrow Airport, in its old 6-runway configuration.

Other films shot at Heathrow Airport include Wimbledon (terminal one), The Hunt for Red October and Closer (Renaissance Hotel). Heathrow was even animated in the 1980 Peanuts movie, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!). The airport is also a factor in the Gurinder Chadha's 2003 movie Bend It Like Beckham. In several scenes, aircraft can be seen landing at the airport.

[Source: Wikipedia]

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