British Airways Presents New Passenger Terminal

British Airways’ country commercial manager for Greece, Freddie Stier, last month proudly presented the latest news on Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5.

The new terminal, which will open to the world’s passengers on Thursday 27 March 2008 and which will become an exclusive new home for British Airways, will serve around 30 million passengers a year and be a stunning new gateway to the UK.

An intensive six-month period of proving trials will begin in September this year, when over 16,000 people will be recruited to act as volunteer passengers and thoroughly test every aspect of the building including car parking, check-in, baggage systems, IT systems and security. T5’s first passengers will step off a British Airways morning arrival from Hong Kong and around 40,000 customers will go through the new terminal on its first day of operation.

Some 68 million passengers will fly through Heathrow this year in aging terminal facilities designed to accommodate around 45 million. When T5 opens and 30 million passengers move out of existing terminals, for the first time BA will have space to breath in the central terminal area and have a once in a lifetime opportunity to redevelop the rest of the airport and bring it up to a comparable standard to T5.

The T5 complex features 60 new aircraft stands, two satellite buildings (the second to be completed by 2010), rail links to London Underground and Heathrow Express, a new multi-storey car park and extensive landscaping.

Construction on the £4.3 billion terminal complex began in 2002. T5 is the biggest freestanding building in the UK.