Heathrow to demonstrate it can meet key
environmental conditions on climate change,
air quality and noise before approval for a
third runway is granted. It believes failure to
deal with these concerns could expose the
scheme to legal challenges. The Department
for Transport also stressed the need for further
environmental work, including testing the
Airports Commission’s air quality analysis.
It added that the location decision for extra
airport capacity would be “subject to further
consideration on environmental impacts and
the best possible mitigation measures”.
The government delays have drawn
criticism from various quarters including the
British Chamber of Commerce, which branded
the December announcement as “gutless”.
Prime Minister David Cameron had
announced he would block any attempts to
build a third runway at Heathrow in the build
up to the 2010 General Election, although
he appears ready to make a U-turn on that
position. Speaking to the Parliamentary
Transport Select Committee in February,
Secretary of State for Transport Patrick
McLoughlin said: “The prime minister was
talking about a speci c proposal which
was before Parliament at that time which
he believed to be wholly wrong as far as
the future
of aviation
capacity was
concerned.
Indeed, the
recommendation
which has come
forward from the
Davies Commission,if a third runway at Heathrow is decided as
the right way forward, is very different from the
proposal being looked at in 2008 and 2009.”
A number of senior Conservative MPs,
including the former Mayor of London Boris
Johnson, remain opposed to the plan with Mr
Johnson claiming he would lie down in front of
the diggers to stop work going ahead.
McLoughlin told the Parliamentary
Transport Select Committee in February that
he hoped a decision on the location of the
new runway would be made by July. One
thing is for certain, we are still a long way from
having a new runway operational in the South
East of England.TERMINALS
Where Heathrow has been able to expand is
in its terminals. In June, Heathrow’s 1960s-era
T1 handled its last passengers ahead of the
bulldozers moving in. Eventually, Terminal
2 – The Queen’s Terminal, which opened to
passengers on June 4, 2014, after a £2.5bn
redevelopment project, will be expanded in
its place, increasing its capacity to 30mppa.
The new facility is now home to Star Alliance
and its member airlines and has 60 check-in
desks, 66 self-service check-in kiosks, 29
security lanes, 33 shops, 17 restaurants, 7,
seats and 634 toilets. A plethora of high end
brands feature in the retail area, including
Harrods, Hugo Boss, Burberry, and John
Lewis has made its airport debut.Heathrow is keen to highlight T2’s
environmental credentials. The building has
a 538,213sq ft (50,000m^2 ) wave-like roof,
skylights and 32.8ft-high (10m) oor-to-ceiling
windows which all help maximise the amount
of natural light inside. Solar panels on the roof
reduce reliance on electricity supplies and an
energy centre provides heating and cooling for
the building. Twenty percent of the terminal’s
energy requirements are met by renewable
sources.
The Queen’s Terminal was the second new
passenger facility Heathrow had opened in six
years, following T5 in 2008. Terminal 5 was
inaugurated amid much fanfare, but technical
glitches blighted the rst day. Those issues
have long been forgotten though and it has
won the World’s Best Airport Terminal Award
at the Skytrax World Airport Awards every
year since 2012.
As home to Heathrow’s largest
airline, British Airways, the 3,799,876sq ft
(353,020m^2 ) building accommodates the most
passengers of any terminal; in 2014 it handled
31.6 million passengers on 207,859 ights.
While the airport celebrates its 70th
birthday this year, T4 turns 30. Officially
opened by Prince Charles and Princess Diana
on April 1, 1986, the building cost £200m
to construct and was originally the home
of British Airways before it moved to T5. In
2008 it was upgraded and today it covers
1,135,388sq ft (105,481m^2 ). Last year, T4,
which is the London hub of the SkyTeam
airline alliance, handled 53,357 ights and
9.2 million passengers. Since 2007, £350m
has been spent overhauling the facilities
with a new and extended check-in area, aTerminal 5 is home to British Airways and
has won the World’s Best Airport Terminal
Award at the Skytrax World Airport Awards
every year since 2012. All photos Heathrow
Airport unless stated20 Aviation News incorporating Classic Aircraft June 201618-22_lhr_overview.JR.mfDC.mfDC.indd 20 06/05/2016 16: