BAA has outlined its longer term plans for development at London Heathrow, including the demolition of Terminal 2.
Speaking at WTM, strategic director Mike Forster said by 2012, 70% of Heathrow passengers would pass through facilities at the airport that do not exist today.
He said the opening of T5, (the size of Gatwick Airport) at the end of March would immediately free up space in T1 and also in T4, which will become the hub of the SkyTeam airline alliance and will have its check-in area doubled.
T3 will become the UK hub of the Oneworld alliance and will have a £1 billion refit in the next 10 years with completely new check-in, baggage and other systems.
T2 will be knocked down and a brand new terminal, Heathrow East, will be developed for the Star Alliance.
“We have just got planning permission for Heathrow East and work will start next year,” said Forster. “It will be open in time for the Olympics, which will mean working at a rate 25% faster than building T5 but we have a milestone and we will stick to it.”
But he added: “We have to protect today’s operations. Passengers can’t be working their way through a building site and we can’t have them being transported around everywhere by bus. This is a critical point of our development plans.”
By Bev Fearis
