Oneworld carriers outline Heathrow terminal changes

Eight oneworld alliance carriers are preparing to consolidate at Heathrow from four terminals to two.

The changes, which will be completed by 2009, will be triggered by the majority of British Airways flights moving into the new Terminal 5 from next month.

The airlines between them claim to account for more than half of Heathrow’s traffic with around 35 million passengers a year travelling on 700 departures and arrivals a day.

In total, 50 of the 90 or so airlines serving Heathrow will change terminals in a series of moves starting with BA’s first move to Terminal 5 on March 27. 

BA is to switch more than 90% of its operations at the airport into the £4.3 billion Terminal 5 in two phases, on March 27 and April 30.

Its remaining Heathrow operations will move, alongside those of all other oneworld airlines, into Terminal 3 – the closest of the existing terminals to Terminal 5. 

These BA Terminal 3 moves will take place on September 17 and in early 2009.

Alliance partners American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Royal Jordanian are already based at Terminal 3. Finnair will move there from Terminal 1 and Iberia from Terminal 2, also on September 17, with Qantas following from Terminal 4 in early 2009.

Terminal 3 is undergoing a £1 billion revamp to bring it up to standards similar to the Terminal 5.

Connections between oneworld member airlines’ flights in Terminals 3 and 5 will be as “smooth and seamless” as possible, a statement said. An underground baggage system to be built in a tunnel under the airport’s taxiways by 2011 will further improve transfers between the two terminals.

Minimum connecting times for passengers transferring between flights by oneworld member airlines at Heathrow will change as a result of the terminal moves.  

Currently, the standard time for passengers connecting between flights by different airlines at the airport is 90 minutes.

The connecting time will be reduced to 60 minutes for passengers connecting between:

·       BA flights both arriving at and departing from Terminal 5.

·       Flights by any oneworld airline both arriving at and departing from Terminal 3.

But connections between Terminal 5 and all the airport’s other four terminals will be extended to 120 minutes for the new facility’s first full flying season, with the additional time designed to deliver a robust service while customers and employees become familiar with the new building and transfer processes, a oneworld statement said.

From the beginning of the winter schedule on October 26, connecting times between Terminal 5 and Terminal 3 will be reduced to 90 minutes. This will also apply to connections between Terminal 5 and both Terminals 1 and 2, while connections between Terminal 5 and Terminal 4 will be reduced to 110 minutes.

The terminal moves timetable:

·         March 27: 70% of BA Heathrow flights will move to T5 including:

–   All long haul flights from Terminal 1 (serving Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Tokyo Narita, San Francisco and Vancouver).

–   All UK domestic flights from Terminal 1.

–   All short haul flights from Terminal 1 (except for Barcelona, Helsinki, Lisbon, Madrid and Nice)

–   All short haul flights from Terminal 4.

–   Miami flights, which currently operate from Terminal 3.

·         March 29: American Airlines transfers its Raleigh/Durham route and one of its two daily Dallas/Fort Worth flights from Gatwick to Heathrow Terminal 3. This will increase American’s Heathrow operations to 17 departures a day to seven US gateways.

·         March 30:  BA moves its daily Dallas/Fort Worth flight and twice-daily Houston service from London Gatwick to London Heathrow Terminal 5. 

·         April 30:  A further 20% of BA Heathrow flights move to Terminal 5, including long haul flights currently operating at Terminal 4 (eg New York, Washington, Delhi and Cape Town) with the exception of flights operated as part of the code-share agreement with Qantas (Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney).

·         September 17: BA flights to Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Nice and Helsinki move from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.

–   Finnair’s Heathrow flights move from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.

–   Iberia’s Heathrow flights move from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3. Iberia sister airline Click Air (which is not part of oneworld) also moves at this time.

·         Early in 2009 (on a date to be finalised soon):           

–   BA flights to Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney (operated with Qantas code-share) move from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3.

–   Qantas flights move from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3.

by Phil Davies

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