Closure of BAA Heathrow’s Terminal 2
27 March 2006
The opening of Terminal 5 in March 2008 is an important milestone in Heathrow’s transformation and provides BAA with an exciting opportunity to reorganise and reinvigorate other airport infrastructure.
Importantly, it will mean that airlines who are members of airline alliances (oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam) will be able to co-locate thereby significantly improving the passenger experience.
Consultations with Heathrow’s airlines started a number of years ago and the strategy that has been since developed seeks to locate the oneworld alliance in Terminal 5 and Terminal 3; Star Alliance in Terminal 1; the SkyTeam alliance in Terminal 4; and Virgin Atlantic Airways in Terminal 3.
As a result, the forecast passenger flows in Terminal 2 are significantly reduced, thus giving rise to questions around the economic and operational viability of the terminal.
Once the alliance airlines currently in Terminal 2 move to Terminals 1, 3 and 4 to co-locate with their alliance partners in 2009, Terminal 2 will have less than 1.5 million passengers per annum (previously, 9 million passengers per annum).
This low level of passenger traffic makes the continued operation of Terminal 2 unsustainable and, therefore, a decision has been made today to close the facility after all of the airline relocations have taken place.
It is envisaged that the non-aligned airlines in Terminal 2 will probably be relocated to Terminal 4.
While this decision to close Terminal 2 is made with a mixture of sadness and nostalgia, it must be remembered that Terminal 2 is Heathrow’s first and oldest terminal (opened in 1955).
The closure of Terminal 2 is a significant step forward in making the recently announced Heathrow East proposal a reality. Heathrow East will be a state-of-the-art, modern facility that will deliver a world class passenger experience.