London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport.
London’s Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports. It is used by over 90 airlines flying to 170 destinations worldwide. The airport has five passenger terminals and a cargo terminal. In the 1950s, Heathrow had six runways, now it has just two parallel runways running east-west.
Heathrow has witnessed strong growth over recent decades, currently handling 68 million passengers and 477,000 flights a year compared to around 48 million passengers and 427,000 flights a year in 1996. In the absence of any increase in runway capacity, this growth has resulted in Heathrow’s runways operating at around 99% capacity compared to its main European competitors which operate at around 75% capacity, leading to increased delays, lower resilience and fewer destinations served.
Heathrow authorities have faced a big problem, whether to build a new airport or to increase the capacity of the existing one by building the 3rd runway and a sixth terminal. Of course, the second way needs less investments and easier to accomplish, but needs more political and social solutions as there are too many people standing against it. On the one side there are economic benefits, on the other is environmental impact, increasing noise level and discontent of the people living on the area close to the airport.
Lack in free space is found in the history of Heathrow. Heathrow’s underlying problem is that it has been in a wrong place all along. The 62 year olds airport is hemmed in by residential areas on all sides. Heathrow’s unsuitability as a big commercial airport goes back to its origin as a base for fighters during the second world war. It was built to the west of London, to be less vulnerable to enemy bombers, and was laid out with up to nine runways radiating from a cluster of buildings, including air control in the center. A good design for military aviation proved hopeless for a civil airport. Only three runways survived, of which just two (running
London’s Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports. It is used by over 90 airlines flying to 170 destinations worldwide. The airport has five passenger terminals and a cargo terminal. In the 1950s, Heathrow had six runways, now it has just two parallel runways running east-west.
Heathrow has witnessed strong growth over recent decades, currently handling 68 million passengers and 477,000 flights a year compared to around 48 million passengers and 427,000 flights a year in 1996. In the absence of any increase in runway capacity, this growth has resulted in Heathrow’s runways operating at around 99% capacity compared to its main European competitors which operate at around 75% capacity, leading to increased delays, lower resilience and fewer destinations served.
Heathrow authorities have faced a big problem, whether to build a new airport or to increase the capacity of the existing one by building the 3rd runway and a sixth terminal. Of course, the second way needs less investments and easier to accomplish, but needs more political and social solutions as there are too many people standing against it. On the one side there are economic benefits, on the other is environmental impact, increasing noise level and discontent of the people living on the area close to the airport.
Lack in free space is found in the history of Heathrow. Heathrow’s underlying problem is that it has been in a wrong place all along. The 62 year olds airport is hemmed in by residential areas on all sides. Heathrow’s unsuitability as a big commercial airport goes back to its origin as a base for fighters during the second world war. It was built to the west of London, to be less vulnerable to enemy bombers, and was laid out with up to nine runways radiating from a cluster of buildings, including air control in the center. A good design for military aviation proved hopeless for a civil airport. Only three runways survived, of which just two (running