Heathrow terminal 5 (including Terminal 5 – Heathrow: pros and cons)
Heathrow airport is located in south west London. It is the largest and busiest airport in the UK, while also being the busiest airport for passenger traffic in Europe and the busiest airport globally for international bound passengers. The airport deals with air traffic travelling to all parts of the globe. It is the ‘home’ airport for the UK’s two largest international air passenger carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
The airport operates two major runways and currently has four terminals servicing flights to the UK, Europe, North America and the rest of the world. A controversial fifth terminal is currently under construction and is due to become operational from March 2008.
The airport is located close to the Greater London M25 motorway ring road. It has operated an Underground link to central London since the 1970s, however the faster Heathrow Express line has provided a direct link between the airport to London Paddington since 1998.
Terminal 5, due to open early next year, will expand Heathrow’s passenger capacity from 68 million annually to 90 million annually. At a cost of around £4 billion, it is one of the largest civil engineering projects currently under construction in the world. In addition to the new state-of-the-art terminal, Heathrow’s private owners BAA are also building a comprehensive support infrastructure that includes a new hotel, a major multi-storey car park and transport links.
The new terminal has been designed to accommodate Heathrow’s ever expanding air traffic demands. It will enable the international airport to extend its services, while reducing the pressures on the existing four terminals. The 90 metre, four storey structure will house the vast majority of British Airways’ departure and arrivals traffic, as the UK’s largest commercial air carrier will transfer most of its Heathrow operations to the new terminal in 2008. Forecasts suggest that Terminal 5 will handle 30 million passengers per year, reducing traffic in the first four terminals by around 8 million people each year.
Heathrow’s terminal 5 is expected to have a significantly beneficial effect on the UK economy, creating many jobs and generating more business for UK industry. However, passengers will be hoping that the new terminal will help to reduce congestion and the burden on services. Recently BAA has suffered from negative press regarding many of its services. Most notably its baggage handling operation. High profile press reports have highlighted a chronic inability to reliably process customer baggage and apparent understaffing has left Heathrow with a problematic ‘baggage mountain’ of lost and unclaimed luggage.
While industry and passengers are likely to welcome Heathrow Terminal 5 opening in March 2008, others are not so happy. The controversial new terminal has had its critic and a sizeable opposition. Opponents of the new terminal can largely be categorised into two groups: local residents and environmentalists.
As airports are noisy places it is understandable that those who live next door are not big supporters. While Terminal 5 is being built within Heathrow’s current boundaries (therefore not requiring the destruction of housing or green belt), Heathrow’s neighbours are concerned that the new facility and the extra 22 million annual passengers it will bring will increase noise and pollution to the surrounding area.
Meanwhile, environmentalists are concerned that the extra air traffic will have a detrimental effect on the local area and the global environment as a whole. Unfortunately aeroplanes are a significant source of air and noise pollution. Environmentalists believe that air travel needs to be reduced to arrest the effects of global warming and that giving the green light to terminal 5 is a move in the opposite direction.
The concerns are justifiable, however the drawbacks to the environment and of living next to a busy international airport seem unavoidable in the modern world and it seems that the UK Government is content that the benefits to the country as a whole justify the construction of terminal 5.