[Anonymous]

[VintageKrug]

Wednesday 28th October 2009 will see the last day of operations for British Airways (and Joint Services Agreement and oneworld partner Qantas) from Heathrow’s Terminal 4.

Terminal 4 was designed in response to continued growth in passenger numbers to 30 million annually by the early 1980s. When it opened, it was dominated by BA flights. The check in area was a vast, quiet barn of a place, and a huge contrast to the overcrowded rag tag Central Area terminals.

It was constructed to the south of the southern runway, next to the existing cargo terminal, and away from the three older terminals.

It was connected with Terminals 1, 2 and 3 by the already-existing Heathrow Cargo Tunnel and was opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales in April 1986, becoming the home for then newly privatised British Airways.

While the dodgy baggage belt under the runway, the overcrowding of its latter years and the rather scabby Victor Pier will not be missed, many will have fond memories of the Terminal as the London base of Concorde services to New York and Barbados, including the dedicated Concorde Check in Zone at the north end of the check in area, and of course the original and super-exclusive Concorde Room.

A £200m upgrade is in progress to allow it to become the hub terminal for Skyteam, including capacity for two A380 gates (which does seem woefully inadequate).

All BA and oneworld flights will now be concentrated to the West End of Heathrow, spread across Terminal 5 and Terminal 3 (where oneworld partners Finnair, Iberia, Qantas, JAL and American Airlines are now based), making connections significantly easier than was the case previously.

[travelworld]

KLM, Etihad, Jet Airways and a handful of other airlines fly from T4 at the moment, with (I think) Skyteam T2 occupants joining at the end of next month. Any news when Emirates and the other “non aligned” airlines might join them there? And for that matter, when does T2 finally shut?

[Expat_Consultant]

“the rather scabby Victor Pier”

How dare you criticise Heathrow’s contribution to developing personal fitness?

Nothing like a brisk 20 minute walk to sweep the cobwebs away after a 13 hour flight.

[FCTraveller]

Does anyone know when in 2010 T5C is due to open. And when it does, will BA move all of it’s current T3 operation into T5?

[travelworld]

I thought it was 2011- and “yes”- but am happy to stand corrected…

[VintageKrug]

Its (not it’s) flights currently in T3 will remain there.

T3 is the oneworld terminal, and therefore the services with strong oneworld links will remain in T3, alongside AA, JAL, CX and Finnair.

BA have recently opened the Galleries and First lounges, including Elemis Spa, in T3.

Flights to the Iberian Peninsula (Madrid, Malaga, Lisbon, Barcelona and Gibraltar) will remain in T3 (given recent news about the merger with Iberia, this makes sense), the Joint Service agreement with Qantas on flights to Australia (including Bangkok and Singapore) mean it makes sense for those to stay there, too.

Helsinki uses T3 because of the codeshare with Finnair.

Vienna also goes from T3; not sure of the logic there; might be 757 related.

T3 is the closest terminal to T5, which makes connecting between oneworld services easier than has been the case in the past.

http://www.terminal5.ba.com/en/terminal-3/

As far as I recall, T5C was scheduled to open 11 months ahead of schedule in May 2010. This may have been pushed back, but flying through on Sunday I noticed it looked almost complete externally, with internal fit out beginning.

It is the second satellite of T5, and is positioned closer to T3 than T5.

It will be linked by the same underground train which currently links T5B with T5. There will be an additional BA Galleries lounge located at T5C. It is being built by Carillion.

The new T5C satellite will principally serve longhaul destinations, will increase the number of available jetways and will significantly reduce the need for bussing at T5.

[FCTraveller]

VK thanks for this extremely informative reply, as always, you are an asset to these discussion groups. All makes a lot of sense and I therefore assume from this that T5 is already operating at its intended capacity if no new flights will move there when C opens. I noticed yesterday that there is an aircraft parked at just about every jetty at T5C so they must currently be used as bus gates. I am disappointed that Gibraltar and Malaga flights would stay in T3 as I use them all the time. But I have to say I am greatly relieved that they have at least moved to Heathrow especially in light of now having to transfer from Gatwick South to North on a bus!

Just one thing though, I didn’t ask for my typos to be corrected and I’ve noticed this before with other posts. It’s really not a cool thing to do, nor is it “accepted forum etiquette”.

[VintageKrug]

The its/it’s thing is a bugbear of mine – we all make typos, including me, but unfortunately many people reading this assume it’s correct to type it’s when we meant the possessive form, its.

I see nothing “uncool” about ensuring such accidental keystroke errors are not perpetuated.

While T5 is at aircraft capacity, it is certainly not yet at passenger capacity, given the downturn (of about 10%-15%) in the numbers flying. Rather a worry, given how busy it can get at peak times.

It will be interesting to see whether the T5-T5B-T5C train will eventually be extended underground to T3, providing seamless transit options for all oneworld airlines within the T5-T3 complex.

Eventually, T6 and the extra runway should ease that capacity constraint.

[FCTraveller]

Were you a headmistress in another life or something?

[VintageKrug]

Watch it, or the School Trip will be on Ryanair next year! 😉

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