There are many people with an interest in our operations at Heathrow, and who are affected by, or who can affect, our business at Heathrow. These are called our stakeholders and they include local residents, staff, passengers, airlines, control authorities, pressure groups and local, regional and national government. Our stakeholders take a close interest in our airport operations and can shape the way the business develops.

Our approach

We communicate with our stakeholders throughout the year, both formally through consultations, research, regular briefings and newsletters and informally as part of day-to-day business.

The largest consultation forum is the Heathrow Airport Consultative Committee (HACC) which meets every two months. The HACC is independently chaired and represents local authorities, the aviation and travel industry, pressure groups, trades unions and DfT. It has various sub-committees, which look in detail at many aspects of the airport’s work.

In addition we have the Local Focus Forum, which was set up to keep residents up to date with progress with Terminal 5. It represents residents’ associations and councillors closest to the airport. With Terminal 5 complete, it is also an opportunity to share with them information about pending developments and operational impacts that might have an impact on the local area.

Heathrow Inform Newsletter
Our Heathrow Inform newsletter is sent quarterly to 17,000 homes in the local area. It covers a range of topics including airport operations, Heathrow’s future, education, community investment and employment opportunities. In response to residents’ feedback, the newsletter now contains more articles on careers at Heathrow. Current job vacancies are also advertised on the covering letter to residents.

Consultations
We engage with local stakeholders when considering developments at the airport, both large and small. This ranges from public meetings with individual communities on small scale planning applications or public consultations on our larger development proposals. We always keep local communities informed of our plans and give them the opportunity to express their views. 

Our most recent consultation was on Heathrow Airtrack, a proposed new rail link between Terminal 5 and Staines, linking into the existing rail network to the south and west of Heathrow and providing services to Reading, Guildford and London Waterloo. The initial consulation finished in April 2008.

Our performance
Our plans