Our history
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While millions of us enjoy flying every year there is a noisy downside for the people who live or work near to airports.
Our history
Heathrow officially opened in 1946. Take a look at the milestones throughout our history:
April 2008: Open skies airlines start flights from Heathrow (Continental, NorthWest, US Airways and Delta).
March 2008: Terminal 5 opens.
March 2008: First A380 commercial flight into Heathrow, Singapore airlines T3.
March 2008: Royal opening, T5.
June 2006: The Ferrovial Consortium (through Airport Development Limited, ADI) took control of BAA, Heathrow Airport's parent company.
February 2006: BAA chairman, Marcus Agius, received a call from Rafael del Pino, the Chairman of Grupo Ferrovial, and lead partner in a consortium, who declared an interest in acquiring BAA.
September 2005: The Terminal 5 ‘topping out’ ceremony to celebrate completion of the spectacular building structure was carried out by the Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling MP, and BAA Chief Executive, Mike Clasper.
July 2005: Details of our noise and blight assistance schemes were published.
June 2005: Saw the inauguration of the Heathrow Connect rail service. A joint venture between BAA and First Great Western this new service provides a stopping service which connects Heathrow with Paddington via west London. The Heathrow interim masterplan was also launched.
2004: New 900-tonne state-of-the-art air traffic control tower moved into place.
2003: The last Concorde flight to carry passengers touched down at Heathrow Airport and a £100 million revamp of Terminal 3's international departure lounge opened.
2002: We opened a new £50 million immigration hall for international passengers arriving at Terminal 1.
2001: Following the longest public inquiry in British planning history – a total of three years and 10 months – the Government gave approval on 20 November 2001 for BAA to build a fifth terminal at Heathrow. Construction on the Terminal 5 site, which is situated within the airport's existing boundary, began in 2002. When fully complete in 2011, the terminal will have the capacity to handle 30 million passengers a year.
1998: The £450 million Heathrow Express rail link was opened by the Prime Minister in 1998 connecting the facility to central London's Paddington Station, with services arriving and departing every 15 minutes.
1996: Heathrow celebrated its 50th anniversary and The Queen opened the refurbished Terminal 2 departures lounge.
1994: In December, the Flight Connections Centre was opened – the world's first building dedicated to serving transfer passengers, and part of a £100m airside redevelopment of Terminal 1.
1990s: Throughout this decade we invested continuously in Heathrow's infrastructure, spending around £1m a day.
1986: The Prince and Princess of Wales visited the airport to open the new £200m Terminal 4. The first passengers used the facility on 12 April, experiencing innovations such as the complete segregation of arriving and departing passengers.
Following the opening of Terminal 4, we embarked on a programme to renovate the other three terminals.
1976: Heathrow become supersonic, with British Airways and Air France operating regular Concorde services.
1970: With the arrival of the Boeing 747 (initially flown by Pan Am from New York), Terminal 3 was expanded and an arrivals building added. A complex of pier, gate room and airbridge systems was installed as well as the UK's first moving walkways. In a complementary airfield project, Heathrow's runways were extended to about two and a half miles.
The 1970s saw the airport's car parking increased and a central bus station added as well as an underground rail connection – the world's first dedicated metro service to a major airport.
1968: A new short-haul building (now Terminal 1) was opened – at the time the largest airport terminal in Europe. The terminal was officially opened by the Queen on 17 April 1969. At the same time Heathrow developed a 160 acres cargo site linked by the tunnel to the Central Terminal Area.
1966: A separate body known as the British Airports Authority was set up. The organisation remained government-owned until privitisation as BAA in July 1987.
1955: Heathrow's first real terminal, the Europa Building (the current T2), opened for short-haul flights in April, while facilities for pilots, offices, restaurants and a viewing area were housed in the Queens Building. The London Air Traffic Control Centre transferred from Uxbridge to the new Heathrow tower and then all three Central Terminal Area buildings were inaugurated by the Queen on 16 December.
1952: The jet age landed at Heathrow, as the world's first turbojet, the de Havailland Comet I, arrived on a scheduled flight from Johannesburg.1954: Heathrow's main airline, BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation), was joined by BEA (British European Airways) and several other European carriers moved to Heathrow.
1951: After the Second World War, a masterplan was developed for terminals and an ATC tower. Construction began in 1951.
May 1946: Heathrow transferred from military to civil control. It officially opened on 31 May and the first aircraft to land was a BOAC Lancastrian from Australia. There were no terminal buildings and passengers checked in at a temporary tent village on the north side of the airfield. International communications needs were handled by a row of telephone boxes and a mobile post office. The only facilities were armchairs, a bar, a WH Smith shop and chemical toilets.
By the end of its first year of operation, Heathrow was serving 18 destinations, with 60,000 passengers and 2,400 tons of cargo passing through the airport. As traffic grew the tents were replaced by pre-fabricated concrete buildings.
January 1946: Heathrow was transferred from military to civil control.
1944: Work began on Heathrow's runways.
1943: Although Croydon Airport became London's primary civil aviation authority facility in the 1920s, by the time of the Second World War Heathrow was the preferred alternative. However, 52 different locations were considered before the decision was made in 1943. The site's aviation history really began during the First World War and the location remained a military airfield until 1919.
