The History Of London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow International Airport (ICAO: EGLL) (IATA: LHR)
After a decently long hiatus, we are back! As you guys voted in the last topic, you wanted the history of Heathrow. So without further ado, here we go!
Early History
In 1929, Heathrow was founded as a small airfield called the “Great West Aerodome” which was just southeast of the ever growing city of London. Before this, in 1410, there was a dirt road called Heathrow Road. It had lasted until 1819, dividing farmland and health land. In 1915, Fairy Aviation started flight testing their new planes from the airport, now known as Heathrow.
11 years later, in 1930, the airfield was operational and in 1935, the Royal Aeronautical Society held their annual garden science at Heathrow airfield. Heathrow also played a big role in the world war, where England would use that for a big military base. In 1946, the airport opened for passenger use. In the 1950s, two more runways were added to make the hexagon style of an airport that we have seen with many other airports before.
Heathrow soon reached 1 million travelers. In 1955, Queen Elizabeth II opened the first passenger terminal, known as the Queens Terminal a.k.a. terminal two. In 1996, after being named London airport for a while, it was officially renamed to London Heathrow airport. In the 1960s, the first cargo terminal was built that Heathrow.
1970’s to 1990’s
In 1970, terminal three was expanded. Their runways were also expanded which at the time, were 10L, 10R, 28L, and 28R. They also had runway 23 open for crosswind landings until 2002. His new expanded one who is could accommodate the Boeing 747. In 1980, the airport hit a huge mile stone where passenger traffic was now at 30 million. To accommodate from this massive growth, terminal four was built next to the cargo terminal.
In 1984, a bomb exploded in the baggage claim of terminal two, which injured 22 people. Similar to this in 1994, there was morter attacks on the airport.
After recovering from this, the Concorde had officially arrived in London after traveling all the way from New York in just two hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds. In 1998, the Heathrow express that we know and love started providing service from Paddington station to London Heathrow.
2000’s
In 2002, construction of British Airways’s terminal 5 began. In 2005, runway 23 was demolished and was now changed to a taxi way. In 2006, the first 8380 flight to Heathrow we can. In 2007, six terminal and the process of building a third runway had started. In 2009, the queens building was demolished making way for the new Queens terminal. In 2011, terminal 5C opened which would be able to accommodate even larger aircraft than the original terminal 5B.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic sleeps in the entire world, and on April 6 the airport announced that they would switch to one way operations to make operations easier during the times of nearly 0 demand.
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom with over 250 airplanes and 183 destinations. They are owned by the international airlines group (IAG) and was founded on March 31, 1974. They have two hubs, one obviously being Heathrow as well as Gatwick.
As of 2019, they were the second largest carrier in the UK only to follow EasyJet. British always focuses a lot on their branding. They especially try to brand of modern touch even though the airline is very old. British Airways pain millions of dollars to take over the domain that used to be owned by Bell atlantic, ba.com.
They also take pride in their country, as one of their slogans is “fly the flag.” The are lined sexy video has been very interesting and many people enjoy them. From 2005 to 2017, they use the cartoon safety video. On September 1, they introduced a new safety video featuring Gillian Anderson, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Broadbent, Rob Brydon, Warwick Davis, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ian McKllen, Thandie Newton, and Gordon Ramsay.
History Of BA
In the 1970s, what is your waist first delivery of the Concord, and on January 21 inaugurated service from London to New York. In the 1980s, Colin Marshall was made the CEO of the airline. The airline grew significantly in the 1990s, when they purchased a 25% stake in quantities, 24% stake in US air, meaning that they now have part of American Airlines since the merger in 2013.
Thank you guys so much for reading! Please go ahead and go in the poll below to tell me what airport I should do next!
Next Theme: West Coast Of The USA 🇺🇸
- Los Angeles (Virgin America)
- San Francisco (United Airlines)
- Portland (Alaska Airlines)
- Seattle (Delta Air Lines)
0 voters
