David Learmount/LONDON
London Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, will have to wait until at least 2007 before the first passengers use the new Terminal Five (T5) - at least a year after the Airbus A380 ultra-large aircraft enters service. The date assumes the UK Government, having just received the results of a four-year planning inquiry into the £2 billion ($2.9 billion) terminal, gives it the go-ahead when the decision is announced in six to nine months, as analysts believe it will.
According to the latest Airbus market forecast, Heathrow, which is chronically short of aircraft stands already, will be second only to Japan's Tokyo Narita in the number of A380s which will use it through to 2019. Major Heathrow user and A380 launch customer, Singapore Airlines (SIA), will be the first airline to receive the new aircraft, in March 2006. Virgin Atlantic Airways will begin basing its first of six A380s at the London airport in 2006. Emirates and Qantas are among other early A380 operators also planning to operate the type into Heathrow in its first production year.
Heathrow operator BAA is investing £150 million ahead of the A380's introduction to prepare for the new aircraft. The existing long haul Terminals 3 and 4 will be modified with the former gaining two new piers, while runway verges and some taxiway exits will need widening.
BAA says that Heathrow will initially be able to handle seven A380s simultaneously. According to Airbus, T4 would have six stands which could accommodate an A380, while Terminal 3 could take nine. T5, on the other hand, will be able to handle up to 24 A380s.
If the government's T5 decision is positive, as expected, airport owner BAA says that construction will begin in 2002. The main operator at T5 is expected to be British Airways, which has not ordered any A380s although partner Qantas has.
• UK Aviation Minister Chris Mullin has announced lower departure noise limits and updated noise monitoring arrangements for the three major London airports - Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. He has also varied the approach pattern of the small number of movements between midnight and 06:00 local time, spreading the noise nuisance more equitably between those who live under the easterly and westerly approaches - subject to weather limitations.
Source: Flight International
