At Heathrow’s Terminal 5, design and luxury soar
Peter Greenberg takes a look at British Airways’ impressive new addition
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When it comes to Heathrow Airport in London — arguably one of the most congested, busiest airports in the world — change doesn't happen fast.
Airline delays, massive amounts of misplaced, damaged or lost bags, missed flight connections — these frustrations have defined Heathrow for years. And all this at an airport that sees more international passengers than any other airport in the world.
And, let's not forget — despite all the increased air traffic, there are still only two runways.
In the recent past, I've actually boycotted not just Heathrow, but all United Kingdom airports because of an absurd rule allowing passengers only one carry-on bag. I bypassed Heathrow in particular at every opportunity, choosing airports in Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Zurich instead.
Thankfully, at the beginning of this year the British Airport Authority (BAA) rescinded the rule at most U.K. airports, including Heathrow. And it all happened in time to welcome the new Terminal 5. It only took 18 years to design, more than 20,000 workers to build and cost nearly $9 billion to finish. Finally, later next month, it will open.
Queen Elizabeth will be there on March 27th to mark the official opening, just as she was in 1955 when the first permanent building at Heathrow was opened. On this one day, British Airways will be moving 90 percent of its operations into Terminal 5 — a massive logistics challenge. And the old Terminal 4? It will house many U.S. carriers now allowed to fly into Heathrow under the new open-skies policy — Delta, Continental, Northwest and others, including even Air France, which will start Boeing 777 nonstop service from London to Los Angeles.
The new Terminal 5, where British Airways will be the sole airline tenant, is a most welcome addition to the hodgepodge of buildings and terminals that spread, almost without logic or reason, around the former village. From a design and architectural perspective, the building is certainly impressive. It's five stories tall, supported by 22 massive white steel "trees." It's so large that engineers had to reroute two nearby rivers.
If the designers are right, passengers will flow through the terminal in a logical, linear way. The building is designed to handle 80,000 passengers a day, and 13,000 bags per hour.
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Security checkpoints in Terminal 4 number eight. But at Terminal 5, they've been more than doubled to 20.
Inside, it's hard to tell whether it's a terminal or a mall. Inside a space larger than 50 soccer fields, you'll find 112 stores, ranging from Tiffany to Harrods, and some other U.S. brand names like Starbucks (and you thought their coffee in the U.S. was expensive?) and yes, even Krispy Kreme. One of my favorite London restaurants, Wagamama, is opening in T-5, and even star chef Gordon Ramsey is premiering his first airport restaurant. And all retail establishments have been asked to create and sell a product sold nowhere else than Terminal 5 (yes, Krispy Kreme will be marketing a special T-5 doughnut).
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