LHR as destination alternate for LGW

[AERO DYNAMIK]

Is it ok to nominate LHR as your destination alternate for LGW. I heard or read somewhere that LHR will not accept diverted traffic unless of course its an emergency. I am of course assuming that London weather is good.

Cheers

AD

[Astra driver]

I used LHR as an alternate for LTN this past December, I had filed LTN as our destination and Bristol as our alternate (Departed
St. Johns, NFL) the weather at Luton and Stanstead had gone below minimums so we requested a landing at LHR in order to try and save our pax a drive from Bristol. ATC said the diversion was OK as long as we had ground handling aranged like Mike Jenvey stated. It took a bit of a scramble with the Acukwik and the sat phone, but ATC was very accomodating (It was 11pm) and as soon as we acknowleged we had handling we were cleared for the approach.

[Rainboe]

The way I see it, you can nominate anywhere for a destination alternate without actually intending to go there in a diversion. You may restrict your final decision to divert to a slightly earlier stage in order to allow you to divert somewhere else. It is not uncommon to nominate a place nearby your destination, but intending if the event arose to divert somewhere else where you have company staff to handle you, as long as your original alternate is realistic and available, possibly even in an emergency.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<but ATC was very accomodating (It was 11pm) and as soon as we acknowleged we had handling we were cleared for the approach.>>

Just as long as everyone is fully aware that ATC has nothing to do with these decisions. If an aircraft requests to divert to Heathrow the Airport Authority is informed and they decide whether to accept the flight. They can refuse right up to the last minute and I have seen a/c instructed to go-around because the Airport Authority would not accept it. Needless to say, this does not apply in cases of emergency. Usually ATC will handle the flight as a straightforward inbound until such times as the AA refuses it. For diversions by operators regularly using Heathrow all this is handled by the operator and ATC is not involved at all.


As always.... since I retired maybe things have changed..

[Musket90]

Having prior arrangement with a handling agent is a must when diverting to busy airports like LHR, otherwise you risk landing with no-one attending the aircraft for hours. Even if you do have handling agent you still may wait a very long time for handling due priority being given to non-diverted flights by handling staff available.

Heathrow Director is correct in that airport operator can refuse diversions (except if it's an emergency) if no handling agent has been nominated or no parking available.