LHR NEW TERMINAL 2
 

Now that T2 is coming gradually up to speed. What do we all think about it?

Personally, having spent the last 30 odd years operating out of terminal 1, I think the whole facility is great! It feels calm, relaxed and clean, Just like Changi!

I hope it stays like that!

Had a wander round tonight as my flight from Terrible 1 was late. The thing that struck me was it's size, T2A is quite pokey. It's like a mini T5, of course it's intended to be extended to it's full size once T1 goes but funding is on hold until the review into airports policy is delivered I believe. A huge improvement though.

Have yet to see it, AFAIK, it is currently about half the size it will eventually be. Clearly nothing will happen from now until and unless permission is given for rwy expansion.

Presumably, T2 will absorb more of the flights from T1, enabling T1 to be pulled down.
Does this mean that T2 will then become cramped and overcrowded?

Not necessarily.

I think T2A might get very busy, the check in area is not especially open. There's loads of room out on T2B though.

As I understand it, T2 will eventually house all Star Alliance carriers plus a few others with the old t1 being demolished. Will a new T1 once built be an extension of T2 for Star Alliance carriers etc or will this create new capacity?

Think that once the existing terminal is demolished, its replacement will be adjacant to the new terminal 2 and become the northern part of it.

So it will effectively be one terminal but enlarged from the current T2 site?

See http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airpo...ml#post8481672

I used Terminal 4 a couple of weeks ago and was shocked as to how quiet it was. Very nice indeed!

My understanding is the side of T2 closest to T1, is a temporary facade. This will be taken down to enable connection to the new T1 development, when the time comes.

T2 will need to have its own baggage system installed before that can happen! At the moment it's piggy backing off T1.

The plan, as per the link in my previous post, is for T2A to expand northwards in two phases (2032 and 2036), together with 3 more satellites (T2C, T2D and T2E) in addition to the existing T2B.

That's all contingent on R3, of course.

The only further "T1 development" will be when they pull it down. :O

a daft question perhaps, but in the future by the sounds of it, LHR will not have a Terminal 1 or will the enlarged T2 be split some how into a Terminal 1 and Terminal 2?

Correct, that's the plan.

In due course, it won't have a Terminal 3 either.

The name "Heathrow East" was being used a while back to describe a new T1/2/3 area while T4 and 5 didn't seem to be mentioned.

Presumably the toast rack layout will run between the two runways and have large terminals at either end. That could lead to a "Heathrow East/West" idea being adopted. Presumably once such a transformation is complete the new terminal space would be greatly increased when compared to what they have today and the main T3 would be replaced with satellite piers feeding both main terminals. T4 would either become redundant due to increased stand space in the central area or be part of another major overhaul on that side of the airfield. T4 cannot adopt the toast rack layout as there is no space to do so in its current position.

Anyway, T2 is, I believe, smaller than what will be needed. The Star Alliance Airlines in T1 will, after they move, be working with a space which has less check in desks than they have right now. I'm not sure how exactly that will work. There will be no where to put a lot of the passengers especially at peak times when every airline has full loads. I think T2 will struggle then. At the moment T2 may work just fine with the drip feed of long haul and Irish flights it has been given but very soon the entire LH and LX (literally 1000s of extra passengers and bags each day as well as 30+ more planes to deal with) operation will be going from there as well as SN, OU, 4U, LO, OS, VSLR, SK, SQ, OZ, TP, TK, NZ, MS, ET and TG flights too. It's going to get very cramped before the year is out. Are there any plans to move AI over to T2 since they are now in Star Alliance too?

I know that one side of it is temporary but to me it seems like the new extension won't be built for ages yet and it will be needed much sooner than that. I know anything which is not STAR will move to T4 or T3 (or in the case of CY move to STN) and then T1 will start to be demolished to make way for the rest of T2, but the time-scale involved does seem a bit slow. ,This kind of sums up LHR in general in that nothing seems to be built with the future in mind.

"Heathrow East" is misleading, it's actually Heathrow Central.


AFAIK, the redevelopment of the present LHR-1 is dependent on a decision on rwys. Nothing will happen before that, as the expansion of LHR would/will pay for the redevelopment. Eventually LHR-1/2 will effectively be one large terminal.

There is plenty of spare capacity at LHR-4 and some carriers could be decanted there in the interim, other Star Alliance carriers may remain at LHR-3 for a few more years.

The terminology currently being used by Heathrow in connection with its expansion proposals talks about two "front doors" (main terminal complexes): an Eastern (T2) and a Western (T5/T6).

The proposed final configuration for the "toast rack" (reading from west to east) would be:

T6A T5A T5B T5C T2D T2E T2A T2B T2C

As I said in my earlier post, it's all contingent on permission being granted for R3. Without that, so we're told, Heathrow will wither and die.

No, they're being evicted :)
Heathrow: Airline moves | Heathrow terminal changes

According to an article in The Independent a while ago, the terminals will be renumbered once complete:

When the final phase is completed, the terminals are likely to be renumbered. It is thought that Terminal 5 will change to 1, with 4 becoming 3. Terminal 2, which used to be Terminal 1, will remain as it is.

Source: No repeat of Terminal 5 horror show when new 'Queen's Terminal' opens this June, Heathrow authorities insist - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent