Heathrow Airport Blog

New identity for Heathrow Airport

2009-07-03T13:09:13Z

BAA may be losing its monopoly on the UK’s airports after it was forced by the Competition Commission to sell off a few of them, but it has now decided to give Heathrow Airport, by far its largest asset, a facelift.

After the initial problems with Terminal 5 and the recent controversy over the new runway, it has been decided that the airport needs to present a different image to the world. BAA has therefore decided that it will be re-branded simply as ‘Heathrow’, with the tag-line ‘Making every journey better’.

The main ways in which the re-branding will take effect will be through posters at the airport itself, and these will be coupled with adverts on screens on the London Underground as well as advertorials in a number of publications.

The main focus will be the number of flights and destinations that Heathrow has to offer, and it will try to highlight the fact that all the recent improvements have made it the best airport in Europe, as well as highlighting its shopping facilities and restaurants.

The re-branding work will be carried out by the firm Masius, as well as being overseen by BAA Marketing and Insight, led by Nick Adderley. He has said that the changes are “about creating real understanding amongst our audiences as to why they should fly through our airport”.

So is Heathrow about to put all its problems behind it as it redefines itself in a new era? Or would it simply have more success if it didn’t get such a bad reputation for mishandling passengers’ luggage? We’ll just have to wait and see.

£800,000 of cocaine left at Heathrow

2009-06-19T14:41:52Z

If you were an international drug dealer, you might imagine that the hardest part of smuggling your wares back into the UK would be getting it onto the plane in the first place. But one drug trafficker has proved that perhaps the hardest part after all is remembering to pick it up after the flight.

That was exactly what happened recently at Heathrow airport, where £800,000 worth of cocaine was left in a suitcase on the luggage carousel.

The first that the UKBA (UK Border Agency) learnt of the haul was when they found out that a suitcase had been abandoned at the airport. They examined the luggage, and were surprised to find that it contained 20 kilograms of cocaine.

The identity of the trafficker is as yet unknown, but what is known is that the drug made its way from Mexico. It is surprising, however, that it managed to get all the way to the luggage collection at Heathrow.

So what happened? Did the passenger have a change of heart when he or she arrived in the UK? If so it was probably the most costly one of their life, and I’m sure there will be a fair bit of explaining to do. Or perhaps they just forgot it? We are all guilty of forgetting things at the airport, after all. But £800,000 worth of goods? That can't be too easy to leave behind by accident.

Anyway, the good news is that there are fewer drugs on our street as a result. No convictions have come about as yet, but a senior investigation officer for HMRC, Stuart Robinson, said that the “investigations into this matter are ongoing.”

Terminal 5 affected by "heave"

2009-06-15T14:53:18Z

It may have been described as a “living breathing advertisement for Britain’s ambition” by BAA chairman Sir Nigel Rudd, but most of the UK remember Terminal 5’s opening for the chaos that ensued, with flights being cancelled and delayed, and baggage disappearing into a black hole on a scale never seen before.

Things did improve but, just as passengers were beginning to forgive and forget Heathrow’s Terminal 5 teething troubles, it seems that the terminal is back in the news again for all the wrong reasons.

As anyone who lives in the area will tell you, the local London clay is notorious for causing problems with subsidence, and an airport is no different in that respect from your average house extension, even though it cost £4.3 billion.

News emerged last week that a form of subsidence called heave is causing the terminal building to be pushed upwards because the clay has swelled. Tiles have had to be replaced in the terminal building and engineers have been called in to give their verdict.

So is it anything to worry about? Opinions differ, with BAA calling the level of movement ”perfectly normal” and the Institute of Structural Engineers agreeing, saying that the movement is merely part of the “bedding-in process”. Greenpeace, however, have called for further information before work starts on the sixth terminal. Meanwhile BAA has been blamed for choosing a cheaper foundation design which will have exacerbated the problem.

With the peak summer holiday period just around the corner, the travelling public will be hoping that the effects of the heave are restricted to replacing a few tiles and that the shambolic scenes of March 2008, described by many as a “national embarrassment”, are not going to be repeated.

New Heathrow to Las Vegas flights from BA

2009-06-01T16:07:06Z

If you fancy taking your chances in some of the largest casinos on the planet and like the thought of a wild holiday in ‘Sin City’ then you are in luck. Getting to Las Vegas from the UK has just become even easier thanks to a new flight from British Airways.

BA has recently made the announcement that it is adding a direct flight from Heathrow to Las Vegas starting later in the year, meaning travellers will now be able to benefit from greater convenience when heading to the gambling capital of the world.

The new flights are planned to start from October 25th, and BA has announced that it is now open for bookings. This will add Las Vegas to the other 18 US cities that BA currently flies to direct from the UK, including Chicago and New York.

BA is pretty certain that it will have enough interest in the new route to make it worthwhile. A spokesman for the flight operator, John Lampl, said that “we think there is going to be plenty of business out there.” And with the recession in full swing, perhaps BA will be cashing in on people trying their luck at The Venetian, Caesar’s Palace and the other world-famous casinos that the city has to offer.

If you fancy taking the trip then a return flight, including all taxes and fees, will start at £467. You will also be able to travel in style to make the trip even more memorable because the Boeing 777 that will fly the route comes equipped with a Club World cabin which includes flat beds.

Richard Tams, a spokesman for BA, said that “we know how to fly high rollers in style”, calling the new flight the “ace in our pack”.

Snow grounds planes at Heathrow

2009-02-10T13:15:30Z

After the arguments surrounding the confirmation that a controversial third runway is to get the go ahead at Heathrow, Britain’s largest airport found itself facing very different difficulties last week when the heaviest snow for many years saw it come to a virtual standstill.

Heathrow seemed to fare far worse than many of the other airports, with The Telegraph reporting that nearly 800 flights were cancelled due to the bad weather, with countless more suffering terrible delays. For a time, the 11 cm of snow that fell at the airport caused both of its runways to be closed, causing absolute havoc.

The main flights to suffer were the short-haul flights, with the long-haul flights taking priority. Many of the flights were simply diverted to other airports across the country, which will have caused a lot of upset and hassle for many passengers.

The bad weather led to one potentially serious event when a Cyprus Air plane skidded off the runway and lodged its front wheel into the grass at the side.

According to the BBC, this was the last flight to land before the runways were closed, and when it comes to such serious incidents then the authorities really would not have had a choice.

But the question remains as to how such a relatively minor amount of snow, when compared to other countries at least, can lead to such chaos. However, the truth is that the rarity of such weather means that it simply does not make sense for Britain to invest in the snow-clearing facilities that other countries, which experience such conditions every year, make use of.

Go-ahead for third runway at Heathrow

2009-01-19T11:29:20Z

Transport Secretary, Geoff Hoon, gave the go-ahead last week for Heathrow’s third runway after deciding not to increase the number of flights on the existing runways. The development will cost an estimated £8 billion and will increase flights by 350 a day. Passenger numbers will rise from 66 million a year to 82 million and traffic congestion on the arterial roads around the airport will of course increase as well.

Hoon brushed aside worries about environmental damage, putting the country’s economy before such concerns. The Government has, however, made some concessions to the green lobby: the new runway will only operate at half capacity when it opens, planes using the new runway will have to meet strict green standards, and CO2 emissions will have to be limited to the levels of 2005 by the year 2050.

Protesters are meanwhile devastated by the Government’s decision and have vowed to take on the aviation industry. The village of Sipson which is likely to be demolished will become “the battlefield of our generation” according to the director of Greenpeace. Residents and environmental protesters are already being advised by climate change activists over what action to take and how to handle security guards and police. Some of these activists were involved last year in the action which closed Stansted airport.

Not surprisingly, most of the passengers surveyed at Heathrow on the day of the announcement were in favour of the third runway, with the promise of shorter queues and more flights to choose from, although many sympathised with the local residents as well.