Heathrown terminaali 1 sulkeutui 47 vuoden jälkeen

[Sami Puro 612]

Lontoon Heathrown terminaali 1 oli eilen käytössä viimeistä päivää. Toukokuussa 1968 eli 47 vuotta sitten avattu terminaali poistuu käytöstä kun lennot ovat siirtyneet uuteen terminaali 2:een joka valmistui viime vuonna (ja jo aiemmin käyttöönottoongelmista kärsineeseen T5:een). Ykkösterminaalin aluetta tullaan käyttämään uuden kakkostermaalin laajennukseen tulevaisuudessa.

 

http://atwonline.com/airports-routes/london-heathrow-turns-out-lights-terminal-1

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-33309025

 

The final departure from the terminal was a British Airways (BA) flight to Hanover. BA, in the guise of regional carrier British European Airways (BEA), was also the first airline to operate from the terminal in 1968. Its opening led to the renaming of all three terminals in Heathrow’s Central Terminal Area: the Europa Terminal became Terminal 2 and the Oceanic Terminal became Terminal 3.

 

Heathrow said the terminal closure would “make way for improved service and way finding around the airport,” and the site will eventually be used to build an extension of the new Terminal 2 with enough capacity to eventually replace Terminal 3. The airport said that, if the government supports development of a third runway at Heathrow then Terminal 2 would be extended to provide “enough capacity to connect Britain to the world for the 21st century.”

 

In its heyday, Terminal 1 was the biggest short-haul terminal of its kind in Western Europe and handled approximately nine million passengers at peak capacity. BA also operated its Concorde charter flights—champagne specials that flew around the Bay of Biscay and back again—from the terminal. In the last few weeks, the terminal has been home to just 17 BA flights and around 1,700 passengers a day as airlines were phased out of the terminal. The last remaining BA operations have been transferred to terminals 3 and 5.

 

 

(Finnair käyttää terminaali 3:a)