Heathrow Airport'sTerminal 2 to get a soft opening following disastrous T5 launch
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Heathrow's £2.5 billion new Terminal 2 (T2) will get a soft launch next week because the airport's bosses are determined to avoid the disastrous start their previous big terminal launch experienced.
The airport's Terminal 5 went into meltdown when it opened in 2008, with huge queues, flight delays and thousands of bags going missing.
This time Heathrow chiefs have decided to have a phased opening of their latest high-profile project, whose official name is Terminal 2 The Queen's Terminal.
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Taking off slowly: The new terminal will operate to just 10 per cent of its capacity
Taking no chances: Volunteer passengers wait at a check in desk in the departures hall during a test day
Spacious: British artist Richard Wilson's sculpture Slipstream dominates this view of the new Terminal 2
The terminal's soft launch will begin next Wednesday. For first three weeks of T2's life, it will operate to just 10 per cent of its capacity so that, in the words of Heathrow management, 'we can iron out any teething troubles with minimal impact on passengers'.
The first flight on Wednesday's opening day is a United Airlines service from Chicago due to touch down at 5.55am.
United is one of 26 airlines that will be moving into the new terminal and the American carrier will have the 430,000 sq ft place to itself for the first few weeks.
Mindful that far too much was attempted far too soon with the T5 opening debacle, Heathrow chiefs are moving the carriers in gradually, with just a handful, including Air Canada and Air China, transferring over during the summer.
By October nearly all the T2 airlines will have moved in, with Sir Richard Branson's airline, Virgin Atlantic, eventually being based at the new terminal.
Gateway to the world: The departure area of the new 'Queen's Terminal', which is expected to manage up to 20 million passengers every year
Breath of fresh air: Visitors walk past a doorway at the new building, which replaces the old, overcrowded Terminal 2 which had stood since the Fifties
Under the managership of the west London airport's development director John Holland-Kaye, the creation of T2 has been accompanied by numerous test runs involving thousands of volunteers.
Extensive trials of the systems have been carried out, with everything tested - from individual aspects of terminal operations, such as the check-in process, to large-scale trials that test the complete passenger journey
The larger trials have involved more than 3,000 people at a time and in total 14,000 people will help T2.
T2 replaces the old Terminal 2 at Heathrow which closed in 2009 after 54 years of service.
It boasts 60 check-in gates and 66 self-check-in kiosks, 29 security lanes, 33 shops, 17 restaurants, more than 7,000 seats, 634 toilets and 42 water fountains.
By the end of the year it will be handling passengers at the rate of 15.8 million a year and it has been built to take up to 20 million a year.
New look: Inside Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2 which is due to open to passengers next week
The new terminal will give the capital a spacious new air transit point.
Shafts of natural light and high quality acoustics should make the building a calm space for travellers accustomed to high anxiety at dark, noisy airports, said lead architect Luis Vidal.
'If you make it intuitive, pleasant, joyful, you can take away a completely different memory of the terminal,' Mr Vidal told The Associated Press.
'You can never completely erase your memory of the former Terminal 2, because it was a dreadful experience. This will be completely the opposite. This will be a destination. People will want to come here.'
The new Terminal 2 will be rebranded as 'The Queen's Terminal', and Queen Elizabeth will open the building herself - just as she did the original Terminal 2 in 1955.
The completion of the £2.5billion project is part of an £11billion refurbishment designed to keep London's biggest airport competitive with other major European hubs including Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris.
Causing a debate: The BBC's Question Time was broadcast from new terminal last week
Striking: The Slipstream sculpture is the centrepiece of the development, hanging 18m above the ground with a design intended to evoke the path of a plane in flight
Home to 25,000 staff, T2 is part of an overall project that includes not only the terminal building but also a 1,712ft satellite pier, a 1,340-space car park, an energy centre and a cooling station.
It will host 26 airlines, including United, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines and others that are part of the global Star Alliance, and offer flights to 51 destinations.
Check-in will be large enough to accommodate 3,000 passengers an hour and an average of 55,000 passengers will arrive and depart a day. There will be more than 50 shops, as well as 17 bars and restaurants.
Officials say the terminal will be the first in the world to offer a 'complimentary personal shopping lounge where trained stylists will present a curated range of products for each client.'
The interior of the new terminal is dominated by a huge aluminium sculpture hanging 18m above the ground that is inspired by the flight path of a stunt place.
British artist Richard Wilson's 'Slipstream' weighs 77 tonnes and is 78m in length, its vast bulk looming above the terminal's main lobby and escalators, evoking the journeys that those who see it are set to embark on.
One of the features of the new terminal will be the ability of passengers to check in at any desk regardless of which airline they are travelling with.
Passengers will be able to take their meal on board from all the T2 restaurants and travellers are also being promised that there will be a selection of dishes guaranteed to be ready in 15 minutes.
Royal approval: The official name for the new site is Terminal 2 The Queen's Terminal
Future of travel: An average of 55,000 passengers will arrive and depart at the new terminal per day
Passengers have been warned to expect teething troubles at T2 this summer and the airport's bosses said the challenge of opening a new terminal should not be underestimated.
During the T5 fiasco in 2008, thousands of bags were sent astray while passengers faced long queues after problems delayed staff from getting to work.
'The chance of a completely smooth opening for any airport terminal in the world is low,' Heathrow's development director John Holland-Kaye said.
'We can never assume we can have a perfect opening. We can't guarantee that opening day will be perfect. There is a very high risk of things happening (on the first day) when you carry out a live operation for the first time.'
He added that even with immense pre-planning, there was the chance of a passenger 'turning left instead of turning right' on the terminal's opening day on June 4.
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