Surely London’s skies are overcrowded enough, Heathrow is after all the busiest International airport in the world. Should Terminal 5 be built?
London’s roads are busy enough, clogging up the skies is even worse. What do you think, should it be built?
I say “nope!”
By: keltic - 12th January 2001 at 14:10
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
Sure, I agree. I think this happens because operating a regional jet is not as profitable as it should be or is in the states where operating costs are lower than in here. I think regional jets have been designed for the american market. Costs should be reduced at all costs, if we want the regional flights to succeed (at least not only for high yield passangers who pay high fares).
By: Bhoy - 10th January 2001 at 19:16
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
To be honest, as I see it, at the moment, airlines are trying to use smaller aircraft on point to point routes (by-passing hubs), with more frequent departures. This can’t go on for long, as Airports are over capacity as it is. (I think this is what BA is doing wrong at the moment, that and concentrating on the high yield [business] market)
So, sooner or later, these flights will become unviable, as the amount of passengers is ever increasing. So smaller planes don’t make sense. Runway slots will become so coveted, that a few flights a day on a specific route with large aircraft will make more sense than lots of flights on the same route with small aircraft.
So, Hubs will regain the importance that they had a few years ago, before the trend of having regional services started. Obviously, highly profitable regional services will remain, but this puts pressure back on the big airports to develop.
Which leads me to believe that NOW is the ideal time to develop Terminal 5, while LHR is in a lull.
By: keltic - 10th January 2001 at 18:31
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
We have to consider one thing. Now having big hubs is trendy among airlines. It´s quite profitable concentrating everything in megahubs. LHR like many others have absorved many flights which previously operated from other regional airports like
Birmingham, Manchester and so on. It seems that in the future the local communities will be asking for more direct flights from their places and independant airlines will continuing offer them. Regional planes are booming and there are having new flights (even transatlantic) everywhere….if this happens,
Could we see in the future a decrease in traffic and flights in LHR?. I think diversification in terms of flights should be promoted. It would be good for everyone, for pax using LHR and for other forced to use it. If terminal 5 is built, this desirable change would never happen and the skies, which is the real problemn will be much more congested. Sending flights to other airports would be good but in short term only.
By: V1 - 9th January 2001 at 18:38
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
Like it or not, if you travel by air often into and out of the UK, there will be a chance you’ll fly from Heathrow. It has the greatest choice of routes out of any UK airport and is a world gateway. Hence why it is so crowded.
The existing terminals will (and often already) suffer from overcrowding at peak times and anyone with any sense will tell you that sort of environment is stressful for anybody waiting for a departure. Unless you fly business class of course….
Terminal 5 will have to be built. There is space for this new terminal and it will be geared to suit the next generation of aircraft such as the A380.
As for runway slots, well, I don’t have a direct solution for that one. Perhaps some carriers should look at stansted…
By: Bhoy - 9th January 2001 at 10:45
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
ok, firstly, I live in Edinburgh, so nowhere near Heathrow.
As for when it will projectedly be built, the UK government set up a commision which finished invetigating last spring. However, the commision’s findings won’t be made public till this spring. So, even if it gets the go-ahead, it could be years before anything concrete happens.
By: Arabella-Cox - 8th January 2001 at 18:22
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
Does anybody know when it is due to be built? Because me think it will be good if the terminal is built for the release of the A380 because if it were built it would definately have room for it…which i think would be very important in bringing airlines in to use it!
ciao
By: Arabella-Cox - 8th January 2001 at 10:46
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
Can I ask, does anyone of you people live near Heathrow?
MK
By: Bhoy - 8th January 2001 at 00:42
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
it’s all very well to go on about high speed trains, but unless you live in the UK, it’s difficult to imagine the state that the rail industry is in in Britain.
As far as I’m concerned, the sooner Terminal 5 gets built, the better.
By: keltic - 7th January 2001 at 21:23
RE: LHR – Terminal 5?
Not at all. Skies are overcrowed, polutes and air traffic is being a nighmare in many superhubs like LHR. There are lots of small airports around London which should developed. If we develop the high speed trains much more for domestic and European dstinations Heathrow will be big enough. The absence of slots will make A380 solve many problems as well in many high density and long haul markets. The enviroment problemns are being quite important.
Sign In
January 7, 2001 at 12:31 pm