Heathrow’s Terminal 1, with its long, wearying walks for passengers travelling to and from Ireland, will become a distant memory after Aer Lingus transfers its operations to a new terminal in July.
The new terminal, named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, will open for business next Wednesday with the arrival of a flight from Chicago at 5.55am.
However, the transfer of 28 airlines to use it will take place in stages over the next six months as the airport seeks to avoid the chaotic scenes that marred its Terminal 5 opening period in 2008.
“The new terminal will be just like Terminal 5, which is now the best terminal in the world - but it’s only for British Airways passengers,” a Heathrow spokeswoman said.
Aer Lingus will transfer its 44 flights per day to and from Belfast, Cork, Dublin and Shannon on Wednesday, July 9th, or “moving in day”, as it was described yesterday by an airline spokesman.
Passengers transferring from Aer Lingus flights to 20 Star Alliance airlines will be able to do so more easily because they, too, are moving into T2, along with Virgin Airlines’ Little Red and German Wings, the German budget airline.
Known in the trade as Terminal 1’s Pier 4A, the existing circular departure lounge at the very edge of the terminal was built in 1990 and given just a 10-year lifespan.
“The new surroundings will provide a much more enjoyable atmosphere,” said the Aer Lingus spokesman.
Besides enjoying “a much shorter and smoother journey” to the boarding gate, Aer Lingus’ Gold Circle frequent fliers will also have a new lounge with natural light, showers and “a quiet zone”.
Scarred by the Terminal 5 experience six years ago, the Heathrow Airports Authority has decided that Terminal 2 will operate at just 10 per cent capacity from next Wednesday “so we can iron out any teething troubles with minimal impact” on passengers.
T5 opened with 40,000 passengers transferring on the first day, but the new Terminal 2 will handle only 5,000 on its first day.
“We also ran four end-to-end trials, with 3,000 volunteers in each, which will put pressure on every element of the passenger journey from arrival in the car park to aircraft boarding,” it declares in a glossy brochure lauding the arrival of the £2.5 billion building.
