London Heathrow Airport will be housing STAR Alliance and Aer Lingus flights at its new Terminal 2, when it opens in 2014.
The airport has announced that the new terminal will also be housing domestic flights for Virgin Atlantic. The new terminal is expected to bring London Heathrow Airport in line with the best passenger facilities in Europe, after being refurbished at an expense of £11 billion.
Around 20 million passengers are likely to use the new terminal building, which will also include a main terminal building, a satellite building and aircraft parking stands.
John Holland-Kaye, the airport development director, said, ‘Terminal 2 will offer a significant improvement for passengers travelling through Heathrow. Providing all airlines and their passengers with great facilities is a key part of our vision for Heathrow. Terminal 5 was recently voted by passengers as the best airport terminal in the world and the opening of Terminal 2 will mark another major step forward.’
The STAR Alliance network is one of major global airline alliances, and its airlines currently work from Terminals 1, 3 and 4 of London Heathrow Airport. The alliance airline members operating from the airport include Aegean Air, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Swiss International Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways International, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, and US Airways.
Mark Schwab, the chief executive of Star Alliance, said, ‘We are delighted by today’s decision, which gives the green light for creating a new travel experience for our customers and allows our members airlines to operate an efficient hub in London. After many years of intensive planning for a world leading alliance terminal together with Colin Matthew’s team at Heathrow, we can now shift into implementation mode.’
