Heathrow Terminal 1 is a disused airport terminal at
London Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
that was in operation between 1968 and 2015. When it was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II in April 1969 it was the largest new
airport terminal
An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an aircraft.
Within the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, transfer t ...
in western Europe. Prior to its closure on 29 June 2015 it had only been handling twenty daily flights by
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport.
The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...
to nine destinations. In May 2017 the contents of the terminal were put up for auction. The footprint of Terminal 1 was planned to be used for construction of the second phase of
Heathrow Terminal 2
Heathrow Terminal 2, also known as The Queen's Terminal, is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London, United Kingdom. The new development was originally named Heathrow East Terminal, and occupies the sites where t ...
.
History
Terminal 1 was designed by
Frederick Gibberd
Sir Frederick Ernest Gibberd (7 January 1908 – 9 January 1984) was an English architect, town planner and landscape designer. He is particularly known for his work in Harlow, Essex, and for the BISF house, a design for a prefabricated council ...
, who also designed the earlier Europa Building (renamed
Terminal 2) and the adjacent
Queens Building. It opened to passengers in 1968, and it was formally opened by
Queen Elizabeth II in April 1969. At the time, Terminal 1 was the biggest short-haul terminal of its kind in Western Europe.
A new pier (the so-called ''Europier'') was added in the 1990s which increased the capacity of the terminal, catering for
wide-body aircraft
A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabi ...
. There was separation between arriving and departing passengers within the International section, although the terminal was not originally built to cater for this separation. In 2005, a substantial redesign and redevelopment of Terminal 1 was completed, which saw the opening of the new Eastern Extension, doubling the departure lounge in size and creating additional seating and retail space.
Since the buyout of
British Midland International (BMI), British Airways served some short- and medium-haul destinations from this terminal.
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and ...
operated its short lived
Little Red UK domestic operation from the former BMI departure area in Gate 8 of Terminal 1.
Terminal 1 closed on 29 June 2015 to allow the second stage of Terminal 2's expansion.
Ahead of its closure, all remaining flights were moved to other terminals.
Several airlines had already left Terminal 1 ahead of this date during 2014 and 2015. The last tenants alongside British Airways were
Icelandair,
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, he, אל על נתיבי אויר לישראל בע״מ), trading as El Al (Hebrew: , "Upwards", "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ar, إل-عال), is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugura ...
and
TAM Airlines
TAM may refer to:
Biology
* Thioacetamide, an organosulfur compound
* Tumor-associated macrophage, a class of immune cells
* Transparent Anatomical Manikin, an educational model
Technology
* Tanque Argentino Mediano, the main battle tank of Arge ...
; TAM Airlines moved to
Terminal 3 on 27 May 2015.
During Terminal 1's final days, British Airways was the last airline to operate there, with flights to Amman-Queen Alia, Baku, Beirut, Cairo and Hannover, which all moved to
Terminal 5, and to Bilbao, Luxembourg, Lyon and Marseille, which have been relocated to Terminal 3.
The final flight to depart Terminal 1 was British Airways BA0970 to
Hannover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, Germany, which departed at 21:30 on 29 June 2015.
As of 2019, the main terminal building still stands, empty but untouched, although some of the ancillary structures and contact piers have been demolished.
Facilities
Due to its impending closure, there were just seven shops left airside in the terminal by June 2015:
Boots
A boot is a type of footwear.
Boot or Boots may also refer to:
Businesses
* Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England
* Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom
* The Boot, Cromer St ...
, Cocoon,
Dixons Travel
Dixons was a British high-street retailer of consumer electronics, originally founded in 1937 as a photographic studio by Charles Kalms. The company would later deal in many consumer electronics, with nationwide outlets in the United Kingdom a ...
, Glorious Britain,
WHSmith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...
and
World Duty Free
World Duty Free SpA, the holding company of World Duty Free Group, is an Italy-based multinational travel retailer that employs almost 8,500 people.
History
Beginnings
World Duty Free Group was created after the Autogrill Group, the old paren ...
. There was an airside link to Terminal 2 allowing passengers to use the facilities in that terminal. All
Star Alliance
Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May 1997, its CEO is Jeffrey Goh and its headquarters is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. , Star Alliance is the largest of the three global alliances by passenge ...
members formerly in Terminal 1 moved to Terminal 2 due to its closure. The Star Alliance lounge, the El Al King David Lounge and the
Servisair
Servisair was an aircraft ground handling company which was acquired and merged into Swissport and partly the Nordic-based Aviator Airport Alliance in 2014.
It had operations in 175 airports worldwide with its head office in the Servisair House ...
lounge were closed prior to the closure of the terminal. The British Airways International lounge near Gate 5 was operational until the end. The gates at Terminal 1 were numbered 2–8, 16–21 and 74–78. In early 2017 it was announced that the global auction firm CA Global Partners would host a series of auctions and private treaty sales involving all of the remaining contents of the terminal.
Ground transport
Road links
As part of the three central terminals at Heathrow, it was well linked to the
M4 motorway via the M4 spur road and through a tunnel under the north runway. There was a short stay
car park
A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...
directly opposite the terminal and there was also a long stay
car park
A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...
on the Northern Perimeter Road by the northern entrance to the tunnel accessed by a shuttle bus service.
Rail links
Terminal 1 was accessed by the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
from
Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3 tube station
Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 is a London Underground station at Heathrow Airport on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line, which serves Heathrow Terminal 2 and Terminal 3. It was named Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3 until January 2016, when Hea ...
, with trains towards
Cockfosters
Cockfosters is a suburb of north London to the east of Chipping Barnet, lying partly in the London Borough of Enfield and partly in the London Borough of Barnet. Before 1965, it was in the counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire.
Origins ...
via
Central London. The terminal was also accessed by
Heathrow Connect
Heathrow Connect was a train service in London provided jointly by Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway (GWR), between Paddington station and Heathrow Airport. The service followed the same route as the non-stop Heathrow Express servic ...
and
Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...
from
Heathrow Central railway station
Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 railway station (also known as Heathrow Central) serves Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 (and formerly Terminal 1 before its closure and replacement by Terminal 2 in 2015) at London Heathrow Airport.
It is served by Heat ...
, where services operate to other Heathrow terminals and to
London Paddington
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great ...
.
Bus links
Terminal 1 was accessible to both bus and coach services from
Heathrow Central bus station
Heathrow Central bus station is a large bus station that serves terminals 2 and 3 of Heathrow Airport, in London, England. It provides urban bus and long-distance coach services to destinations in London and to regional destinations across Br ...
. There were also several coach services operated by
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
.
References
External links
Heathrow Airport website
{{DEFAULTSORT:London Heathrow Terminal 1
1 London Heathrow Terminal 1
Heathrow Airport Holdings
Airport terminals
Terminal 1
Terminal 1
Transport infrastructure completed in 1969
1969 establishments in England