London Heathrow Airport

1. [HEATHROW
AIRPORT]
[FINAL ASSIGNMENT REPORT]
ABSTRACT
[Heathrow Airport, originally
called London Airport until
1966 and now known as
London Heathrow, is a major
international airport in
London, England. It is one of
six international airports
serving the London region.]
[Saifullah Mahmud 王方
2093191]
[Airport Engineering]

2. 1
History
Heathrow was founded as a small airfield in 1929, but was developed into a much larger airport
post-World War Two. The airport, which lies 14 miles (23 km) west of Central London on a site
that covers 12.27 square kilometers (4.74 sq mi), gradually expanded over the next seventy-five
years, and now has two parallel east–west runways along with four operational passenger
terminals, and one cargo terminal. The airport is the primary hub for British Airways and the
primary operating base for Virgin Atlantic; in 2019, it handled a record 80.8 million passengers,
a 0.9% increase from 2018, as well as 475,861 aircraft movements.
In September 2012, the Government of the United Kingdom established the Airports
Commission, an independent commission chaired by Sir Howard Davies to examine various
options for increasing capacity at UK airports. In July 2015, the commission backed a third
runway at Heathrow, which the government approved in October 2016. However, the England
and Wales Court of Appeal rejected this plan for a third runway at Heathrow, on the basis that
the government failed to consider climate change and the environmental impact of aviation. On
16 December 2020, the U.K. Supreme Court lifted the ban on the third runway expansion,
allowing the construction plan to go ahead.
Location
Heathrow is 14 mi (23 km) west of central London,[3] on a parcel of land that is designated part
of the Metropolitan Green Belt. It is located 3 mi (4.8 km) west of the town of Hounslow, 3
miles south of Hayes, and 3 miles north-east of Staines-upon-Thames.
The airport is surrounded by the villages of Sipson, Harlington, Harmondsworth, and Longford
to the north and the neighborhoods of Cranford and Hatton to the east. To the south lie Feltham,
Bedfont and Stanwell while to the west Heathrow is separated from Wraysbury, Horton and
Windsor in Berkshire by the M25 motorway. Heathrow falls entirely within the boundaries of the
London Borough of Hillingdon, and under the Twickenham postcode area, with the postcode
TW6. The airport is located within the Hayes and Harlington parliamentary constituency.
As the airport is located west of London and as its runways run east–west, an airliner's landing
approach is usually directly over the conurbation of London when the wind is from the west,
which is most of the time.

3. 2
Operations
Facilities
Heathrow Airport is used by over 80 airlines flying to 185 destinations in 84 countries. The
airport is the primary hub of British Airways and is a base for Virgin Atlantic. It has four
passenger terminals (numbered 2 to 5) and a cargo terminal. Of Heathrow's 78 million
passengers in 2017, 94% were international travelers; the remaining 6% were bound for (or
arriving from) places in the UK. The busiest single destination in passenger numbers is New
York, with over 3 million passengers flying between Heathrow and JFK Airport in 2013
In the 1950s, Heathrow had six runways, arranged in three pairs at different angles in the shape
of a hexagram with the permanent passenger terminal in the middle and the older terminal along
the north edge of the field; two of its runways would always be within 30° of the wind directions.
As the required length for runways has grown, Heathrow now has only two parallel runways
running east–west. These are extended versions of the two east–west runways from the original
hexagram. From the air, almost all of the original runways can still be seen, incorporated into the
present system of taxiways. North of the northern runway and the former taxiway and aprons,
now the site of extensive car parks, is the entrance to the access tunnel and the site of Heathrow's
unofficial "gate guardian". For many years the home of a 40% scale model of a British Airways
Concorde, G-CONC, the site has been occupied by a model of an Emirates Airbus A380 since
2008.
Heathrow Airport has Anglican, Catholic, Free Church, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh
chaplains. There is a multi-faith prayer room and counselling room in each terminal, in addition
to St. George's Interdenominational Chapel in an underground vault adjacent to the old control
tower, where Christian services take place. The chaplains organize and lead prayers at certain
times in the prayer room.
Flight movements
Aircraft destined for Heathrow are usually routed to one of four holding points.
Air traffic controllers at Heathrow Approach Control (based in Swanwick, Hampshire) then
guide the aircraft to their final approach, merging aircraft from the four holds into a single stream
of traffic, sometimes as close as 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) apart. Considerable use is
made of continuous descent approach techniques to minimize the environmental effects of
incoming aircraft, particularly at night. Once an aircraft is established on its final approach,
control is handed over to Heathrow Tower.
When runway alternation was introduced, aircraft generated significantly more noise on
departure than when landing, so a preference for westerly operations during daylight was
introduced, which continues to this day. In this mode, aircraft take off towards the west and land
from the east over London, thereby minimizing the impact of noise on the most densely

4. 3
populated areas. Heathrow's two runways generally operate in segregated mode, whereby
landings are allocated to one runway and takeoffs to the other. To further reduce noise nuisance
to people beneath the approach and departure routes, the use of runways 27R and 27L is
swapped at 15:00 each day if the wind is from the west. When landings are easterly there is no
alternation; 09L remains the landing runway and 09R the takeoff runway due to the legacy of the
now rescinded Cranford Agreement, pending taxiway works to allow the roles to be reversed.
Occasionally, landings are allowed on the nominated departure runway, to help reduce airborne
delays and to position landing aircraft closer to their terminal, reducing taxi times.
Night-time flights at Heathrow are subject to restrictions. Between 23:00 and 04:00, the noisiest
aircraft (rated QC/8 and QC/16) cannot be scheduled for operation. Also, during the night quota
period (23:30–06:00) there are four limits:
1. limit on the number of flights allowed;
2. Quota Count system which limits the total amount of noise permitted, but allows
operators to choose to operate fewer noisy aircraft or a greater number of quieter planes;
3. QC/4 aircraft cannot be scheduled for operation.
4. A voluntary agreement with the airlines that no early morning arrivals will be scheduled
to land before 04:30.
5. A trial of "noise relief zones" ran from December 2012 to March 2013, which
concentrated approach flight paths into defined areas compared with the existing paths
which were spread out. The zones used alternated weekly, meaning residents in the
"no-fly" areas received respite from aircraft noise for set periods.
Arrival stacks
Inbound aircraft to London Heathrow Airport typically follow one of four Standard Arrival
Routes (STARs). The STARs each terminate at a different radio beacon or RNAV waypoint, and
these also define four "stacks" where aircraft can be held, if necessary, until they are cleared to
begin their approach to land. Stacks are sections of airspace where inbound aircraft will normally
use the pattern closest to their arrival route. They can be visualized as invisible helter skelters in
the sky. Each stack descends in 1000 ft (300 m) intervals from 16,000 ft (4,000m) down to 8000
ft (2,100m). Aircraft hold between 7,000 feet and 15,000 feet at 1,000-foot intervals. If these
holds become full, aircraft are held at more distant points before being cleared onward to one of
the four main holds.

5. 4
Security
Policing of the airport is the responsibility of the aviation security unit of the Metropolitan Police,
although the army, including armored vehicles of the Household Cavalry, has occasionally been
deployed at the airport during periods of heightened security. Full body scanners are now used at
the airport, and passengers who object to their use after being selected are required to submit to a
hand search in a private room. The scanners display passengers' bodies as a cartoon-style figure,
with indicators showing where concealed items may be.
Terminals
Heathrow Airport saw a vast reduction in services, and announced that as of 6 April 2020, the
airport would be transitioning to single runway operations and that it would be temporarily
closing Terminals 3 and 4, moving all remaining flights into Terminals 2 or 5. Dual runway
operations were restored in August 2020. Heathrow returned to single runway operations on 9
November 2020. On 11 December 2020, Heathrow announced Terminal 4 would be shut until
the end of 2021.
[Key Features]
The latest and the most important terminal at Heathrow Airport is Terminal 5 which opened in
March 2008. It is the terminal where most British Airways flights land and take off. It can
handle 30 million passengers and it has 60 aircraft stands. It is distinguished by the fact that it
has the largest unsupported roof structure in the UK. It has glass walls and roof that afford
stunning views of the surrounding countryside, the runways, Windsor Castle and even Wembley
Stadium. The terminal is home to more than 100 shops and restaurants including Harrods, Dior,
Gucci, Prada and World Duty Free. It also has Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant Plane Food and an
EXPO area where exhibitions keep taking place.
[Reasons Making Heathrow Airport Special]
It is truly a leading airport in the world as regards passenger numbers and flight movements and
is the most important link in the air transportation network in UK. It handles more passengers
annually than the total of what the two next airports handle together. It is expected that the
airport will continue to grow despite its star shaped design by making innovative use of the space
available at the site.