Heathrow Airport
is located in West London, England. What began as a small airfield has transformed into the busiest airport in the United kingdom. Here is a look at some of its most fascinating facts and figures.
- Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world. It has only two runways, but it serves over 70 million passengers each year.
- Heathrow receives flights to London, England
from 82 different airlines and serves 180 international destinations.
- The top five destinations out of Heathrow include New York (JFK), Dubai, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.
- There are five common terminals at this airport. However, a sixth terminal exists to serve royalty, heads of state, and other important visitors. This special terminal is called the “Royal Suite,” which does not allow any type of photography.
- The first terminal opened in 1968, and the latest terminal remodel occurred in 2014.
- In 2013, Terminal 5, one of the busiest at Heathrow, welcomed approximately 30 million passengers on nearly 200,000 flights.
- Heathrow was not the original name for this airport. Before 1966, this location was known as the London Airport.
- The first flight out of Heathrow Airport was to Buenos Aires.
- When Heathrow celebrated its 60th anniversary, it handled approximately 14 billion passengers on more than 14 million flights.
- Each day, approximately 201,000 passengers arrive and depart from Heathrow Airport.
- Each day, Heathrow Airport sells over 26,000 cups of tea and 35,100 cups of coffee.
- This airport employs over 76,000 people. This is the population of Guildford, Surrey.
- Each day, 1,400 flights take off and land at Heathrow. To put this into perspective, this is one every 45 seconds.
- If an airplane makes a loud noise, Heathrow is fined and must provide money to a local community project.
- Heathrow Airport processes 53 million pieces of luggage each year.
- Over 6,500 cameras monitor the airport, and more than 200,000 bags are placed through security.
- All flights stop for five hours each day. The time is used to service equipment, resolve emergency issues, and to clean the airport.
- At Heathrow Airport, three out of every 10 passengers are business travelers.
- With safety as a top priority, Heathrow employs 65 air traffic controllers who must pass three years of training at the College of Air Traffic Control.
