Heathrow Terminal 1

Heathrow Terminal 1 is a disused airport terminal at London Heathrow Airport 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 in western Europe. At the time of its closure on 29 June 2015 to make way for the expansion of Heathrow Terminal 2 it had been handling only twenty daily flights by British Airways to nine destinations. From May 2017 the contents of the terminal were put up for auction.[1][2][3]

Heathrow Terminal 1
Heathrow Terminal 1 in 2007
Heathrow Terminal 1 is located in Greater London
Heathrow Terminal 1
Location within Greater London
General information
StatusPartly demolished
TypeAirport terminal
Coordinates51.473°N 0.451°W / 51.473; -0.451
InauguratedMay 1969
Renovated2005 (opening of Eastern Extension)
ClientHeathrow Airport Holdings
Website
Heathrow Airport

History
British European Airways aircraft at Terminal 1 in 1971
British Airways aircraft at Terminal 1 in the early 1980s

Terminal 1 was designed by Frederick Gibberd, 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.[4] At the time, Terminal 1 was the biggest short-haul terminal of its kind in Western Europe.[5]

A new pier (the so-called Europier) was added in the 1990s which increased the capacity of the terminal, catering for wide-body aircraft. 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 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 the expansion of Terminal 2[1] and all flights it was serving were relocated to other terminals.[6][7] Several airlines had already left Terminal 1 from 2014. The last tenants alongside British Airways were Icelandair, El Al and TAM Airlines;[8] 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 were relocated to Terminal 3.[6]

The final flight to depart from Terminal 1 was British Airways BA0970 to Hannover, Germany, at 21:30 on 29 June 2015.

The main terminal building is now empty and 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, Cocoon, Dixons Travel, Glorious Britain, WHSmith and World Duty Free. There was an airside link to Terminal 2 allowing passengers to use the facilities in that terminal. All Star Alliance 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 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. From 2017 the remaining contents of the terminal were sold at auction and by private treaty.[2][9]

Ground transport

As part of the three central terminals at Heathrow, it was 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 directly opposite the terminal and a long-stay car park further away, accessed by a shuttle bus service.

Terminal 1 was accessed by the London Underground from Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3 tube station, with trains towards Cockfosters via Central London. The terminal was also accessed by Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express from Heathrow Central railway station, where services operate to other Heathrow terminals and to London Paddington.

Terminal 1 was accessible to both bus and coach services from Heathrow Central bus station.

References
  1. "Heathrow Terminal 2 'will make Britain more competitive'". The Telegraph. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  2. Skoulding, Lucy (5 June 2022). "Heathrow Airport's abandoned Terminal 1 that's been left empty for 7 years". MyLondon.
  3. Global Partners; Indassol (24 May 2017). Heathrow Airport: Complete Contents of Terminal 1 (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  4. Heathrow. "Heathrow bids farewell to Terminal 1". mediacentre.heathrow.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  5. Above Us The Skies: The Story of BAA – 1991 (Michael Donne – BAA plc), p. 40
  6. "New flight routes and destinations from British Airways". britishairways.com.
  7. "Which terminal? – Check your terminal at Heathrow". heathrowairport.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  8. "Airport maps". heathrowairport.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  9. "Heathrow Terminal 1 "Iconic Memorabilia" LIVE AUCTION catalogue" (PDF). Aviation Suite - Thistle London Heathrow Hotel: CA Global Partners. 21 April 2018. Catalogue for one of several auctions.

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