Heathrow Airport, called London Airport until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow, is the main international airport serving London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system. The airport is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings. In 2022, it was the second-busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic and the second busiest airport in Europe.
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 was originally planned by its co-founders Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary to fly between London and the Falkland Islands. Soon after changing the name to Virgin Atlantic Airways, Fields sold his shares in the company after disagreements with Richard Branson over the management of the company. The maiden flight from Gatwick Airport to Newark International Airport took place on 22 June 1984.
London Gatwick, also known as Gatwick Airport, is a secondary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Crawley, West Sussex, England, 29.5 miles (47.5 km) south of Central London. In 2022, Gatwick was the second-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Heathrow Airport, and was the 8th-busiest in Europe by total passenger traffic. It covers a total area of 674 hectares.
Heathrow Airport Holdings is the United Kingdom-based operator of Heathrow Airport. The company also operated Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, Edinburgh Airport and several other UK airports, but was forced by the Competition Commission to sell them in order to break up a monopoly. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's moves to privatise government-owned assets, and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution. The IET was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871, and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) dating back to 1884. Its worldwide membership is currently in excess of 158,000 in 153 countries. The IET's main offices are in Savoy Place in London, England, and at Michael Faraday House in Stevenage, England.
Sir John Alexander Armitt is an English civil engineer, and current chairman of the UK's National Infrastructure Commission.
Plane Stupid is a UK-focused group of environmental protesters who state their aim as wanting to see an end to airport expansion for what it sees as "unnecessary and unsustainable" flights. It is a loose association of autonomous regional groups, and is funded by donations.
Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Terminal 5 is currently used exclusively by British Airways and was exclusively used as one of the three global hubs of IAG, served by British Airways and Iberia until 12 July 2022 when Iberia moved all flights to Terminal 3. Prior to 2012, the terminal was used solely by British Airways.
Heathrow Terminal 4 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London, England, situated to the south of the southern runway, next to the cargo terminal. It is connected to Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 by the vehicular Heathrow Cargo Tunnel, and by rail with the Heathrow Terminal 4 tube and Heathrow Terminal 4 railway stations. The terminal was temporarily closed in 2020. Built at a cost of £200 million, Terminal 4 was opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales on 1 April 1986. British Airways was the main airline operating from the terminal from 1986 until its move to Terminal 5 on 29 October 2009, eventually making Terminal 4 the Heathrow base for airlines of the SkyTeam airline alliance.
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.
Heathrow Hub railway station was a proposed interchange that would serve – mainly – a now disbanded potential alignment of High Speed 2 (HS2) services that would adjoin the expanded part of Heathrow Airport, England. It was a cornerstone part of an expansion plan put forward in 2008, by engineering firm Arup, to set up the UK's first high-speed rail network north-west of London.
The expansion of Heathrow Airport is a series of proposals to add to the runways at London's busiest airport beyond its two long runways which are intensively used to serve four terminals and a large cargo operation. The plans are those presented by Heathrow Airport Holdings and an independent proposal by Heathrow Hub with the main object of increasing capacity.
Compass Centre is an office building on the grounds of Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The building serves as Heathrow Airport Holdings's head office. Compass Centre previously served as a British Airways flight crew centre.
Dame Judith Elizabeth Hackitt,, FIChemE, FCGI is a British engineer and civil servant. A former Chair of the UK Health and Safety Executive, she is currently Chair of manufacturing trade body EEF.
Sir Alan Walter Rudge CBE, FREng, FRS is a British electrical engineer. He was Chairman of the ERA Foundation from its formation until December 2012, after which he was appointed as the Foundation's President. In 2012 he also stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Management of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, a position he had held for eleven years; he had succeeded Sir Denis Rooke and was himself succeeded by Bernard Taylor.
Colin P. Smith CBE FRS FREng FRAeS FIMechE was director of engineering and technology at Rolls-Royce plc.
Sir Terence Keith Morgan is a British engineer.
Gatwick Airport was in Surrey until 1974, when it became part of West Sussex as a result of a county boundary change. The original, pre-World War II airport was built on the site of a manor in the parish of Charlwood. The land was first used as an aerodrome in the 1920s, and in 1933 commercial flights there were approved by the Air Ministry.
Andrew William Wolstenholme is an English civil engineer, and group technical director of Laing O'Rourke.
Dervilla Mitchell Honorary CBE, FREng, FIEI is an Irish engineer and a director and joint deputy chair of Arup Group. She led the management of the design for London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, and as of 2019 was project director for Arup for a 2-billion dollar airport terminal development in Abu Dhabi. She is a Fellow of two national engineering academies, and the holder of an honorary CBE.
