West London Air Terminal

Last updated

West London Air Terminal
West London Air Terminal, 1976.jpg
The West London Air Terminal in February 1976
West London Air Terminal
General information
StatusClosed (since 1 January 1974)
Type Airport terminal
Location Kensington, London, UK
Opened6 October 1957

The West London Air Terminal was a check-in facility for British European Airways flights from Heathrow Airport. It was located on Cromwell Road in Kensington, London, and was in operation from 6 October 1957 to 1 January 1974. After passengers checked in their baggage and received their boarding passes, they would travel to Heathrow Airport by coach. One of the drawbacks of using the terminal for checking in was that road traffic could delay the coaches and ultimately delay the departure of the flight. [1]

Contents

History

Heathrow Airport started to gradually replace Croydon Airport as London's main airport from 1946 onwards. Croydon Airport used a location near London Victoria station as its airport terminal but this location was unsuitable for Heathrow Airport, so a committee consisting of the airlines, British Railways and London Transport decided to build a new terminal in West London. In the view of the committee's report of 1954, the best site for the terminal was the Cromwell Curve, a disused section of railway line owned by London Transport, that provided easy access to Heathrow Airport by road. The terminal was designed to replace the Waterloo Air Terminal. [2] [3] British European Airways (BEA) wanted the terminal ready by September 1957, so a temporary building was erected by Costain Group. [4] The terminal was built in four-and-a-half months, [2] and opened on 6 October 1957. [5] [6]

In the 1960s, a permanent building was built by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. [4] The architect of this building was Sir John Burnet, Tait and Partners. [4] [7] [8] The new £5 million air terminal was opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on 6 November 1963. [9] [10] The six floors above the terminal's concourse were occupied by BEA's passenger-handling staff, reservations unit and accountants. [8]

On 26 February 1962, BEA introduced their electronic reservations unit at the terminal. On 17 April 1965, BEA's automatic seat reservation system came into operation. In November 1969, BEA's computerised check-in system came into use. [11]

Routemasters with orange and white livery towing luggage trailers outside Heathrow Terminal 2, August 1972 BEA Routemasters, Heathrow Airport, 13 August 1972 (2).jpg
Routemasters with orange and white livery towing luggage trailers outside Heathrow Terminal 2, August 1972

On 11 May 1972, BEA announced the closure of the check-in facilities at the terminal. [12] [13] The check-in facilities closed on 1 January 1974. [14] However, bus services running between the terminal and Heathrow Airport operated until March 1979. [15]

In 1983, a Sainsbury's superstore opened in the western half of the building. [4] [16] The building was bought by Regalian and three Singapore-based partners in August 1997, [17] and converted to Point West apartments above the Sainsbury's store. [18] [19]

Incidents

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathrow Airport</span> Main airport serving London, England

Heathrow Airport, called London Airport until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow, is the main international airport serving London, the capital of the United Kingdom. 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 busiest airport in Europe as per March 2023. It is also the airport with the world's most international connections as of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Borough of Hillingdon</span> London borough in United Kingdom

The London Borough of Hillingdon is the largest and westernmost borough in West London, England. It was formed in 1965 from the districts of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Today, Hillingdon is home to Heathrow Airport and Brunel University, and is the second largest of the 32 London boroughs by area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gatwick Airport</span> Secondary airport serving London, England, United Kingdom

London Gatwick, also known as Gatwick Airport, is the 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berlin Tegel Airport</span> Former airport of Berlin, Germany (1948—2020)

Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport was the former primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal and was the fourth busiest airport in Germany, with over 24 million passengers in 2019. In 2016, Tegel handled over 60% of all airline passenger traffic in Berlin. The airport served as a base for Eurowings, Ryanair as well as easyJet. It featured flights to several European metropolitan and leisure destinations as well as some intercontinental routes. It was situated in Tegel, a section of the northern borough of Reinickendorf, eight kilometres northwest of the city centre of Berlin. Tegel Airport was notable for its hexagonal main terminal building around an open square, which made walking distances as short as 30 m (100 ft) from the aircraft to the terminal exit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berlin Tempelhof Airport</span> 1923–2008 airport of Berlin, Germany

Berlin Tempelhof Airport was one of the first airports in Berlin, Germany. Situated in the south-central Berlin borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, the airport ceased operating in 2008 amid controversy, leaving Tegel and Schönefeld as the two main airports serving the city for another twelve years until both were replaced by Berlin Brandenburg Airport in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glasgow Airport</span> International airport in Scotland, the United Kingdom

Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport, formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport in Scotland. It is located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, 8.6 nautical miles west of Glasgow city centre. In 2019, the airport handled 8.84 million passengers, an 8.4% annual decrease, making it the second-busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the ninth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British European Airways</span> Defunct airline of the United Kingdom (1946—1974)

British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatton Cross tube station</span> London Underground station

Hatton Cross is a combined London Underground station and bus station. It is located on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line. It is in Travelcard Zones 5 and 6 and stands between the Great South West Road (A30) and the Heathrow Airport Southern Perimeter Road. The station serves a large area including Feltham to the south and Bedfont to the west. The station was named after the crossroads of the Great South West Road and Hatton Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GB Airways</span> Defunct British airline

GB Airways is a former British airline; prior to its sale, it was headquartered in 'The Beehive', a former terminal building, at City Place Gatwick, London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Eagle</span> British airline from 1948 - 1968

British Eagle International Airlines was a major British independent airline that operated from 1948 until it went into liquidation in 1968. It operated scheduled and charter services on a domestic, international and transatlantic basis over the years.

British Airways Engineering is the aircraft maintenance subsidiary of British Airways which provides support services to British Airways and other airlines. It is responsible for the entire BA fleet maintenance, cabin interior conversions and general ramp maintenance work for both their own fleet and other airlines. It also sends some of its own heavy maintenance work out to other companies, although the vast majority of aircraft and cabin interior work is still carried out by BA Engineering itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathrow Terminal 5</span> Airport terminal at London Heathrow Airport

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. Until 2012 the terminal was used solely by British Airways. It was then 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, leaving British Airways as sole user again.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Airways Helicopters</span>

British Airways Helicopters was a British helicopter airline from 1964 to 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathrow Terminal 4</span> Airport terminal at London Heathrow Airport

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathrow Terminal 3</span> Airport terminal at London Heathrow Airport

Heathrow Terminal 3 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, serving London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. Terminal 3 is currently used as one of the main global hubs of the International Airlines Group members British Airways and Iberia since 12 July 2022. It is also used by the majority of members of the Oneworld and a few SkyTeam alliances along with several long-haul non-affiliated airlines. It is also the base for Virgin Atlantic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of British Airways</span> Aspect of history surrounding British Airways

British Airways (BA), the United Kingdom's national airline, was formed in 1974 with the merger of the two largest UK airlines, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA), and including also two smaller regional airlines, Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines. The merger was the completion of a consolidation process started in 1971 with the establishment of the British Airways Board, a body created by the British government to control the operations and finances of BOAC and BEA, which initially continued to exist as separate entities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compass Centre</span>

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.

In its early years what is now Heathrow Airport was the Great West Aerodrome, sometimes known as Heathrow Aerodrome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterloo Air Terminal</span>

The Waterloo Air Terminal was a passenger reception, check-in facility and heliport on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It was used by British European Airways (BEA) and other European airlines between 1953 and 1957, when it was replaced by the West London Air Terminal. Passengers checked in, were issued with a boarding card, and were transported to either London Airport or Northolt Airport using a fleet of coaches.

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.

References

  1. ↑ "Users' Committee wants West London Check-in". Flight International. November 1973.
  2. 1 2 "London Air Terminal Built In Under Five Months". The Times . 27 September 1957. p. 13.
  3. ↑ "New Air Terminal Ready In The Autumn". The Times. 13 March 1957. p. 7.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hobhouse, Hermione, ed. (1986). Survey of London: Kensington Square To Earl's Court. Vol. 42. London County Council. ISBN   0485482428.
  5. ↑ "Explore our past: 1950 – 1959". British Airways. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  6. ↑ "Air Terminal Moves West". The Times. 7 October 1957. p. 5.
  7. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher; Weinreb, Ben; Keay, John; Keay, Julia (9 May 2011). The London Encyclopaedia (third ed.). Pan Macmillan. p. 222. ISBN   978-0-230-73878-2.
  8. 1 2 "New Air Terminal Can Handle 4,500,000 Passengers". The Times. 6 November 1963. p. 18.
  9. ↑ "An Individual, Or "Seat Miles"?". The Times. 7 November 1963. p. 6.
  10. 1 2 "London Air Terminal Damaged by Fire". The Glasgow Herald. 7 December 1963. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "Explore our past: 1960 – 1969". British Airways. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Checking out of terminal". The Glasgow Herald . 12 May 1972. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  13. ↑ Reed, Arthur (12 May 1972). "BEA to end check-in at West London terminal". The Times. p. 4.
  14. ↑ Woodley, Charles (2006). The History of British European Airways. Casemate Publishers. p. 167. ISBN   9781844151868.
  15. ↑ Chambers, Kate (November 2013). "Time Travel: Town Flyer, 1956". Archived from the original on 21 April 2014.
  16. ↑ Calder, Simon (14 September 2003). "Britain's biggest airline cuts link to Heathrow". The Independent . Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  17. ↑ German, Clifford (21 August 1997). "Regalian to redevelop old air terminal". The Independent. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  18. ↑ "Untitled". Investors Chronicle. 121: 12.
  19. ↑ Middleton, Christopher (25 February 2006). "A good night at the office?". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  20. ↑ "Eight injured as bomb explodes in air terminal". The Glasgow Herald. 29 September 1973. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  21. ↑ "London air terminal hit by terror bomb". The Montreal Gazette. 29 September 1973. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  22. ↑ "Bomb injures eight at air terminal". The Times. 29 September 1973. p. 1.

51°29′43″N0°11′14″W / 51.4952°N 0.1873°W / 51.4952; -0.1873

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.