London Heathrow Terminal 2 has finally closed after 54 years of operations to make way for its new GBP1bn ($1.6bn) environmentally-friendly replacement – due to open 2014. This should result in a terminal whose facilities

– including retail – will be on a quality par with those currently available at T5 for passengers.

The new terminal will be used by airlines belonging to the Star Alliance, which carry good spending passengers and the first stage will see the creation of a terminal building with 180,000sq m of floor space on the site of the existing Terminal 2 and Queen's Building which are currently being demolished.

It will have a capacity of around 20m passengers a year. This compares with the old terminal which is 49,654sq m in size and was only ever designed to handle 1.2m passengers a year, but in its last full year (2008) actually handled 7.5m.

Construction on the first phase construction is due for completion in 2013 and this is all part of BAA's GBP4.8bn ($7.8bn) investment across the airport which is self funded.

Phase two construction is scheduled to run consecutively and will extend the new Terminal 2 into the existing Terminal 1 site. This phase, which also includes the construction of a second satellite building, is set to increase the capacity of T2 to 30m passengers a year. Terminal 1 will close when phase two is complete in 2019, however it will remain open throughout construction.

RETAIL POTENTIAL
The retail potential of Terminal 2 should also get a big shot in the arm when it opens and especially considering it has been the lowest contributor of all the Heathrow terminals in recent years. While it is a little simplistic, in theory WDF's historic sales indicators would suggest its sales turnover in a future combined T1/T2 facility should be very healthy when the new facility is fully up and running.

This obviously excludes the contribution that will also be made by separate specialist shops which will doubtless work directly with BAA.

A new two-level departure lounge with ten-metre high windows will overlook Heathrow's airfield and the terminal will also feature nine new aircraft parking stands, a third of which are configured to accommodate new generation aircraft such as the A380.

Terminal 2 will also produce 40% less carbon than the buildings it is replacing. Large north-facing windows in the roof will flood the building with natural light, reducing the need for artificial lighting without generating uncomfortable levels of heat in the building. Solar-gathering panels on the roof will further reduce the dependency on energy supplies. Additionally a new energy centre, partially fuelled by renewable resources, will provide heating and cooling for the building.

Airlines operating from T2 in February 2009 (the last month when a full schedule operated) were: Aeroflot, Air Algerie, Air Astana, Air France, Air Seychelles, Air Transat, Alitalia, Arik Air, Atlas Blue, Austrian Airlines, Azerbaijan Airlines, Bellview Airlines, Bulgaria Air, China Eastern Airlines, Clickair, Croatia Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Iberia, Jat Airways, Libyan Airlines, Lufthansa, Olympic Airlines, Rossiya Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Swissair, Syrianair, TAP Portugal, TAROM, Tunisair, Uzbekistan Airways and Yemenia.

Airlines currently in the Star Alliance include: Adria Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, bmi, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways.

Meanwhile, BAA has separately announced that further to its earlier November announcement it's three controlling shareholders have formally approved the GBP200m ($328m) injection of new equity into BAA's London airports. This cash, together with GBP40m ($65m) from FGP Topco Limited and BAA Airports Limited, is expected to be injected into the London airports in January 2010. As announced on 13 November 2009, FGP Topco and BAA Airports have already provided GBP260m ($426m) to the London airports.