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LONDON - Heathrow's new 4.3 billion pounds Terminal 5 is on track -- and budget -- to open in exactly a year's time, airports operator BAA and British Airways announced today.
After a six-month period of testing, the country's biggest free-standing building is set to open on March 27, 2008.
The glass structure, which has a wave-like roof designed by Richard Rogers, will have taken six years to complete.
The first passengers to arrive at T5 will be on a BA morning flight from Hong Kong, with a further 40,000 to follow during the rest of the day.
Thirty million passengers a year are expected to use the new terminal, helping reduce pressure on the existing terminals, which handle an annual 68 million passengers despite being designed to cater for only 45 million.
Tony Douglas, chief executive officer of BAA Heathrow, said: "For the first time we will have space to breathe in the central terminal area and have a once in a lifetime opportunity to redevelop the rest of the airport and bring it up to a comparable standard to T5."
More than 90 per cent of the construction-related work is complete after more than 13 kilometres (8 miles) of tunnels were bored and 900-tonnes of earth moved.
Thirty thousand square metres (yards) of glass facade have been installed in the 40-metre high construction and the 18,500 tonne single span roof lifted into place over 11 months.
The terminal, built on a former sewage works between two runways at the western end of the existing airport, will handle only BA planes.
Check-ins will be geared around online or self-service, and the terminal will have transport links via the Heathrow Express, London's Underground and a rail link to the west of the country.
A six-month period of trials will begin in September, when more than 16,000 people will be recruited to act as passengers testing every aspect of the building, including car parking, check-in, baggage systems, IT systems and security.
- REUTERS
