Heathrow reveals Olympics strategy
Heathrow bosses insisted yesterday that the airport will be able to cope with extra traffic during the Olympics despite recent concerns over long queues at immigration.
It revealed at a briefing in London that it will open a temporary terminal for three days between terminals four and five. It will have 31 check-in desks and five security lanes for the exclusive use of athletes leaving the Games.
This is expected to relieve strain on the other five terminals, especially on August 13 which will be the busiest day in the airport’s history. There will be almost 138,000 departures that day and 200,000 bags, 50,000 more than a normal day and 13,000 more than it is designed to handle.
BAA said it had spent more than £20m into extra facilities for the Olympics to make sure passengers could come and go "without a hitch".
Border Force director Marc Owen told the briefing there would be hundreds of extra trained border guards drafted into Heathrow for the Olympics, although he refused to give precise numbers.
Sixteen mobile teams, each with 10 border guards, will target trouble spots when queues start to build up.
There will also be 1,000 volunteers from local communities whose duties will include waiving goodbye to passengers boarding flights at Heathrow.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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