Where London runways intersected with roads

Located in the London Borough of Hillingdon, on the western outskirts of the city, Heathrow (IATA code: LHR, ICAO code: EGLL) is an important transport node. With a name renowned among travelers, logistics experts and aircraft enthusiasts, the airport has been recognized as one of the world’s major air freight hubs for decades, yet its history only dates back to the 1930s. At that time, legendary design firm Fairey Aviation was operating the Great Western Aerodrome. In those days, the airfield bore little resemblance to an airport, as it was used solely for conducting test flights. (Croydon Airport was London’s main airport back then.)

A case of deception with far-reaching consequences

In 1944, the Air Ministry requisitioned the airfield, which Fairey Aviation had purchased from the vicar of a nearby village 14 years earlier. Britain’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Air intentionally misled the responsible government committee at that time. He claimed that the land had to be expropriated for the purpose of turning Heathrow into a new air force base for long-range bombers that were to fly missions to Japan. In reality, however, the plan had always been to use the airfield for a civilian airport, as the Under-Secretary admitted several decades later. He used the emergency powers granted to him on account of the Second World War as a pretext for rapidly requisitioning the land and circumventing a lengthy approval process with public consultations. In actual fact, the Royal Air Force never used the airport at all, with the Ministry of Civil Aviation taking over its running in early 1946. The first passenger aircraft took off on the same day, paving the way for a success story. Incidentally, the destination was Buenos Aires, the first transcontinental destination served by the airport.

Rapid growth with consequences

The airport was then handed over in full to the civil aviation authorities on May 31, 1946. Just one year later, three runways had been built and a further three were under construction. The older runways were only short and intersected each other to permit flights in all possible wind conditions. In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II ceremonially laid the first slab of the new modern asphalt runway in what was to be the first of several visits to the airport by the iconic monarch. 55 years later, in 2008, she visited for the final time to open a fifth terminal.

Heathrow was generally characterized by a constant flurry of construction work. This was the result, quite simply, of false assumptions and planning errors. Time and again, airport officials were far too conservative when estimating passenger numbers, while construction decisions turned out to be excessively restrictive in hindsight.

An airport in constant flux

1955 saw the Queen open the first terminal, the Europa Building, which would later become Terminal 2. This was followed shortly after by the Oceanic Terminal (now Terminal 3). As is clear from the building names, Heathrow’s global ambitions were evident early on.

Be that as it may, the emergence of the older terminals in the center of the airport site, confined by the landing strips, would transpire to be a double obstacle for subsequent construction work. This planning misstep was rooted in the assumption that only wealthy people could afford to fly and that air travel would not become a mass, low-cost phenomenon. For this reason, officials also saw no need for parking garages. After all, the well-off travelers would be driven to the airport by their chauffeurs. It was not until 1977 that the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground was extended to Heathrow. This was followed by additional terminals (five in total, though one was closed), numerous extensions, modifications, new buildings, retrofits, etc.

Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that the tunnel for the Heathrow Express line collapsed while under construction in 1994. This created a large crater between Terminals 2 and 3, which led to the collapse of several buildings. The damage was estimated at 150 million pounds.

Bizarre occurrences

But this was not the only strange incident. The airport’s vicinity became the scene of a legendary robbery in 1983, when at least six men broke into a warehouse belonging to valuable-goods transport firm Brinks Mat and overpowered the security guards, with the original intention of stealing cash. Coincidentally, they also stumbled upon a consignment of gold, platinum and jewelry that was due to be flown to Hong Kong the next day. They decided there and then to cart away, among other things, 6,800 gold bars weighing a total of three tons and worth 25 million pounds. Three of the perpetrators were later arrested and received prison sentences. To this day, much of the haul is still to be found, while numerous mysterious murders in London’s criminal underworld fuel the imagination of the tabloid press.

No less shrouded in mystery is an accidental archaeological discovery at the site of Terminal 5. Extensive excavation work at the time uncovered several finds, including the Stanwell Cursus, a neolithic linear monument dating back to 3600 BC.

Fun fact: given the perennial lack of space already mentioned, you will most likely be unsurprised to learn that one of the taxiways at Heathrow used to be intersected by a road, with level-crossing-style gates. The road was finally closed to traffic in March 2006.

The UK’s premier hub

In 2022, Heathrow ranked eighth in the list of the world’s largest commercial airports by passenger numbers. Somewhat surprisingly, in the same year it also became the second largest airport in Europe, behind Istanbul. But by 2023, it had already reclaimed the top spot in Europe, handling 79.2 million passengers. Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam came in third and fourth.

As a hub for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow is not only well linked with continental Europe and North America, but also offers numerous connections to former British colonies in Asia and Africa. In 2023, Heathrow offered the most connections of any airport worldwide.

The airport’s freight area handles around one fifth of UK goods imports and exports. The air freight center at the south of the airport, next to Terminal 4, is the second largest in Europe. Were it not for capacity issues leading several airlines to relocate their cargo centers from Heathrow to Stansted and Luton in North London during the 1990s, then Frankfurt am Main may not have risen to the top of the European freight rankings. Heathrow is currently the fourth largest freight airport in Europe, handling 1.43 million tons of cargo in 2023.

Britain’s gateway to the world

It will be fascinating to see what the future holds for Heathrow. The airport has trumped all the odds to become a success story that has overcome every challenge thus far, from demolition plans and building new facilities from scratch to upgrades at other London airports and the proposed construction of a new airport in the Thames Estuary. In spite of it all, Heathrow remains London’s gateway to the world.