Travel will revert to its glamour days with the opening of Terminal 5, we’re
told, by British Airways chairman Martin Broughton in our video above.
He was speaking to us from one of the airline’s new lounges at Terminal 5,
where it was hard to argue with him – behind us the final touches were being
put to a champagne bar, spa and a series of striking art installations.
Art is not a new venture for BA. The carrier has a collection of over 1,500
works by artists including Peter Doig, who is currently exhibiting at the Tate
Britain, and Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.
Sadly only BA staff and a minority of its passengers enjoy these works because
they are hung at the BA headquarters at Waterside, near Heathrow, and in
airport lounges around the world, accessible only to premium passengers and
frequent flyers.
This won’t change with the opening of the BA-only Terminal 5 on March 27.
While the majority of passengers using the terminal will pass the time in
the luxury shops and restaurants of the main building, premium passengers
will be treated to one-off artworks as well as the usual perks of champagne
and nibbles in the various BA lounges.
BA has spent £60 million developing six lounges in Terminal 5, with a large
chunk of this spent on commissioned art installations, from paintings to
ground-breaking illuminating sculptures and moving wallpaper.
BA has used Artwise, a curating
practice with which it has a long relationship, to source art for its
Terminal 5 lounges. Among the new pieces being hung in the lounges are three
by Christopher Pearson, the
artist we interviewed in the video above.
On the day we were filming, the installation hanging outside the lounges, The
Cloud by artist collaboration Troika,
was not switched on. A YouTube
video shows the installation of hanging sculpture, which uses the flip
dot technology that is used in many railway station boards to flick from
black to shimmering silver.
But it’s not all about art – the building design and views at Terminal 5 are
also expected to please passengers. Rather like the vision that architect
Norman Foster had for Stansted airport, the Richard Rogers Partnership, the
architects behind Terminal 5, have used glass and steel liberally to
maximise natural light and offer captivating views of the runway.
The shops and restaurants will also be a distraction – alongside airport
regulars such as Duty Free, WH Smith and Boots, are names like Paul Smith,
which will sell airport exclusive products, Tiffany’s, which will be the
first airport outlet in Europe, and Gordon Ramsay, with his first airport
restaurant. Hot fast food companies like McDonalds and Burger King are
notable by their absence.
The £4.3 billion project has its fair share of critics. A report in The
Observer claimed that passengers at nearly half of the terminal’s
departure gates will be bussed to planes, rather than being able to reach
them on foot by air bridges. This is refuted by BA, which says that the
figure is closer to 20 per cent. The gates at Terminal 5 are either located
in the main terminal building or the two satellite buildings, Satellite B
and Satellite C.
Further to that there’s an ongoing threat from environmental activists who are
allegedly planning to wreak havoc on the terminal’s opening day.
For anyone that's been using the construction site terminals at Heathrow that BA currently uses, you should know that this will only be a great improvement - give this some credit, rather than being so archetypically British and moaning about the downside.
And people ask my why I'm an expat!
Andrew K, San Francisco, USA
Once again the focus is on how the richest and most privilaged 1% of the population will be lounging around waiting for their flights, what will the experience be like for the majority traveling in the cheap seats. After experiencing BAA's terminal 3 twice a year for the last 10 years I would say we are not going to be in for anything special. And what consideration has been made for those trying to get to the airport? the current Heathrow express only takes you to one part of London and the Picadilly line is a toilet on wheels full of drunken idiots at 8pm at night, not very pleasant after a 24 hour flight. and certainly not designed for those carrying luggage, and as for taxi's with bus lane rights, they also are for the privilaged few, being probably the most expensive in the world (thats another issue). Last week I flew into Sydney, from touch down to opening my hotel door took 1 hour, will terminal 5 beat that?
Steve99, London,
Looks like a barn, did they really employ a top architect?
Garth, Welshpool, Wales
I regret to say that the video was a complete waste of my time, other than to see that as usual money has been spent on needless frivolities - certainly a reason to sell my BA shares - thanks - Caesare di Roma
Caesare, London,
Isn't it typical that a project that is on time on budget and a superb facility is knocked even as its opened what a typically "British" thing to do.!!
I travel to Madrid often and its not such a great experience, you have to walk for miles if landed at the international terminal then wait for a train to take you to the other terminal then walk again to meet anyone. Then until recently get a bus to the old terminals to catch a train into the centre. But do we hear of it being criticised...?
Term 5 when the other satellites are completed will cut down the number of 'bussing' stands to a minimum, every airport (including HKG etc) have remote stands its unavaoidable.
Andrew, Hove, UK
Having lived in Singapore for the last 15 years and seen Changi Airport grow to become a major hub and Annually awarded best Airport int he World it will be interesting to see if Heathrow T5 can come anywhere close to the new T3 here which oddly enough is designed with the passenger in mind not profits of a bohemoth like BAA. Shops are good for those profits and a place to spend time when its announced that the flight to Australia with which BA expect you to only bring hand luggage... has been delayed and the bus that was supposed to take you to the aircraft has broken down. It will be interesting to hear users views of this concept once its up and running , marks out of 100 anyone? With the arrival of the A380 and its double-decker cabinwhat time pleasefor the 80 year old passenger with arthritis making it up the stairs. Answers on a customer satisfaction card to BA(A) Thank god for airports like Changi HK Dubai etc
Michael Ward, singapore,
For years BAA and BA have conspired to deter passengers from using London as a hub. Unbearable queues, appalling customer service, delays, lost baggage and a policy of keeping passengers in the dark count amongst the most memorable. Add to this the traffic, public transport and overcrowded nature of LHR and LGW generally. I do not believe for a minute that I will get from the end of the check-in queue (or drop off queue, as it is called now) to the departure gate in 10 minutes. T5 is like a new hospital. Staff will like it as long as it remains empty. The minute the pesks arrive, meaning customers, it will be back to business as usual.
Liam, Manchester, UK
Madrid and HKG do not need to bus passengers because they have plenty of space. Heathrow is restricted by the fact it is bang in the middle of the most densely populated area of Europe. BA has to cope with such a reality.
dan, madrid, spain
I have already stopped using BA. In the last 5 years and after many flights they managed to get me and my family and our luggage, baby buggy etc. to our destination on time and with everything we started with ONCE. At Christmas time they took away our buggy and refused to let me check on my duty free. We had to run through Terminal One carrying our two year old because our connection was late. The buggy didn't even make it to our final destination. There is no way I'm going to T5. The very fact that they are admitting to 20% of passenger being bussed means its going to be more, much more.
Neil Munro, Moscow, Russia
As a trans-Atlantic commuter, the question arises, "Would I be eager to check out this art & partake in the lounges?"
Quite honestly, I'd scan the art once (glancingly) and at the end of the day, a lounge is a lounge.
But the first time they bus me to/from my plane is the last time I would use BA. To easily step out of the aircraft, and proceed with ease into the terminal proper has to be a priority - no matter how good (or bad?) the flight itself may have been. If this building has been designed for the 21st century, then let's not be expected to revert to the 195O's with the coralling effect & inconveniencing of families with children and the elderly !!
Zee Landers, mississauga, ONT., Canada
£4.3 Billion - and passengers are still going to be bussed to and from aircraft! This could only be a UK airport!
Bergman Coffey, Belfast,
The problem with this new terminal is the lack of travelators, they dont seem to have considered the long distance passenger will have to walk, its so huge and after a long flight the last thing you need is a long walk.
Laurence Corbett, London,
So with 50% of passengers (BAA say ONLY 20%) having to be bussed to and from aircraft, how many more hours earlier does one have to check-in?
Ron Beach, Stevenage, UK
It really is unacceptable to require older passengers to walk down stairs to catch a bus and then walk up an enrmous flight of steps to a 747. I thought Terminal 5 was taking us out of a third world airport when we fly BA!
RICHARD, Twickenham, Middlesex
To everyone who has lost luggage in the last year..
'Airports operator BAA is already testing the system – which was evident during our tour of the terminal when we came across eerily quiet bag-drop desks fronted with row upon row of suitcases waiting for baggage handling testing.' -
Get down to Terminal 5 - you might find your bags being used for baggage handling testing!!
Emma, Hertfordshire, UK
'luxury' terminal? I really don't think so. When does the a great ariport make passengers take the bus to the plane? Hong Kong doesn't and neither does Madrid. The teacher's report says "could do better".
carl, london, UK
And for economy class passengers, a corral where we can be branded and have our hooves dipped. Seriously, does the world really need any more airport shops?
Frank Upton, Solihull,
I guess thats what must have been distracting them recently - can't find another explaination for the millions (including mine, my partner's and parents) baggage on 3 separate occasions.
Laughable, pathetic.
Andrew, Geneva,
The UK is a very sad place these days: China's new Beijing and Singapore's update of Changi set a pace that we can only dream about. In many countries, a massive - and incredibly costly - new airport such as T5 would be seized upon as a tremendous opportunity to make a national statement, to impress the visitor. In short: to dazzle.
What do we get: Stansted on steroids, a glass-and-steel warehouse, a greenhouse for our less-than-green travel ?
And as for the media's conniving in suppressing the facts around ten-finger biometrics for any domestic flight on BA out of the new terminal (BA, of course, are terrified that customers will switch to other carriers should it become a cause celebre...).
Papers get worked up about ID cards and other examples of a creeping surveillance society, but taking our fingerprints is apparently no big deal . Of course, those nice people at T5 will delete them straight after use and the security service and Met would never get near them.
;-)
A Thomson, London,
Why such an emphasis on airport lounges?
I wan't to get through an airport ASAP, and for my bag to arrive at the other end, something that BA is the world's worst at...
MVP, Walton on Thames, Surey
I understand that almost 50% of passengers cannot board their planes at the terminal and have to be bussed out to their planes (and vice versa on landing). However glamorous Terminal 5 might look, queuing up to get on a bus to take a journey to a plane stranded apparently in the middle of nowhere is definitely NOT glamorous. Indeed, I would consider it rather primitive and a disastrous design failure of the entire building.
Lincoln Towers, Manchester, UK
Well ten years after similar airports opened i.e Hong Kong , Heathrow finally catches , cutting edge indeed. As for 60 million pounds being spent thats laughable and and inefficient use of money once again no doubt !
john stephenson, hong Kong,
The sparkly new lounge will certainly make BA's shabby First Class cabins seem even shabbier now. Hope the revamped lounges will also have revamped food and service compared with Terminal 4.
Bill Atkins, Rehoboth Beach, USA