Heathrow airport History

Heathrow Airport began life as The Great Western Aerodrome, and was privately owned by Fairey Aviation whilst being used mainly for aircraft construction and evaluation.

The first civilian flight from Heathrow Airport was on the 1st January 1946 bound for Buenos Aires and opened up Britain's first air link to South America.

In 1953 the first piece of concrete runway was placed by Queen Elizabeth II which was followed two years later in 1955 by her opening the Europa Building (terminal 2). The Oceanic Building (terminal 3) was opened in 1961 followed by terminal 1 in 1968.

In 1977 London Underground expanded its services to Heathrow Airport making it accessible via the Piccadilly line in just under an hour from London. In 1998 the Heathrow Express Train was introduced which provided a direct rail service to the airport.

In 1986 terminal 4 was opened and became the home for British Airways. Terminal 5 was opened in 2008 and instantly encountered problems that were covered extensively in the media. The problems were overcome however and the terminal is now running efficiently. All building work on associated projects is to be completed by 2011.