A380 preparations at LHR

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From The Times Online
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BAA, the airports group, has begun a £400m reconstruction of Heathrow’s taxiways and terminals to cope with the arrival of the Airbus A380 superjumbo.
The first commercial flights of the giant aircraft, which will carry about 600 passengers and dwarf the largest aircraft currently flying, are expected in 2006. Heathrow will be one of the first airports in the world to handle the A380.

This weekend Amec will start work on the reconstruction of Heathrow’s two southern taxiways. The project — which covers almost two miles of paving — is the largest reworking of Heathrow’s taxiways since the 1940s.

All the old paving taken up during the project will be recycled for use in the construction of Heathrow’s planned fifth terminal building.

The repositioning of the taxiways is necessary because of the A380’s large wingspan — at 80m, 15 metres wider than a Boeing 747 — and fuselage length, and will allow the aircraft to manoeuvre between airport buildings, runways and other aircraft.

“Reconstruction of the two taxiways is central to our preparations for new-generation large aircraft,” said Mick Temple, Heathrow’s managing director.

The taxiway project is a key element in a £400m programme of investment to allow Heathrow to cope with the new aircraft. The next big job will be the redevelopment of part of Terminal Three. New gates — with double airbridges to allow boarding on to both decks of the A380 — will be built.
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It's one VERY expensive industry! The A380 is a huge enough project as it is and there isn't an airport which could currently handle the aircraft - yet more cash. Exciting news all the same.

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Who is actually footing the bill here for the expansion?

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The airports' owners, BAA.

Or are you trying to drive the idea that the cost will be passed on to passengers via airlines?

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I'm affraid they will !!!

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Thanks for that Saab. I can't wait to see this Giant! Only 3 more years.

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Is it only Terminal 3 that's having the extra airbridges installed?

Surely Terminal 4 or Terminal 5 (if they move with BA) will also need them if Qantas operates the A380? Or are they just not going to operate it on LHR routes?

Or is T5 being built with them as spec (hence their not being mentioned here), and T4 being left as is?

Obviously Qantas are the only user of T4 who currently have 380's on order... I assume they'll move to T5 along with codeshare partner BA's other longhaul operations once it's built?

I'm assuming that neither Air France nor Lufthansa would want to operate the 380 on LHR routes, alleviating the nescessity to have T2 modified. Will there be provison for Emirates' 380's at LGW, or will that just be on the LHR route?

For those of you not familiar with LHR, all the other current 380 customers operating to LHR use T3 (Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic).

Although, does anyone know who ILFC's are destined for?

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Fly the A380 from CDG or FRA to LHR? I seriously doubt that! Considering AF uses the A319/320/321 and LH uses a variety of types, the biggest being the A300-600, that would be a HUGE upgrade. Even if one of those airlines wanted to squeeze 600 pax onto a 1 to 1.5 hour flight, the economics alone of retrofitting a terminal like T2 to handle that plane, is completely ludicrous.

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Yea India is doing the same...they have added stilts under the gateway hoping it will reach there...otherwise they will make passengers jump.

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But with Air France and Lufthansa for example, there may be a long-haul flight being flown by an A380 which goes to it's destination via. Heathrow. This is one way that local operators may operate the aircraft into London.

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yeah, like I say, I doubt that either AF or LH will use it, so T2 dosen't need upgraded... but I am curious about how Qantas' flights will be handled, be they at T4, as now, or at T5 if and when they move with BA.

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I would be surprised if AF would operate an A380 LHR-CDG.

However I flew a BA 777 once from LHR-CDG sitting next to Mister Peter Ustinov : pleasant flight and perfect gentleman

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Qantas along with BA’s other Oneworld partners will use T5. It will be the Oneworld hub if you will, for connections etc. LGW has a proposed extension to the North Terminal to cater for the A380. There will be a sort of bridged area connecting from the terminal to the remote stand area where a new satellite will be built. However, I doubt many operators will use the aircraft there like Emirates and Virgin. On the subject of AF and LH A380s at LHR, though a different subject, I heard that to ease conjestion at LHR one way being discussed was for the likes of BA to use aircraft like the 777 on European sectors and cut the number of daily flights through using a bigger aircraft, not sure if it came to anything.

Mongu,
Naturally the passenger will inevitably pay for it. Whether it be through the passenger charges, airport taxes, landing taxes or just through to duty free, they are all extortionate and have publicly caused airlines to up their prices, therefore putting cash in BAA’s pocket to use on the new terminal.

What I was actually asking is it just BAA poring money into the terminal or does it include BA and the government? Also who will be paying for airports that may only receive one A380 operator? Will it be the local government, airport or airline itself?

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Well I guess there is no golden rule Saab, it will be different in each situation. But LHR is an exception, as it will be A380-city.

Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Virgin Atlantic will all operate the A380 to LHR with presumably some aircraft based there permanently by VS.

I am fairly certain that Qantas will fly A380s to LHR too and Cathay Pacific and South African seem likely, too. And watch out for another couple of Asian carriers!

How long before BA choose the A380? I am convinced they will, as I see them retiring the 747 fleet in a decade or so and splitting it up between B777 and A380 operations.

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T5, why on earth would LH or AF fly a long-haul flight, via LHR, when their own hubs are an hour or so away? What purpose would this serve, even if they were allowed to do so? I can understand SIA using LHR as a stop, en route from SIN to YYZ. Or Air India using it as a stop from DEL to ORD and JFK. Those are entirely different situations, however.

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I would guess that slot restrictions would be the only reason to fly the A380 in to LHR on short flights.

Certainly, that is why SAA are interested, as they have talked of ordereing 4 A380's and they curently dedicate 4 B744's for JNB-LHR operations and want to add more flights, but have been denied extra slots.

Apply the same logic to SQ and EK I reckon!

As an aside, Lufthansa regularly use the A300-600 (FRA-LHR) and Swiss use the A330-200 (ZRH-LHR) at peak times too. BA always used to use the L1011 LHR-CDG at peak times.

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I agree that using widebody types on Euro trunk routes is in fact feasible; especially when you take into consideration LHR's slot restrictions. However, An A300-600 or even an A330 is still a far cry from an A380, or even a 744. When OA first got their A340 about 3 years ago, they initially flew them into LHR and CDG from ATH for training purposes. Those only lasted a few months, however, until they went back to regular A300-600 services, with an occassional 734. Unless LH or AF plan to use their A380's into LHR for 'training purposes,' I see basically 0% chance of them making an LHR appearance, and zero logic of it being used as a technical stop.

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Agreed.

The only possibility, is if some kind of very unlikely Euro open skies policy is unveiled and AF or LH fly routes originating at LHR.

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Yes, I agree LHR should fund the A380 upgrades. They are quite depending on the A380 and have a lot to gain from its operations.

However, an airport that only receives one operator (which is quite unlikely) is a different question. Does the airport risk spending money on one operator or does it use areas like remote stands? I think that unless they get funding from the airline, it is unlikely many lower A380 operations airports will want to fund such building projects with no guaranteed success.

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Well it will happen eventually....remember the upgrades required for the 707, then the 747?

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If a particular airport were only to handle a single A380-operated airline, then I agree remote stands would be the most economical option. However, how likely is that? My guess is that the 10 or so initial operators of the A380, will have flights from the other 'biggies' going into their home airports as well. QF for instance, I'm sure SIA and Emirates will send the big boy into SYD. I'm sure every A380 operated airline will fly theirs into SIN. I'm sure Virgin, Cathay and QF will fly theirs into LAX, even though there won't be a "hometown" airline operating them. I'm sure you'll get a few of those guys operating them into JFK and LHR, among others, as well.