http://uk.news.yahoo.com/27032007/344/heathrow-terminal-undergo-tests.html
Heathrow terminal to undergo tests
The Press Association Tuesday March 27, 08:01 AM
Thousands of people will act as passengers to test out a new =A34.3
billion terminal which will open at the UK's biggest airport in
exactly one year's time.
Around 16,000 volunteers will be used to check facilities at
Heathrow's Terminal 5 (T5) which will undergo six months of proving
trials before its March 27 2008 opening.
The new terminal, a new home for British Airways, will serve around 30
million passengers a year.
The first flight to be served by the new terminal will be a BA service
from Hong Kong. The passengers arriving from the Far East will be the
first of around 40,000 to go through the terminal on its first day of
operation.
Work on the terminal began in 2002 after a lengthy, record-breaking
four-year public inquiry.
It has been built on a former sewage works at the western end of the
airport. It will have platforms to serve both the Heathrow Express and
London Underground's Piccadilly line. There will be two platforms to
serve any future new Heathrow rail link to the west.
Shops at the terminal include a Harrods, and celebrity chef Gordon
Ramsay will open his first airport-based restaurant there.
Heathrow chief executive Tony Douglas said: "London is a world city, a
global financial centre and needs a world-class airport.
"T5 is already a testament to the skill and hard work of the thousands
of people, including architects, planners, construction workers,
airport and airline staff, who have together made the building happen.
Mr Douglas said 68 million passengers would fly through Heathrow this
year "in ageing terminal facilities designed to accommodate around 45
million".
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