Heathrow and Dubai : Airports with tense future. Part 1. Heathrow Airport.

Dear readers, before starting I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Smaiyl, and I am 13 years old. I am from Almaty, Kazakhstan.I am passionate about civil aviation, and hopefully my future job will be an airline owner and a designer of airport terminals.

The reason of why I have chosen this topic to write a blog, is that I would like to share my thoughts with you about the reasons of why the government of UK and UAE needs to start thinking about future plans of their main airports, or if they do so already, then just to share my opinion and my point of view with you of about how could those airports, for example, expand, and also some interesting facts about those two airports ,of which only some people know.

Heathrow and Dubai are both one of the most important transportation destinations of the world, and both of them are keep growing without stopping.

In this blog you could see both airports' problems such as capacity problems, a lack of runways, and some possible ways of expanding. So enjoy!

Part 1 : Heathrow Airport.

What threatens  the future of Heathrow?

Some young aviators like me probably know the reason, because it's quite simple. So the main thing which threatens Heathrow is the increase of traffic , and a lack of space. Not today, but in next 10 years I’m sure that Heathrow will have problems with its increasing traffic. In 2014, Heathrow reached its record of 73 million passengers. Just 20 years ago, in 1994, Heathrow already served 51,7 million passengers. In 2004, the airport served 67,3 million passengers. How many passengers are going to pass through Heathrow in 2024 ? If we try to predict, then it probably should be around 78 million passengers. But how we can increase the number of passenger traffic, if the capacity is not big enough ? A serious question, needs a serious answer.

Night time – no flights at all! 

There are no flights departing or arriving at Heathrow during the nighttime. The last flight departs at 10:50pm. Heavy traffic appears from 7am and ends at around 9pm. If Heathrow would handle flights during nighttime, then wouldn't it be easier for carriers and airport to handle passengers, and also sort out the capacity? Hmmmm...

Terminal 5 – exclusively for a flag carrier !

I think that Terminal 5 is the busiest terminal at Heathrow. Sometimes, there is no space nearby T5 for airplanes to park after they landed, so some of them have to park at a remote stand. Terminal 5 was opened at 2008, and It's located at the west part of the airport. Today it is used only by British Airways and Iberia (they are big partners  and both members of International Airlines groupJ). 

                                   Heathrow Terminal 5 

Nowhere to expand!

That threatens Heathrow’s future a lot. There’s actually no space to expand – nor even to expand the present terminals. Heathrow’s surroundings all covered by towns and by the reservoir at the south. There is also no place to build another terminal – every meter is occupied.

First - make a circle, then - land!

Have you ever realized that before you land at Heathrow, you have to make circles around the airport? It’s because of the heavy traffic. Almost every plane, especially from America, has to make a couple of circles before queueing to final approach. For example, this trans-European flight (at the screenshot below) from Geneva made 3 circles before it went to queue the final approach lane.

A queue to land - final approach!

As you see at the screenshot below, after planes make some circles, they start queueing for final approach. you probably know, Heathrow has only two runways. So the use of them is simple – one for planes to land, and one for take off. That’s why there is a heavy traffic. I wonder, how nervous is the job for pilots and dispatchers to manage everything, especially during landing! At the screenshot, all the planes which are heading west and then turning towards the east – are to land.

"Special" airlines - little, but quite interesting facts!

- Emirates operates 5 daily Dubai - London Heathrow - Dubai flights , and as of August 2015, all of them are served by the biggest passenger jet in the world, the superjumbo, Airbus A380!

- Malaysia Airlines operates 2 daily flights to Heathrow, and both of flights are also served by A380!

What about changing major UK airport to Gatwick?

Gatwick Airport is the 2nd biggest and busiest airport in the UK. Also, Gatwick has quite a lot of space to expand their terminals, towards south and a little bit towards the west. But one problem faces Gatwick is that there is also a deficit of runways. In Gatwick there are also two runways - but they are located so close to each other, so that only one could be used at a time. Also, if we count up the number of passengers served annually with only one runway being used at once, the traffic problem here is even more worse than at Heathrow, because the number of passengers here is 38,1 million (2014), so it's even more than twice less the number of passengers served at Heathrow , 73 million (also 2014 statistics) . At Heathrow, both runways could be used at the same time, because they are located far from each other.

Distance and transportation - another problem for Gatwick

Gatwick is located 52km (or 32 miles) south from Central London, and if you use a car to get there, there is a high possibility that you will spend quite a lot of time in a traffic jam. The journey from Central London to Gatwick by car/taxi will take no less than 1 hour, so it's sort of, not useful.

Heathrow is located just 26km (or 16 miles) west from Central London, which is twice closer, than Gatwick is. Also, towards the west there is somehow a less possibility to get stuck in a traffic jam, as far as I know.

There is also an express train running between Heathrow and London Paddington station, and between Gatwick and London Victoria station. The express train to Heathrow takes just 15-20 minutes (that's surprising!) from London, while the express train to Gatwick takes usually 35 minutes, sometimes even 40-45 minutes, and that's not an exaggeration. It's the information from my own experience.
What about building a new airport away from London?
My opinion is that UK government could build a large international airport on river Thames nearby Canvey Island, which is approximately 40 miles from Central London. The capacity of the airport could be as large as 100 million passengers per year. Road to the airport could pass either nearby Canvey Rd or from the south, nearby villages of High Halstow and Cooling. Or we can say that the airport would be located on water (like Hong Kong airport) about 10 miles south-west from Southend-on-Sea city. I also thought about the name of the airport - it could be simply named as London-Essex International Airport, or it could be named after architect Peter Cook, who was born in the city of Southend-on-Sea.
London-Essex Airport - a replacement for Heathrow!
Not a long time ago, but I have read somewhere that the government wants/plans to shut down Heathrow and instead on the same place build something different, I think houses (sorry I can't remember). Well, of course, everyone is used to Heathrow. No one probably wishes for it to close forever. But just in case of replacement, building an airport at an artificial island would be useful. I mean makimg Essex Airport a major one in the UK. Then, if Peter Cook International Airport would replace Heathrow, then it has to have the capacity of at least 120 million passengers per year. It could have about 6-7 runways, so that there won't be any problems with heavy traffic. The government could also plan up the express train from the city centre to the airport - but at least the journey time should take 30 minutes.
Airport located very close to planned London-Essex Airport - London Southend!
Southend Airport doesn't take an important role at London air transportation. It is not even as important as low-cost airports such as Luton or Stansted. In 2014, Southend served only 1,1 million passengers. So why should it exist? I am not being mean, but there is no point to keep this airport working for regular flights, if there are just about 20 flights per day, no more than that. All flights could move either to Gatwick, either to Stansted, or either to Luton. Airport can continue working as an aviation museum for tourists.

                 Malaysia Airlines Airbus A380 at London Heathrow Airport.

                 Emirates Airbus A380 taking off from London Heathrow Airport


Well guys, that's it for now. You can read Part 2 where I discuss about Dubai Airport. I hope you enjoyed this blog :).