Heathrow Airport to Undergo Dramatic Changes

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Olympic Arrivals Test Heathrows Limits
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• Quite a while before the July 27th opening of
  the Olympic Games, London Heathrow Airport
  celebrated the vital role it would play in the
  success of this years Games by hanging an
  enormous set of Olympic rings in its busy
  Terminal 5. Shortly thereafter, passengers and
  Olympic officials resumed questioning whether the
  airport was up to the task of handling Olympic
  traffic. Critics had plenty of reasons to be
  sceptical in the weeks leading up to the Games.

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• Earlier this year, Heathrow suffered staff
  shortages severe enough to cause immigration wait
  times in excess of triple BAAs target period.
  Travellers with British or E.U. passports should
  not wait more than 25 minutes to clear customs
  and all other passport holders should be
  processed within 45 minutes, according to BAAs
  own standards. Once in late April, many customers
  were still waiting to enter the country after
  public transportation had shut down for the
  night. Heathrow and the airlines had to hire
  Heathrow airport taxis to take the delayed
  travellers home.

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• At the end of June, travellers arriving at
  Heathrow endured similar, though less severe
  customs frustrations. Annoyed customers reported
  empty stations and queue times of up to two and
  one half hours and lines up to half a mile. With
  such airport traffic jams occurring under fairly
  normal conditions, many wondered if Heathrow
  could handle the strain of processing hundreds of
  thousands of Olympic athletes, officials and
  spectators.

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• To allay concerns over the airports
  readiness, BAA related that Border Force stations
  would be covered during the highest Olympic
  arrival times by Home Office personnel. The main
  influx of Olympic participants began on July
  15th, though athletes had been filtering in for
  weeks. Heathrow also recruited 1,000 volunteers
  to lighten the workload, half of whom were called
  in on Monday, July 16th. Pink accreditation desks
  were also scattered throughout Heathrow, though
  they did not take the place of regular
  immigration procedures.

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• Despite the misgivings of passengers and
  other airport critics, Heathrow has handled the
  flow of Olympic passengers smoothly and
  efficiently. VIP buses were lined up waiting to
  take arriving teams to the Olympic Village, and
  London prepared for heightened congestion by
  designating Olympic-only traffic lanes. Though
  these lanes have done much to expedite Olympians
  arrival at the Olympic Park, they are not helping
  regular traffic.

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• Travellers arriving at or departing Heathrow
  during the Games would do well to hire Heathrow
  taxis. As has been previously demonstrated,
  immigration lines can make relying on public
  transportation risky. Traveling via Heathrow
  Airport taxi is usually quicker and more
  convenient anyway, especially since Heathrow
  taxis are allowed in bus lanes, unlike other car
  traffic.

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