Heathrow Airport (/ˌhiːθˈroʊ, ˈhiːθroʊ/),[6] called London Airport until 1966 (IATA: LHR, ICAO: EGLL),[7] is the main international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others being Gatwick, City, Luton, Stansted and Southend). The airport is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings, owned mostly by Qatar Investment Authority, Public Investment Fund and CDPQ.[8] In 2023, Heathrow was the busiest airport in Europe,[9] the fourth-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic and the second-busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic. As of 2023, Heathrow is the airport with the most international connections in the world.[10]
Heathrow was founded as a small airfield in 1930[11] but was developed into a much larger airport after World War II. It lies 14 miles (23 kilometres) west of Central London on a site that covers 4.74 square miles (12.3 square kilometres). It was gradually expanded over 75 years and now has two parallel east–west runways, four operational passenger terminals and one cargo terminal.[7] The airport is the primary hub for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
Location
Heathrow is 14 miles (23 km) west of Central London.[7] It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Hounslow, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Hayes, and 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Staines-upon-Thames.
Heathrow falls entirely within the boundaries of the London Borough of Hillingdon, and under the Twickenham postcode area, with the postcode TW6. It is surrounded by the villages of Sipson, Harlington, Harmondsworth, and Longford to the north and the neighbourhoods of Cranford and Hatton to the east. To the south lie Feltham, Bedfont and Stanwell while to the west Heathrow is separated from Slough, Horton and Windsor in Berkshire by the M25 motorway. The airport is located within the Hayes and Harlington parliamentary constituency.
As the airport is located west of London and as its runways run east–west, an aircraft's landing approach is usually directly over the Greater London Urban Area when the wind is from the south-west — as it is, most of the time.
The airport forms part of a travel to work area consisting of (most of) Greater London, and neighbouring parts of the surrounding Home Counties.
Old Warden Aerodrome (ICAO: EGTH) is located 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) east southeast of Bedford, in Bedfordshire, England. The privately owned aerodrome serves The Shuttleworth Collection, which contains a large working collection of vintage aircraft, cars, motor cycles and agricultural vehicles and equipment.
The PAC P-750 XSTOL, (formerly known as the PAC 750XL) is a utility aircraft of conventional all-metal low-wing monoplane design, with fixed tricycle undercarriage. Combining the engine and wings of the PAC Cresco with a new larger fuselage and modified tail, all versions to date have been powered by a 750 hp (560 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop. It is designed and manufactured in Hamilton, New Zealand, by Pacific Aerospace Limited.
