London Heathrow: Europe's Largest Airport Guide

Europe's Largest Airport: An Overview

London Heathrow (IATA: LHR) is the United Kingdom's primary international airport and, by total passenger numbers, the busiest airport in Europe. It handled 79.2 million passengers in 2023 and serves over 200 destinations from five terminals. The airport sits in the London Borough of Hillingdon, 24 kilometres west of central London, and operates on two parallel runways that handle over 470,000 aircraft movements annually — approaching the physical limit of what two runways can accommodate without adding a third, a project that has been debated and delayed for over 40 years.

Heathrow is privately owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings, whose shareholders include Ferrovial, Qatar Investment Authority, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, among others. The ownership structure means the airport operates commercially rather than as a public utility, with implications for pricing — Heathrow charges among the highest aeronautical fees of any major hub, which passes through to ticket prices for passengers and contributes to Heathrow's high cost base.

Despite Heathrow's dominance, the airport consistently scores lower on passenger satisfaction surveys than Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt, and Zurich. The gap is attributable to the age and fragmentation of its terminal estate, the chronic congestion caused by operating at over 95 percent of runway capacity, and the ground transport journey that, while improved by the Crossrail (Elizabeth Line) connection opened in 2022, still involves navigating a large and complex transit system before reaching central London.

Five Terminal Guide

Terminal 2, known as The Queen's Terminal and opened in 2014, is Heathrow's newest and most pleasant passenger facility. It handles Star Alliance carriers including United Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways, and approximately 25 other Star Alliance members. The terminal features a large central atrium with natural light, a wayfinding concept that received design awards at opening, and the best overall retail and dining offer of any Heathrow terminal. Its connection to the Underground and Elizabeth Line stations via a covered walkway is the most intuitive inter-modal transit link in the airport.

Terminal 3 handles oneWorld alliance carriers including British Airways' long-haul operations to North America and Asia, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, and Qantas. It also handles some non-aligned carriers including Emirates and Virgin Atlantic. T3 is older than T2, having been built in the late 1960s and expanded in the 1990s, and its interior feels correspondingly dated in comparison. The domestic terminal connecting T3 to short-haul BA operations is separate and reached by a bus transfer, a logistics challenge that frustrates passengers connecting between transatlantic and domestic UK flights.

Terminal 5, exclusively used by British Airways for its domestic, European, and most short-haul operations, is architecturally the most impressive building at Heathrow. Designed by Richard Rogers and opened in 2008, it features a 396-metre-long main building with a curved steel-and-glass roof inspired by the Duxford air museum. T5 operates as a mini-airport within the larger complex, with its own transit system between the main building (5A) and two satellite buildings (5B and 5C) reached by an underground shuttle. British Airways' premium lounges — the Concorde Room, Galleries First, and Galleries Club — are all located in T5.

Terminals 4 and 5 handle SkyTeam alliance carriers and some independent airlines including Malaysian Airlines and South African Airways. Terminal 4 requires a separate rail journey from the main terminal complex via the Heathrow Terminal 4 spur on the Piccadilly Line, which makes connections between T4 and other terminals more time-consuming than the internal connections elsewhere in the airport. Passengers with connections involving T4 should allow at least 90 minutes for international-to-international transfers.

Getting to London from Heathrow

The Elizabeth Line (Crossrail), which opened its Heathrow section in 2022, provides the fastest affordable connection between the airport and central London. Trains run every 10 minutes at peak times and take approximately 32 minutes to reach Paddington, with a direct connection at Paddington to the rest of the National Rail network and the Baker Street–Jubilee Line interchange. The through-running service continues beyond Paddington to Farringdon, Liverpool Street, and Stratford without changing trains. A single fare from Heathrow (any terminal) to central London costs £12.40 using a contactless card, £13.00 with an Oyster card, or £15.00 for a paper ticket — the contactless option is always the cheapest and most convenient.

The Heathrow Express non-stop train service to Paddington operates every 15 minutes and takes 15 minutes, but costs £37 one-way at the standard walk-up fare — three times the Elizabeth Line price for a journey that saves 17 minutes. For most leisure travellers, the Elizabeth Line is the clear choice; the Heathrow Express justified itself primarily in the era before the Elizabeth Line offered frequent, reliable service on the same corridor.

The Piccadilly Line, London Underground's primary airport service before Crossrail, connects all Heathrow terminals to central London with journeys of 45–55 minutes to King's Cross and approximately 35 minutes to Hammersmith. The fare is the same as the Elizabeth Line via Oyster/contactless (£5.10 in Zone 6 to Zone 1 off-peak). The Piccadilly Line trains are older and less comfortable than Elizabeth Line trains, but they run 24 hours on weekends and offer a broader range of connections for passengers travelling to areas east of central London.

British Airways Lounges

British Airways operates an extensive lounge estate at Heathrow T5 and T3 that caters to the airline's tiered frequent flyer programme. The Concorde Room, the flagship facility in T5, occupies the upper level of the departures area and is accessible only to First Class passengers and Executive Club Gold card holders. It features private suites for sleeping or working, a dedicated butler service, the Pollen Street Social restaurant serving a menu developed with chef Jason Atherton, and a dedicated bar with a cocktail programme managed by BA's in-house beverage team.

The Galleries First Lounge in T5 is the next tier down and handles the overflow from the Concorde Room, serving First Class passengers who prefer more social dining alongside Club World (Business Class) passengers. The food quality is high — a full hot buffet with a carving station, sushi selection, and British cheese board — but the seating density during the morning peak can make finding a quiet spot challenging. The Galleries Club Lounge, accessible to Club World passengers and Executive Club Gold members, is larger still and functions more efficiently at scale, with multiple food stations distributed through a space that can seat over 400 passengers.