The new purpose-built home for Star Alliance at Heathrow Airport officially swung open its doors yesterday welcoming more than 4,000 passengers within the first 8 hours of operation – and it was all smooth sailing.
All 23 Star Alliance airlines servicing the UK hub will be operating from the terminal, marking a new travel experience for more than 12 million Star passengers who pass through Heathrow each year.
United Airlines is the first to move into the facility, formally known as Terminal 2 | the Queen’s Terminal for her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which will welcome all other member-airlines over the course of 6 months.
“After many years of planning and construction, tests and optimisation, we at Star Alliance are proud to welcome the first passengers into the new terminal,” said Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab.
“It is particularly fitting that one of our five founder members, United, should operate the first flights from this terminal, which sets new standards for Alliance customer service and seamless travel at this important hub airport.”
Designed by Luis Vidal, Terminal 2 aims to establish a seamless hub at the busy international airport optimised to meet growing demands from today’s air traveller. Once all airlines are in residence, connections for transfer passengers will be smoother than ever before allowing a standardised minimum connection time of just 60 minutes.
Air Canada, Air China and ANA will be the next new occupants, transferring their operations to T2 from June 18th. In July, Aegean, EVA Air, THAI, and Turkish Airlines will move in, together with Avianca – which will launch a service between London and Bogota on July 4.
Moves will then resume in September with EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines and Singapore Airlines and from October Air New Zealand, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, South African Airways, SWISS and TAP Portugal.
Together the airlines operate over 121 flights each day to 45 destinations in 25 countries and each of these flights acts as a gateway to the full Alliance network of more than 18,000 daily flights to 1,269 airports in 193 countries.
Four airline lounges will be available for premium passengers, including those with Star Alliance Gold status.
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