Heathrow Airport

Heathrow Airport, also known as London Heathrow^[2] (IATA: LHR, ICAO: EGLL), is a major international airport in London, United Kingdom. Heathrow is the second busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic, as well as the busiest airport in Europe by passenger traffic, and the seventh busiest airport in the world by total passenger traffic. It is one of six international airports serving Greater London. In 2018, it handled a record 80.1 million passengers, a 2.7% increase from 2017 as well as 477,604 aircraft movements, an increase of 1,821 from 2017.^[1] The airport facility is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings.

Heathrow lies 14 miles (23 km) west of Central London,^[2] and has two parallel east–west runways along with four operational terminals on a site that covers 12.27 square kilometres (4.74 sq mi). The airport is the primary hub for British Airways and the primary operating base for Virgin Atlantic.

In September 2012, the Government of the United Kingdom established the Airports Commission, an independent commission chaired by Sir Howard Davies to examine various options for increasing capacity at UK airports. In July 2015, the commission backed a third runway at Heathrow, which the government approved in October 2016.^[3]^[4]^[5]