Star Alliance Announces Heathrow Changes

Star Alliance has released details of changes that are to be made at London Heathrow. The operation named by Star Alliance as the ‘Move under one roof’ will take place in phases and is not due to be completed until 2012.

Phase 1 of the project will see a major overhaul of Terminal 1 which will include a new 1,650 square meter departure lounge to open on June 10^th. Phase 2 will then begin towards the end of the year after Terminal 2 is closed and will see all Star Alliance member airlines currently operating in Terminal 2 moved. These include Lufthansa, SWISS, TAP Portugal and Croatia Airlines, who are all expected to relocate in October and November.

The remaining Star Alliance members at Heathrow will continue to operate from Terminal 3 until 2012. Star Alliance CEO, Jaan Albrecht said: “Of all our ‘Move under one roof’ projects, Heathrow is admittedly the most challenging. In an ideal world, we would already like to offer our customers a new, state-of-the art facility today.”

“But needing to make use of the existing infrastructure, we will only be able to achieve this through a phased approach together with the BAA and our member carriers. The end result will, however, be a completely new customer experience at Heathrow, which will set a new standard for the industry.”

Whilst the ‘Move under one roof’ operation is underway, Star Alliance are planning a number of ongoing improvements to Heathrow Terminal 3, which include check-in, gate, and lounge area refurbishments.