Heathrow Airport is the most congested in Europe

The Association of European Airlines has released statistics for the first three months of the year that indicate that around half of all flights arriving or departing from Heathrow Airport are fifteen minutes late. Of the 27 airports included in the statistics, Heathrow Airport was rated the worst and has been one of the worst five performers for over four years.

Heathrow Airport recently unveiled its Terminal five which cost over four billion pounds to construct. Instead of easing congestion for the airport it has done little more than add to the already lengthy delays. Currently the average delay a passenger can expect at Heathrow Airport is almost 47 minutes.

15 per cent of delays were caused by air traffic control which is already operating at full capacity. Another 11 per cent of delays were caused by the handling or loading of each plane. A spokesman for Heathrow Airport claims that “Heathrow’s two runways are operating at capacity, which means small events such as adverse weather, can cause major delays and disruption.” And that “Other airports, which have plenty of spare runway capacity, do not suffer these problems.”

There are proposals to build a third runway and a sixth terminal during the next decade at Heathrow Airport but many protest the concept. With an already overloaded airport, adding more flights will only compound the problem and create additional chaos claim opponents. Any proposal that will be accepted will have to pass pollution and noise tests as Heathrow is located in a highly populated area.

www.heathrowairport.com