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London Heathrow Airport (IATA airport code: LHR, ICAO airport code: EGLL, and often simply Heathrow) is the United Kingdom's busiest and best-connected airport.
As of 2003, it also handles more international passenger traffic than any other airport in the world (see also: world's busiest airport). Heathrow Airport is in Heathrow in the London Borough of Hillingdon in the west of London, United Kingdom.
Heathrow began its life in the 1930s as the Great Western Aerodrome. The airport was named after either Judge John Heath or the hamlet Heath Row, which was destroyed as a result of the airport being built.
Until the outbreak of World War Two, little of London's commercial traffic was handled by Heathrow. In 1944 Heathrow came under control of the Ministry of Air. Harold Balfour (then Under-Secretary of State for Air 1938-1944 and later Lord Balfour) wrote, in his 1973 autobiography Wings over Westminster, that he deliberately deceived the government committee that a requisition was necessary in order that Heathrow could be used as a bomber base. In fact, Balfour wrote, that he always intended the site to be used for civil aviation and used a wartime emergency requisition order to avoid a lengthy and costly public inquiry. Certainly the Royal Air Force never made use of the airport and its control was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on January 1, 1946.
The airport opened fully for civilian use on May 31, 1946. By 1947 Heathrow had three runways with three more under construction. These older runways, built for piston-engined planes, were short and criss-crossed to allow flights for all wind conditions. The first concrete slab of the first modern runway was ceremonially placed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. She also opened the first terminal building, the Europa Building (later renamed Terminal 2), in 1955. Shortly afterwards the Oceanic Terminal (later renamed Terminal 3) became operational. Terminal 1 was opened to the public in 1968, completing the cluster of buildings at the centre of the Heathrow site.
In 1977, the London Underground was extended to Heathrow, connecting the airport with Central London in just under an hour via the Piccadilly Line.
The Brinks Mat robbery occurred on November 26, 1983 when 6,800 gold bars worth nearly UK£26 million were taken from the Brinks Mat vault at Heathrow. Only a fraction of the gold was ever recovered and only two men were convicted of the crime.
On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182, which was flying on a Toronto-Montreal-London-Delhi-Mumbai route, exploded in midair over the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland, killing all of the passengers aboard.
Terminal 4 was built away from the three older terminals, to the south of the southern runway. The terminal opened in 1986 and became the home for then newly privatized British Airways. In 1987, the British Government privatized the British Airports Authority (now just "BAA"), and gave it ownership of seven of Britain's airports including Heathrow.
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