LHR new Terminal 2 - a tour..

So, I was lucky enough to get a personal tour around Terminal 2 yesterday, with the site manager. We walked around most of the building (!) including all the areas of the passenger journey.

A few photos below.. and happy to answer any questions..

T2A: It's almost finished, but still an incredibly busy building site.. with 3500 workmen on site today. The scale of the project is incredible, and runway operations have not been affected at all throughtout the entire construction!

Check-in area almost complete. There will be four zones (A to D) with Aer Lingus and VS Little Red in Zone C. Self-service check-in is the plan, including printing and fixing your own bag tags.. before taking them forward to a bag drop off desk. There will of course be premium desks - these are in the 'third row', behind the bag drops desks. Their ratio of check-in machines to expected pax is FAR higher than T5.

X-ray: latest Siemens models, with extra area front and rear for loading and unloading trays. Separate area, behind a wall, for fast track, with ability to spill that over into staff security lanes if fast track gets busy. [The pathway looks far more worked out than the appalling mess at T5, with more space and clearer routes.]

Standard detectors.. no body scanners planned. Although they have the space, and the wiring, should body scanners be needed in the future.

The departure lounge. Fairly T5-ish in design, in layout, in planned retail, etc. Some cool bits planned, such as interactive zones with holograms, and stuff.. (!) Several high-end restaurants planned, including one Michelin-starred chef. Not GR. Usual shops.

One of the gates - this one is for an A380, with separate jetbridges.

The apron. All the concrete around the entire terminal was replaced. Looking good.

Ermm.. me.. in the departure lounge. To get a sense of scale... it's similar to T5A.

Immigration. HUGE hall.. very US style in size. Desk numbers and ratios about to change, but looking like being 12 ish e-gates, and 30-ish manned stations.

Immigration desks. Very open, and airy, and cool lighting, and 'glassy'!

Baggage reclaim. 8 huge reclaims, each capable of taking an A380's worth of bags! Plus 2 smaller reclaims for domestic, in a separate walled off area.

Back landside, at the opening of Interbational Arrivals. Still lots of work to be done cosmetically in the landside areas.. but they're on target for all completion and opening dates. First flight is the United airlines early morning arrival on 4 June 2014. With only United airlines operating out of the terminal for the first 2 weeks.. then other *A airlines start to come in, in a staged addition.

[buns]

Thanks for the pics y) y) y)

What a difference to the original

buns

It's looking good.
I really enjoyed my tour.. amazing to see an airport terminal before the airlines and pax arrive, but also good to see things in the unfinished state!

[honey lamb]

Thanks for posting y) y) y)

I can't wait to try it out when Aer Lingus move over there

The Aer Lingus biz lounge is huge!!! Apparently the biggest Aer Lingus lounge outside Ireland. With cool southern runway views.

Amazing, thank you!

Did you get to see the lounge LIttle Red will use? Will it be Servisair like at T1?

There will be a 'Plaza Premium lounge' - it's not officially confirmed yet if that's what Little Red (and Priority Pass) will use.

"The lounge will feature a live cooking station serving made-to-order dishes, a daily tapas selection at the champagne bar,and an a la carte menu with ‘guest recipes’ by British celebrity chefs. The lounge design will feature a whole new interior concept and will also include an airport spa packed with treatments designed to tackle travel fatigue and ailments – enhancing the airport experience altogether."

Thanks for posting this -- fascinating.

Purely out of interest (and envy!), how did you come to get a tour?

Long story..! but needless to say, the only other people who have had tours are politicians and airline execs.

Long story..! but needless to say, the only other people who have had tours are politicians and airline execs.

Nearly all

Very interesting to see the work in progress, well almost finished?
Is it true that all the passengers will have to don hard hats and high vis waistcoats to comply with the new health and safety regs which will be in force come the opening.
Regardless it will be a great improvement on the facilities it replaces, finger crossed that lessons have been learned from the "problems" encountered in the early days of T5!

Thanks for posting, can't wait to see and try it out

They've already been stress testing the baggage systems... sticking 500 bags into the system, and then deliberately 'breaking' a section of the belt. Just to test/practice fixes to get everything running...

Oh, and here's a video, with CGI that matches very closely to what I saw!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPepLc2zNAU

Fascinating, thanks for posting y) y)

Looks amazing. Thanks for sharing. Far cry from the old cramped T2!

thanks for sharing those pics.
great to have a sneak preview.