Heathrow to open Terminal 3 on 1st June – but only for ‘red list’ arrivals

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• Sam G says:

  21 May21 May 18:40

  Bit curious that it’s only direct arrivals – most of those are banned currently! It would make sense for the UK govt to now allow ME3 & anyone else that wants to operate direct flights in, rather than having red passengers mixing with amber (and maybe green soon) as they’re being forced to transit via Europe etc

  I concur, likely the aircraft will be handled at their departure terminals with the inbound passengers bussed to T3 (& then T4) – this way they won’t need any ground handlers etc over there & most of T4 can still remain mothballed

  • James Pleasant says:

    21 May21 May 18:52

    With any luck, they’ll allow planes from Red countries to fly direct again (currently some can, some can’t).

    Much better than making Red people transit through another country.

• Kevin C says:

  21 May21 May 18:43

  Yes, yes, but does this mean the Qantas lounge will be opening. 🙂

  • Andrew says:

    21 May21 May 20:47

    Not until late 2022

• Tarmohamed says:

  21 May21 May 19:46

  Even if red list passengers get bussed to T3, it may be a challenge for manage the baggage as well?

  • James Pleasant says:

    21 May21 May 19:50

    Not really.

  • ChrisC says:

    21 May21 May 20:19

    It’s no big deal to move planes from one terminal to another.

    They regularly moved planes from jet bridge gates to go to an isolated stand or to a hangar for example.

    Much easier to land at T3, unload everything then tug to T2 where the departures processes can take place.

    Most baggage is containerised so could be tugged but why go to that effort when you don’t have to?

    .

    • Tarmohamed says:

      21 May21 May 20:26

      Heathrow could possibly require the airlines to keep red list baggage in separate containers?

      • James Pleasant says:

        21 May21 May 20:32

        Why? I never really believed you could catch Covid-19 from touching stuff – most of these coronavirus diseases (& the common cold, flu etc) spread by inhalation of viral load.

        If that’s what you mean.

      • ChrisC says:

        21 May21 May 20:45

        To what end? They are coming in on a red list flight and so will be separate anyway!

        The more steps you add into the process – like unloading at one terminal then tugging to another to then upload at T3s baggage systems – means more scope for things to go wrong.

        As I said landing at one terminal and departing from another is not an issue for an organised airport like LHR. HAL and the airlines might not like it but they will cope.

      • marcw says:

        21 May21 May 22:38

        Not all airlines/planes use containers.

• Mike says:

  21 May21 May 21:41

  It would be useful to have coaches lined up and military escorts from the terminal directly to the quarantine hotel – it appears to have worked in other countries

• Stuart says:

  21 May21 May 23:23

  So what happens when you come in from a green as you transited there from a red

  • Track says:

    22 May22 May 17:17

    Red.

    Surprised at the above story that an aircraft from Doha picking up passengers in Helsinki mixes red and amber onboard, and Helsinki-boarded still considered amber.

    • WaynedP says:

      22 May22 May 17:28

      +1 makes no sense.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if “Amber” disappears completely fairly soon.

      Unfortunately I agree with Heathrow spokesperson that we’re likely to be stuck with “Red” for foreseeable future 🙁

• Nick says:

  22 May22 May 00:45

  Interesting that it’s not T4 straight away. That means they’ve either found something seriously wrong there or they were forced by govt pressure to prepare it so hastily they had to go for the one they were already ramping up to reopen instead. My money is on the latter.

  • Dubious says:

    22 May22 May 03:33

    I expect it would be operationally challenging / introduces greater complexity towing aircraft from T4 across the runway to T2 on a regular basis. Towing the aircraft from T3 around the corner to T2 seems a lot more straightforward by comparison.

    • Heathrow Flyer says:

      22 May22 May 07:18

      No aircraft will be towed anywhere. Pax will be bussed from T5/2 to T3. T4 couldn’t be prepared in time for 1 June, therefore T3 (where un-mothballing had already begun) had to be used.

  • Track says:

    22 May22 May 17:19

    Add to it, HAL would like the Government to pay for the opening of T4.

• 1ATL says:

  22 May22 May 04:43

  “We’re adapting Heathrow to this longer-term reality by initially opening a dedicated arrivals facility in Terminal 3 from 1 June for red list passengers arriving on direct flights”

  So ANY flight arriving directly from a red list country will arrive here. I don’t see any need for busses. All red passengers will be arriving at a dedicated facility where they can be processed and kept away from green and amber arriving passengers. Bags will be reclaimed in T3 as would normally be the case for arriving passengers.This would include BA as well as other airlines currently using T2 such as Virgin and Air India. Aircraft can then be manoeuvred by ground tug to T5/T2 for their respective onward passengers.

• Dev says:

  22 May22 May 06:03

  What’s the point? Most direct flights from red list countries are banned (save for a few!) and most red list passengers are having to come via in-direct (non-red flights). They will still mix with Amber/green pax at T5 and T2.

  The better approach would have been to allow direct flights from red list countries BUT ban red list pax from taking in-direct (non-red flights), and landing them all in one dedicated terminal.

  This proposed set up is too complex, and bound to go wrong.

  • Track says:

    22 May22 May 17:22

    How can you ban a passenger from travelling with stopovers.

    Particularly if they themselves can be re-routed, and red/amber lists changing. Last year, travel rules were changing on 48h notice.

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