At the time of its opening in 1968, Terminal 1 at Heathrow was the largest airport terminal in Europe.
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Its closure now marks the next step in the transformation of Heathrow.
British Airways presently operates approximately 700 flights a day at Heathrow and carries more than 110,000 customers to and from the airport on busy days.
Heathrow’s Terminal 1 building will close tomorrow, 47 years after it was opened by the Queen.
Captain Paul Imhoff, in charge of the flight to Hanover, said: “I was inspired to become a pilot by family trips down to Heathrow Terminal 1, so it is a really nice honour and symmetry that I can lead the team on the last ever flight to depart from the terminal”.
BEA operated a shuttle service to Glasgow which launched from Terminal 1 – this was a service from which passengers could simply turn up and pay on board.
The move is part of Heathrows £11 billion investment that has included Terminal 5 A, B and C, a new control tower, a refurbishment of Terminals 3 and 4, and previous year the new Terminal 2A and B.
“Our efforts to make this one of the best airports in the world have been recognised and we now need permission to expand Heathrow to take our country even further”.
Terminal 1 was the biggest short-haul terminal of its kind in Western Europe and handled nine million passengers a year at full capacity. “Terminal 1 has served Britain well for almost 50 years, but will soon make way for the expansion of Terminal 2, giving Britain a world class airport that we can all be proud of”, Kaye said.
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Heathrow’s management has gradually moved airlines to other terminals and now only British Airways uses Terminal 1.
