• The new Terminal 2 is to be rebranded to become ‘The Queen’s Terminal’ when it opens on June 4
• Spacious new air transit facility will be able to handle 20million passengers a year, flying to 51 destinations
  

By DAMIEN GAYLE   in mailonline.com UK

NATARAJAN

Heathrow Airport’s new Terminal 2 is set to open in months, giving the capital a spacious new air transit point able to handle 20million passengers a year.

Replacing the old, overcrowded Terminal 2 which had stood since the Fifties, the new facility was today hailed as a cornerstone of Heathrow’s revitalisation ahead of its opening on June 4.

Shafts of natural light and high quality acoustics should make the building a calm space for travellers accustomed to high anxiety at dark, noisy airports, said lead architect Luis Vidal.

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Spacious: British artist Richard Wilson’s sculpture Slipstream dominates this view of the new Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport on April 23, 2014 in London, England. The rebuilding of the transit point has taken five years at a cost of £2.5billion, but it is finally slated to open on June 4

Gateway to the world: The departure area of the new ‘Queen’s Terminal’, which is expected to manage up to 20million passengers every year

Breath of fresh air: Visitors walk past a doorway at the new building, which replaces the old, overcrowded Terminal 2 which had stood since the Fifties

‘If you make it intuitive, pleasant, joyful, you can take away a completely different memory of the terminal,’ Mr Vidal told The Associated Press.

‘You can never completely erase your memory of the former Terminal 2, because it was a dreadful experience. This will be completely the opposite. This will be a destination. People will want to come here.’

In an effort to dispense with those past bad associations, the new Terminal 2 will be rebranded as ‘The Queen’s Terminal’. Queen Elizabeth will open the building herself – just as she did the original Terminal 2 in 1955.

The completion of the £2.5billion project, in conjunction with the relatively new Terminal 5 that opened in 2008, gives Heathrow two modern terminals. It is part of an £11billion refurbishment designed to keep London’s biggest airport competitive with other major European hubs including Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris.

The Slipstream sculpture is the centrepiece of the development, hanging 18m above the ground with a design intended to evoke the path of a plane in flight

Luxurious: With London increasingly becoming a destination of choice for the world’s super-rich, Terminal 2 will have no shortage of pricey shops

World of possibility: A construction worker puts the finishing touches to a sign at Terminal 2, which is to be rebranded ‘The Queen’s Terminal’ when it opens this summer

The Queen’s Terminal will host 26 airlines, including United, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines and others that are part of the global Star Alliance, and offer flights to 51 destinations.

Of course, with London increasingly becoming a destination of choice for the world’s super-rich, Terminal 2 will have no shortage of pricey shops.

Officials say Terminal 2 will be the first in the world to offer a ‘complimentary personal shopping lounge where trained stylists will present a curated range of products for each client.’

The interior of the new terminal is dominated by a huge aluminium sculpture hanging 18m above the ground that is inspired by the flight path of a stunt place.

British artist Richard Wilson’s ‘Slipstream’ weighs 77 tonnes and is 78m in length, its vast bulk looming above the terminal’s main lobby and escalators, evoking the journeys that those who see it are set to embark on.

Slipstream weighs 77 tonnes and is 78m in length, its vast bulk looming above the terminal’s main lobby and escalators

Airport officials chastened by the chaos that plagued the opening of Terminal 5 in 2008 are planning a ‘soft’ opening of the new terminal

Only one flight is planned the first day so, even if things go awry, the number of people affected will be small

The new terminal will gradually be brought to full capacity over six months

Chastened by the problems that plagued the opening of Terminal 5, which included chaos when the luggage handling system broke down, airport officials are planning a ‘soft’ opening of the new terminal.

Only one flight is planned the first day so, even if things go awry, the number of people affected will be small.

The new terminal will gradually be brought to full capacity over six months.

Queues at the old Terminal 2: The old, overcrowded terminal building had stood since the Fifties

Old fashioned: The building suffered from poor design and a lack of natural light, problems exacerbated by its handling far more passengers than it was ever intended to

Passengers try to sleep on uncomfortable seats at Terminal 2 after the UK’s then newly privatised air traffic control system crashed

Heathrow officials say they are still pushing to build a controversial third runway, which is opposed by London Mayor Boris Johnson and influential environmental groups.

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow’s development director, said the completion of the new terminal shows Heathrow has complied with the last Labour government’s directive that Heathrow should improve without growing.

‘Our challenge now is to make the case to expand,’ he said, admitting that getting permission would be ‘politically complex.’

Mr Holland-Kaye said private money is available to pay for a third runway, which would greatly add to Heathrow’s capacity.

He also claimed the new Terminal 2 would reduce the ‘stacking’ problem over Heathrow that often causes delays as planes await permission to land.