1.
Hounslow
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Hounslow is the principal town in the London Borough of Hounslow in Greater London and is part of the historic county of Middlesex. It is a suburban district 10.6 miles west south-west of Charing Cross, a minority of its workers are employed in Central London, to which the town is connected by rail and tube. Hounslow is part of the TW3 postcode area, though areas to the west are in TW4 instead. The population of the town, comprising the Hounslow Central, Hounslow Heath, the name Hounslow is spelt in old records as Hundeslow and similar, pointing to Anglo-Saxon Hundes hlāw, meaning the dogs mound or the mound of a man named or nicknamed Hound. Positioned on the Bath Road, Hounslow was centred around Holy Trinity Priory founded in 1211, the priory developed what had been a small village into a town with regular markets and other facilities for travellers heading to and from London. Although the priory was dissolved in 1539 the town remained an important staging post on the Bath Road, the adjacent Hounslow Heath that had been used as a military encampment by both Oliver Cromwell and James II developed a reputation as the haunt of highwaymen and footpads. Nearby important landowners included those of Osterley House, Syon House, Hanworth Park House, in 1756 Sir Thomas Morris, a distant relative of Bernard Matthews, established the base of his chicken farming empire. As a rich philanthropist who started from humble beginnings, he used his wealth to establish a school for the privileged children of the town. The building of the Great Western Railway line from London to Bristol from 1838 reduced long-distance travel along the Bath Road, by 1842 the local paper was reporting that the formerly flourishing village, which used to stable 2,000 horses, was suffering a general depreciation of property. The Hounslow Loop Line was constructed in 1850, prompting new development, the construction of the Great West Road in the 1920s attracted the building of the factories and headquarters of large companies. The factories were a local source of employment until a decline in the 1970s, attracting workers from a wide area. The settlement is also employed in the Commuter Belt with access between 45 and 60 minutes from most of Central London. DHL Air UK has its office in the Orbital Park in Hounslow. The M4 motorway is 2& mi north, its nearest junction, J3, the A315 is the historic WSW road out of London on which Hounslows High Street is placed. To the east, it bisects Isleworth, Brentford and Chiswick, to the west it bisects North Feltham and Bedfont before joining the A30. The north-south A312, The Parkway, to the west of Hounslow leads south to Hampton or north to Harrow passing Waggoners Roundabout, Hayes, Yeading, three minor roads converge on Heston from the A315 in parts of Hounslow, the A3063, A3005 and B363. For longer journeys north, the M4, A4 or A30 then M25 provides the best routes, for longer journeys south, Hanworth Road leads to the A316 that becomes the M3 motorway. Hounslow railway station, operated by South West Trains is on the line to London Waterloo station, or westwards to Reading
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
SkyTeam
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Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three major airline alliances to be formed, the first two being Star Alliance and Oneworld. As of March 2014, SkyTeam consists of 20 carriers from five continents and it also operates a cargo alliance named SkyTeam Cargo, which partners ten carriers, all of them SkyTeam members. Its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, is based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands. In terms of passengers, with 665.4 million carried passengers, SkyTeam has grown and is now the largest alliance in the world ahead of Star Alliance. In 2004, the alliance had its biggest expansion when Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines, garuda Indonesia entered the alliance in March 2014. As of March 2014, SkyTeam flies to more than 1,000 destinations in 178 countries and operates some 15,700 daily flights with a fleet of over 4,400 aircraft. The alliance and its members have a workforce of 459,781, furthermore. On 22 June 2000, representatives of Aeroméxico, Air France, Delta Air Lines and these became the four founding carriers of SkyTeam. Upon its formation, SkyTeam would offer its customers a total of 6,402 daily flights to 451 destinations in 98 countries, in September 2000, the alliance established a cargo alliance, SkyTeam Cargo. The groups inaugural members were Aeromexpress, Air France Cargo, Delta Air Logistics, the following month, the newly established airline alliance announced its intentions to incorporate CSA Czech Airlines as the 5th member in April the following year. The alliance saw the joining of CSA Czech Airlines on 25 March 2001, Alitalia entered SkyTeam on 27 July the same year, on 30 September 2001, the alliance received KLMs application for membership, following the airlines plans to create a leading airline group with Air France. In 2003, Deltas subsidiary, Delta Express, was replaced by Song and that same year, SkyTeam also launched an improved website focused on providing passengers with more information, increased interactivity and other resources. On 24 May 2004, Aeroflot, the carrier and principal airline of Russia. The event took place in Kremlin following the airlines application earlier in the year for membership, SkyTeam expressed that Aeroflot has not met the consortiums standards, but that the airlines large hub networks made it ideal for the alliance, and made up for its deficiencies. On 28 August, China Southern Airlines, the largest carrier in the Peoples Republic of China, on 13 September, Continental Airlines, KLM and Northwest Airlines joined the alliance. Their simultaneous entry was the largest expansion event in airline alliance history, every associate adopted a frequent-flyer program of a full member, Copa Airlines already used Continentals OnePass, Kenya Airways and Air Europa used Air France–KLMs Flying Blue. Following a 23-month joining process since May 2004, Aeroflot joined on 14 April 2006 and it was the first Russian airline to be associated with any airline alliance. Aeroflot has increased its operational standards, passing International Air Transport Associations Operational Safety Audit, Deltas subsidiary Song continued to operate as Delta Air Lines
5.
Airport terminal
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An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from aircraft. Within the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, transfer their luggage, the buildings that provide access to the airplanes are typically called concourses. However, the terminal and concourse are sometimes used interchangeably. Smaller airports have one terminal while larger airports have several terminals and/or concourses, at small airports, the single terminal building typically serves all of the functions of a terminal and a concourse. Some larger airports have one terminal that is connected to multiple concourses via walkways, sky-bridges, some larger airports have more than one terminal, each with one or more concourses. Still other larger airports have multiple terminals each of which incorporate the functions of a concourse, due to the rapid rise in popularity of passenger flight, many early terminals were built in the 1930s–1940s and reflected the popular art deco style architecture of the time. One such surviving example from 1940 is the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal, early airport terminals opened directly onto the tarmac, passengers would walk or take a bus to their aircraft. This design is common among smaller airports, and even many larger airports have bus gates to accommodate aircraft beyond the main terminal. A pier design uses a small, narrow building with aircraft parked on both sides, one end connects to a ticketing and baggage claim area. Piers offer high capacity and simplicity of design, but often result in a long distance from the check-in counter to the gate. A satellite terminal is a building detached from other airport buildings, the first airport to use a satellite terminal was London Gatwick Airport. It used a pedestrian tunnel to connect the satellite to the main terminal. This was also the first setup at Los Angeles International Airport, the first airport to use an automatic people mover to connect the main terminal with a satellite was Tampa International Airport, which is the standard today. Other examples include the following, Pariss Charles de Gaulle Airport, Geneva International Airport and London Gatwick Airport have circular satellite terminals, lisbon Internacional Airport has a small rectangular satellite terminal, connect by a free shuttle service. Orlando International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport have multi-pier satellite terminals, brussels Airports Pier A is connected to the main building via underground tunnels and walkways. Zurich Airports Midfield Terminal is connected to the terminal via an underground Skymetro. At Logan International Airport in Boston, Terminal A has two sections of gates, one of which is a terminal connected by an underground walkway. Denver International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport have linear satellite terminals connected by central passages, the linear satellite terminals are connected by automatic people movers
6.
Heathrow Airport
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Heathrow Airport is a major international airport in London, United Kingdom. In 2016, it handled a record 75.7 million passengers, Heathrow lies 14 miles west of Central London, and has two parallel east–west runways along with four operational terminals on a site that covers 12.27 square kilometres. London Heathrow is the hub for British Airways and the primary operating base for Virgin Atlantic. In September 2012, the UK government established the Airports Commission, in July 2015, the commission backed a third runway at Heathrow and the government approved a third runway in October 2016. Heathrow is 14 mi west of central London, near the end of the London Borough of Hillingdon on a parcel of land that is designated part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The airport is surrounded by the areas of Harlington, Harmondsworth, Longford and Cranford to the north and by Hounslow. To the south lie Bedfont and Stanwell while to the west Heathrow is separated from Slough in Berkshire by the M25 motorway, Heathrow falls entirely under the TW postcode area. As the airport is west of London and as its runways run east–west, for a chronicled history of Heathrow Airport, see History of Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport originated in 1929 as an airfield on land south-east of the hamlet of Heathrow from which the airport takes its name. At that time there were farms, market gardens and orchards there, there was a Heathrow Farm about where Terminal 1 is now, a Heathrow Hall and a Heathrow House. This hamlet was largely along a lane which ran roughly along the east. Development of the whole Heathrow area as a much larger airport began in 1944. But by the time the airfield was nearing completion, World War II had ended, the government continued to develop the airport as a civil airport, it opened as London Airport in 1946 and was renamed Heathrow Airport in 1966. Heathrow Airport is used by over 80 airlines flying to 185 destinations in 84 countries, the airport is the primary hub of British Airways and is a base for Virgin Atlantic. It has four terminals and a cargo terminal. Of Heathrows 73.4 million passengers in 2014, 93% were international travellers, the busiest single destination in passenger numbers is New York, with over 3 million passengers flying between Heathrow and JFK Airport in 2013. As the required length for runways has grown, Heathrow now has two parallel runways running east–west. These are extended versions of the two east–west runways from the original hexagram, from the air, almost all of the original runways can still be seen, incorporated into the present system of taxiways
7.
Heathrow Terminal 2
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Heathrow Terminal 2, also known as The Queens Terminal, is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London, United Kingdom. The new development was originally named Heathrow East Terminal, and occupies the sites where the previous Terminal 2 and it was designed by Luis Vidal + Architects and opened on 4 June 2014. The original Terminal 2 opened in 1955 as the Europa Building and was the airports oldest terminal, Terminal 1 closed to passengers on 30 June 2015, although as Terminal 1s baggage system is used by Terminal 2, part of it will remain operational. Terminal 1 is due to be demolished, allowing for Terminal 2 to be extended at an as yet undisclosed date, Terminal 3 is also planned to be demolished by 2019, enabling a further extension of Terminal 2. In 2015, Terminal 2 handled 16.7 million passengers on 116,861 flights and 22. 5% of the passengers on 25. 2% of its flights with an average of 130 passengers per flight. Approval for the new terminal, originally named Heathrow East, was granted by the then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, like Terminal 5, much of the building was constructed off-site, helping to overcome many of the logistical constraints of building in one of the worlds busiest international airports. The terminal is split into two connected buildings, Terminal 2A and Terminal 2B, 2A was designed by Luis Vidal + Architects and built by a joint venture between Ferrovial and Laing ORourke. 2B was designed by Grimshaw Architects, and built by Balfour Beatty, the gates in the new T2 are numbered in concourse A and concourse B. The new Terminal 2 is designed to produce 40% less carbon emissions than the buildings it has replaced. 20% of this target will be achieved through energy efficiency design technology elements, such as levels of insulation, LED lighting. Also large north-facing windows in the roof will flood the building with light, reducing the need for artificial lighting. Photovoltaic panels on the roof will further reduce dependency on energy supplies, the remaining 20% carbon reduction will be due to the new T2 Energy Centre, via biomass CHP fuelled by woodchips from local renewable resources, will provide heating and cooling to both T2 and T5. Construction of the terminal is spread across two phases, the second phase is due to begin after the demolition of Terminal 1 and will involve the construction of the second half of Terminal 2 in its place. Once complete the terminal will have a footprint and operational capacity very similar to that of Terminal 5. Phase 1 was once expected to be completed in 2012, in time for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games but, by January 2013, Terminal 2A had been declared weather-tight and the internal fit-out of the building was well under way. In spring 2013 systems installation commenced, the first phase of Terminal 2B was completed in November 2009 and its six gates became operational in early 2010. Until Terminal 2 was completed, passengers accessed the first part of Terminal 2B via a bridge from Terminal 1. Air traffic control operations had moved to a new tower in 2007
8.
Heathrow Terminal 3
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Heathrow Terminal 3 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, serving London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. Terminal 3 is currently used by Oneworld members and a few other non-affiliated airlines and it is also the base for Virgin Atlantic. Opened as The Oceanic Terminal on 13 November 1961, it was built to handle flight departures for long-haul routes, at this time, the airport had a direct helicopter service to Central London from the gardens on the roof of the terminal building. Renamed Terminal 3 in 1968, it was expanded in 1970 with the addition of an arrivals building, other facilities added included the UKs first moving walkways. The terminal was refurbished between 1987 and 1990 at a cost of £110 million, in 2006, the new £105 million Pier 6 was completed to accommodate the Airbus A380 superjumbo, Emirates and Qantas now operate regular flights from Terminal 3 using the Airbus A380. These improvements were intended to improve passengers experiences, reduce traffic congestion, as part of this project, Virgin Atlantic was assigned its own dedicated check-in area, known as Zone A, which features a large sculpture and atrium. As of 2013, Terminal 3 has an area of 98,962 square metres, Heathrow Airport Limited also has plans for a £1bn upgrade of the rest of the terminal over the next ten years which will include the renovation of aircraft piers and the arrivals forecourt. A new baggage system connecting to Terminal 5 is currently under construction, in addition to the baggage system, the baggage claim hall is also set to undergo changes with dedicated A380 belts and an improved design and layout. In May 2015, it was announced that Terminal 3 will be demolished by 2019, the main presences in Terminal 3 are American Airlines, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, who have their UK hubs located here. Emirates, with 6 A380 flights daily to Dubai, is the major user of the terminal. Terminal 3 is to be demolished in 2019, Terminal 3 is used by the majority of Oneworld alliance members, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian. SriLankan Airlines, TAM and British Airways who also use Terminal 5, however it is not used by Iberia, Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways. It is also used by Vueling, which is an owned subsidiary of International Airlines Group, the parent of British Airways and Iberia. Vueling, British Airways, and Finnair are the airlines offering short-haul flights from this terminal. The principal non-aligned airlines are Emirates and Virgin Atlantic, the ones are Iran Air. Delta is a SkyTeam member but has moved all flights from Terminal 4 to be alongside its partner Virgin Atlantic, middle East Airlines has also joined SkyTeam but remained in Terminal 3. Garuda Indonesia, also a SkyTeam member, uses Terminal 3, all Star Alliance airlines formerly based in Terminal 3 moved to Terminal 2 between June and September 2014 and none now fly from this terminal. Emirates, Qantas and British Airways currently operate Airbus A380 aircraft at Terminal 3, the six Emirates daily flights to Dubai use the A380, as do the two Qantas flights to Dubai, one of which continues to Sydney and 1 to Melbourne
Media related to Heathrow Terminal 4 at Wikimedia Commons