Heathrow’s boss insists airport is not too crowded – passengers are just walking the wrong way

London Heathrow is not overcrowded, the airport’s boss has argued, people just keep walking in “the wrong place”.

Despite being named the busiest airport in Europe last year, Heathrow’s chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, defended the travel hub as angry passengers claim Terminals two and five “feel more crowded”.

He responded to questions about how his airport would manage handling more passengers at an event in London for the Aviation Club UK.

“One of the jokes I have with our people is that one of the reasons Terminal 5 is crowded, which it’s not actually, is people are in the wrong place,” he said, according to The Times.

“One of the reasons is that all the British people choose the left and all the Europeans keep to the right. And they do that [in] both directions, so we get everybody crashing into each other and I see that from personal experience.

“We could change that. We could just make sure that everybody going this way, they keep to the left, [and] if going that way. keep to the right.”

open image in gallery

He added that despite Terminal 5 being bigger than Terminal 3, it scored worse in the airport’s crowd perception metrics for being the busiest. “Interestingly Terminal 3 is one of the ones that scores best, and Terminal 5 is one of the worst and there’s way more space in Terminal 5.”

Mr Woldbye said that his staff were working to improve the flow of passengers through terminals to reduce perceptions of overcrowding as the airport endeavours to have 10 million more passenger journeys a year by 2031.

This would reportedly include “decluttering” departure lounges by taking out phone boxes and seats as well as moving information counters.

Mr Woldbye added that they were no longer using “passengers per square metre” to monitor crowds.

open image in gallery

“It’s passengers per square metre per minute,” he said. “So, we want you to have a perception that you’re moving forward, that you’re doing what you want to be doing, whether that is going through security, checking in, leaving your baggage, or shopping, or going to the gate, in the most efficient way.”

The airport’s growth target is separate to plans for a third runway, set to be built by 2035 at the earliest. Rachel Reeves backed plans for a third runway last year in a bid for economic growth.

She said the move would potentially create 100,000 jobs, as she pledged to invest in East Midlands airport as well, with 2,000 jobs.

“We will then take forward a full assessment through the airport’s national policy statement,” she said. “This will ensure that the project is value for money and our clear expectation is that any associated service transport costs will be financed through private funding. It will ensure that a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives.”

open image in gallery

Ms Reeves argued that “by backing a third runway at Heathrow we can make Britain the world’s best-connected place to do business”.

The decision to support a third runway has sparked backlash from critics, including Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

He said in August last year: “I remain opposed to a new runway at Heathrow Airport because of the severe impact it will have in terms of noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets. Despite progress to make the aviation sector more sustainable, I remain unconvinced that you can have a new runway delivering hundreds of thousands of additional flights every year without a hugely detrimental impact on our environment.”

The Independent has approached Heathrow for comment.