In a project four years in the making, Heathrow’s new Terminal 2, dubbed The Queen’s Terminal, opened for commercial passenger operations on June 4, 2014 with a United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER the first aircraft arrival operating from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in the United States. Unlike Terminal 5 at the London gateway which opened in March 2008 to major IT and baggage problems, T2 is starting operations on a phased basis with just 34 flight arrivals and departures from United on the opening day linking Heathrow with six destinations in the United States: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles.

The first flights arrive at Heathrow’s new Terminal 2; almost 60 years after the original Terminal 2 opened as the airport’s first passenger terminal in 1955. The initial United schedule on the opening day will handle nearly 6,000 passengers but the facility will eventually be home to 26 airlines – 23 members of the Star Alliance as well as Aer Lingus, Germanwings and Virgin Atlantic Little Red. Airlines will move into the new terminal in eleven phases over the next six months. When fully occupied, Terminal 2 will have 332 daily flights to 54 global destinations.

The new Terminal 2 is the next step in the transformation of passenger service at Heathrow. The proportion of passengers rating their journey at Heathrow as “very good” or “excellent” has increased from 41 per cent in 2006 to 80 per cent in 2014, according to airport officials. Terminal 5 has also won awards voted by passengers as one of the world’s best airport terminals, and Heathrow has been recognised among the top ten airports in the world for passenger service – the only UK airport to receive such an accolade.

Terminal 2 is a £2.5 billion project and marks the latest phase of an £11 billion private sector investment that has transformed Heathrow for passengers. This investment includes the construction of Terminal 2A and B, Terminal 5 A, B and C, a new control tower, and the refurbishment of Terminals 3 and 4. The new Terminal 2 has been named ‘The Queen’s Terminal’ in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The terminal will be honoured with a formal Royal opening on June 23, 2014 when Her Majesty the Queen will visit the airport accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

“Terminal 2 is the culmination of an £11 billionn investment programme that has transformed Heathrow for passengers. Opening a new terminal is one of the most complex challenges that any airport can undertake. Our measure of success is not everything running perfectly on day one – there will inevitably be things we can improve. Our real measure of success is whether Terminal 2 comes to be rated by passengers as one of the world’s best airport terminals for years to come,” said John Holland-Kaye, development director and chief executive designate, Heathrow Airport

Terminal 2 has a number of world firsts, including an airport debut for British high-street favourite John Lewis. Terminal 2 also welcomes multi-award winning chef Heston Blumenthal with the opening of his newest restaurant, The Perfectionists’ Café. In total there will be 33 retailers at the new terminal, including iconic British brands such as Cath Kidston and Ted Baker and luxury fashion houses such as Mulberry and Burberry.

Heathrow has sought advice from other airports around the world and learnt lessons from opening Terminal 5. More than 180 trials have taken place over the last six months involving 14,000 volunteers. 100,000 bags have already passed through the Terminal 2 baggage system, with peak loads tested at 4,000 bags per hour compared to an expected peak of 2,500 bags. Every person working at Terminal 2 has been required to participate in familiarisation and training sessions with more than 1,700 sessions taking place (find out more statistica about the new terminal in this Heathrow Facts and Figures infographic from the airport).

The new Terminal 2 is also an essential part of Heathrow’s plans for expanding the airport. If Government supports a third runway at Heathrow then Terminal 2 will be extended to become one of two main passenger hubs for the airport. Heathrow East (an extended Terminal 2) and Heathrow West (Terminals 5 and 6) will be the main passenger terminals for a three runway Heathrow. These terminals and their satellite buildings will be connected by one underground passenger transit and baggage system. The aim is to make Heathrow feel like a single integrated airport, creating simpler journeys for passengers.

In our analysis, below, we look in greater detail at air capacity from London Heathrow over the past ten years. Although massively constrained with only very, very limited slot availability, available seats from the largest UK international gateway have risen 3.6 per cent between 2004 and 2012, an average annual rise of 0.5 per cent, although capacity declined 2.6 per cent last year.

As the graph, below, illustrates this capacity rise has been partly achieved through the deployment of larger aircraft, most notably the Airbus A380 which is flown by British Airways, Emirates Airline, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas and Singapore Airlines from the airport. Qatar Airways will shortly introduce its A380s into the London market, while Etihad Airways has also confirmed Heathrow as the initial destination for its Super Jumbos before the end of this year. The average seat size of each aircraft departure from Heathrow Airport has risen from 193.7 seats in 2004 to 199.5 seats in 2012, although it again declined in 2013.

British Airways holds the dominant share of capacity from Heathrow Airport and boosted this figure to a century high of 47.0 per cent in 2013 following the integration of bmi british midland into its operations. This represents a 5.8 percentage point increase in market share since 2000. Its closest rival is fellow UK long-haul carrier Virgin Atlantic with a 6.3 per cent share, also its’ highest share since 2000.

Our analysis shows that over the past ten years the fastest growing airlines in the Heathrow market (offering over 200,000 annual seats) have been Etihad Airways (348.1 per cent), Qatar Airways (capacity up 186.2 per cent), Turkish Airlines (capacity up 104.9 per cent), Emirates Airline (capacity up 88.1 per cent) and Saudia (capacity up 67.5 per cent). A number of new operators have also entered the market with those still flying from the airport comprising Aegean Airlines, Aeromexico, Air Astana, Arik Air, Azerbaijan Airlines, Bulgaria Air, China Southern Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Germanwings, Jet Airways, Oman Air, Philippine Airlines, TAM Airlines, Transaero, US Airways and Vueling Airlines.

In our analysis, below, we highlight the largest operators from Heathrow Airport based upon annual seat capacity on departures from the airport in 2013.

The data for the above reports was supplied by OAG Aviation via its OAG Schedules Analyser tool.