London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport, called London Airport until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow, is the main international airport serving London, England.
It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system. The airport is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings.
London Heathrow (LHR) has emerged as Europe’s busiest airport in 2022 when measured by available seat kilometers. Data from Cirium’s On the Fly analytics, LHR is the biggest airport by some distance, with second-place Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) a full 30% behind last year. Let’s find out more.
When to arrive. We recommend getting to the airport three hours before your flight if you’re travelling internationally, or two hours if you’re travelling domestically or to Europe.
- Heathrow is 14 mi (23 km) west of Central London. It is located 3 mi (4.8 km) west of Hounslow, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Hayes, and 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Staines-upon-Thames.
- Heathrow Airport began in 1929 as a small airfield (Great West Aerodrome) on land southeast of the hamlet of Heathrow from which the airport takes its name.
- 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.
- Until it was required to sell Gatwick and Stansted Airports, Heathrow Airport Holdings held a dominant position in the London aviation market and has been heavily regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as to how much it can charge airlines to land.