Heathrow's £2.5b Terminal 2 off to smooth start

[LONDON] London's Heathrow airport welcomed its first passengers to a £2.5 billion (S$5.3 billion) terminal yesterday, aiming to avoid the chaos of the last major opening and bolster its case for remaining a major hub.

More than 1,000 passengers have arrived and 300 checked in at Terminal 2 yesterday morning. The first flight to use the building, which replaces facilities from the 1950s, was a United Airlines Boeing Co 767 from Chicago.

Flights will be capped at 10 per cent of capacity while systems bed in after the debut of Heathrow's Terminal 5 in 2008 led to a baggage-handling glitch that cost £16 million in expenses and lost revenue.