As around 200,000 athletes, supporters, and tourists are set to leave the Olympic city on Monday, London’s airports are unsurprisingly experiencing one of its busiest departure days on record.
According to officials, Heathrow is expected to have 116,000 travellers passing through their terminals, while Gatwick is expected to have 70,000 people pass through their gates; each day, for the next week.
The record set for Heathrow’s departing passengers on a single day was set on 29 July, 2011 , according Heathrow’s media centre, thus making Monday’s expected total not that far behind.
Special accommodations were made for departing athletes at Heathrow through a Special Games terminal, which begins operations on Monday. It will welcome 8,000 athletes over the next three days, each expected to be carrying three to five oversized bags. Topping it off will be a secret London-themed send off to each of the athletes.
This temporary terminal is part of Heathrow’s 20 million pound ($31.2 million) investment in handling London 2012 passengers. It consists of 31 check-in desks and security lanes, and is as large as three full length Olympic swimming pools. After three days, the terminal will be decommissioned and the site will be returned to its original position as a staff car park.
6,000 athletes, in addition, were allowed to check their bags through the Olympic village on Sunday night in order to reduce lines at the airport.
Colin Mathews, chief executive of operator BAA Ltd – operator of Heathrow and Stanstead Airports – remarked, “We have been preparing for seven years to deliver a farewell of which the whole country can be proud”.
In light of the Olympic Games traffic, regular passengers are being advised to check-in the normal terminal three hours before scheduled departure for overseas international flights, and two hours before European flights.
But at the end of the day, only Monday’s stampede of the massive exodus of visitors, in their respective thousands, will tell how successful London’s new airport facilities are in handling the overwhelming crowd rushing to get home.
