BAA is hoping to tackle criticism of poor standards at Heathrow by renovating the airport completely over the next five years.

A facelift of the world’s busiest airport will begin next year when Terminal 5, which cost £4.3 billion to build, will finally open.

British Airways will move into the new facility next March and the airline believes it will significantly improve the “Heathrow experience” for its passengers.

BAA is also about to tear down the 1950’s-era Terminal 2 and Queens Building to make way for Heathrow East, a terminal capable of handling 30 million passengers a year.

The company received planning permission for Heathrow East last month and hopes to complete it in time for the Olympics in 2012.

Once Heathrow East has been built, Terminal 1 will be shut down and converted into a baggage hall.

Terminal 3 (T3) is currently being given an overhaul to extend its notoriously cramped check-in areas.

Virgin Atlantic, which operates from T3, has been working with BAA to build a dedicated entrance for its business-class passengers. The aim is to allow premium ticket holders to go from curbside to plane in minutes.

Virgin wants to offer the curb-to-plane service because it believes many passengers, particularly busi-nessmen, do not want to spend time in terminals shopping.

Lyell Strambi, the chief operating officer of Virgin, said: “We have done good work with BAA on the revamp of T3 and we think it will improve conditions for our passengers.”

Once the outside work on T3 is complete, BAA will begin a process of renovating the rest of the terminal. The same will be done to Terminal 4 (T4), which BA will vacate next year.

T4 is the newest of the Heathrow buildings but even this is now 20 years old and beginning to show its age.

The hope in the long term is that Heathrow will gain a sixth terminal to go with a third runway, but planning permission for anything at the airport takes years. For example, Terminal 5 was due to open in 2002, but because of planning delays construction only began that year.

When it opens, Terminal 5 will become the largest free-standing building in Britain. At 260 hectares, it is the same size as Hyde Park.

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