Queen unveils 5th Heathrow terminal
Queen Elizabeth II yesterday unveiled a new terminal at London's main Heathrow airport,a day after a major security breach disrupted flights.
Terminal Five (T5) will be able to handle 30 million passengers a year, and opens as campaigners step up protests over plans for a third runway at the airport.
It was unclear if Thursday's alert, in which a man scaled a perimeter fence and ran on to a runway, was designed as a protest. Police carried out a controlled explosion of two bags dropped by the man.
But security was tight for Friday's ceremony with the queen, after threats by campaigners to stage a new demonstration timed with the terminal's opening to the public.
The 81-year-old monarch opened the first passenger terminal at the site west of London in 1955.
Construction of T5, which will open to passengers on March 27, has taken nearly six years and cost some 4.3 billion pounds (8.7 billion dollars, 5.6 billion euros) to build.
The new building has involved the construction of 13 miles (21 kilometres) of tunnels, 10 miles of baggage conveyor belts, and the extension of the Piccadilly Tube line to transport passengers to and from central London.
Heathrow is already one of the world's biggest airports, but has for years been plagued by overcrowding in its hotch-potch of ageing buildings due to soaring demand for air travel.
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