Heathrow, then known as London Airport, welcomed its first passengers in 1946. The first commercial flight, a converted Lancaster bomber called Starlight, departed for Buenos Aires. Early terminals were adapted RAF marquees along the Bath Road, with floral armchairs and wooden walkways across the muddy airfield.

Thousands of fans gathered at Heathrow to welcome The Beatles home from their first US tour. The band had flown to New York just weeks earlier on a Pan Am flight, shortly after I Want to Hold Your Hand reached number one in the US charts. Their return captured the height of Beatlemania and remains one of Heathrow's most memorable arrivals.

The first Boeing 747 arrived at Heathrow in 1970, bringing 324 passengers from New York on a Pan Am flight. The airport had invested heavily in preparing for the new generation of jumbo jets, upgrading facilities to accommodate larger aircraft and the growing number of passengers travelling through Heathrow.

Concorde began commercial service from Heathrow on 21 January 1976. British Airways operated the first flight to Bahrain while Air France launched a simultaneous service from Paris. Capable of flying faster than the speed of sound, Concorde could cross the Atlantic in under four hours and became one of the most recognisable aircraft ever to serve Heathrow.

Heathrow Express launched on 21 June 1998, providing a dedicated high-speed rail link between the airport and central London. The service continues to offer one of the fastest airport-to-city journeys in the UK, connecting passengers to Paddington Station in around 15 minutes.

Terminal 5 was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 14 March 2008. Describing it as a “21st-century gateway to Britain”, Her Majesty marked the opening of what remains Heathrow’s largest terminal. The first scheduled arrival was a British Airways flight from Hong Kong, and today Terminal 5 serves millions of passengers each year.

Heathrow was proud to be the host airport for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. During the event, the airport handled around 75,000 journeys by athletes and officials, welcomed more than 20,000 members of the media, and processed thousands of oversized sporting items, from canoes and bicycles to javelins and pole vault poles.

British Airways became the first UK airline to operate the Airbus A380 in 2013. The double-deck aircraft can carry more than 500 passengers and remains one of the largest passenger aircraft ever built. Heathrow had already welcomed its first A380 in 2008, when a Singapore Airlines flight arrived from Singapore Changi Airport.

Terminal 2, The Queen’s Terminal, opened in June 2014 and was designed to serve up to 20 million passengers a year. United Airlines was the first carrier to move into the terminal, operating 34 flights on its opening day. The terminal was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and named in her honour.

As Heathrow celebrates its 80th anniversary, work begins on plans for a third runway. Backed by private investment, expansion aims to create new capacity for airlines and passengers, supporting greater choice, improved connectivity and more competitive fares while strengthening Heathrow’s role as the UK’s gateway to the world.