London, UK | September 1, 2016– From 1 September 2016, Heathrow Express passengers will be kept up to date with a new BBC World News onboard service, which will provide one-minute news and business bulletins on the 15-minute journey to and from Heathrow and Paddington.

The bulletins will be delivered through the existing Express TV service, which are positioned on screens throughout First and Express Class on Heathrow Express trains, which depart from Paddington on average every 15 minutes.

At weekends, the award-winning global news channel’s travel and technology programmes The Travel Show and Click will be shown.

Zina Neophytou, Vice President, Out of Home for the BBC, said: “BBC World News is the world’s most trusted international news channel, delivering impartial and in-depth analysis of the stories that matter most around the globe. We know that audiences value being able to access the channel’s world-class journalism wherever they are – at home, at work or on the move, from the beginning of their journey to the very end.”

Fraser Brown, Director of Heathrow Express, said: “Heathrow Express passengers want a fast and efficient service to start and finish their global trip. They also need to be well informed. The new onboard BBC World News service one-minute bulletins make sure our discerning passengers are kept up to date with the latest news stories.”

BBC World News is the leader in global breaking news, bringing stories to life for more than 433 million households in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.

• Top film releases, newspapers and magazines available to download from Heathrow ‘EntertainMe’ kiosks

2016 Air Transport IT Summit, Barcelona, Spain | May 25, 2016– Passengers departing from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 this summer will be able to access recent Hollywood movie releases on their iPhones or iPads to watch during their journey. Using Heathrow EntertainMe kiosks movies, magazines and newspapers can be quickly downloaded in around a minute to enjoy at the airport and in-flight.

Two Heathrow EntertainMe kiosks offering a mixture of free and paid content will be located at gate level in each of Terminal 5’s satellites as part of the initial trial. Alongside local and international newspapers and magazines, recent movie blockbuster releases and classic titles will also be ready for quick download. Passengers can simply select their content on an interactive screen and pay via ApplePay or with their contactless credit or debit card. Once the passenger has downloaded their content, they will be able to enjoy it during their trip without having to access Wi-Fi or data services.

Heathrow’s EntertainMe kiosks have been developed by SITA and its partners, Orange Business Services and Adaptive Channel, to allow easy access to the latest entertainment. Today 90% of passengers are carrying a mobile phone or tablet and the 2016 Passenger IT Trends Survey reports that 46% of them are using their devices to access entertainment.

Roberto Segala, Heathrow’s Head of Commercial Services, said: “We are constantly looking to enhance the travel experience for passengers at Heathrow and these new EntertainMe kiosks designed by SITA will provide a unique entertainment solution for our customers.

“The initial trial will take place in Heathrow’s iconic Terminal 5, which serves more than 30 million passengers a year. We are very excited about this newest addition to Heathrow and look forward to seeing our customer’s reaction to this innovative product.”

Dan Ebbinghaus, Senior Vice President, Communication and Infrastructure Solutions, SITA, said: “We know passengers want access to the latest entertainment on their mobile devices and Heathrow’s EntertainMe kiosks make that quick and easy. Passengers get the content in seconds and can then access it without needing, or paying for, any data connection. Having these SITA-designed kiosks at Heathrow Terminal 5, which was voted the ‘World’s Best Airport Terminal’ for the fifth year in a row, is a great testing ground for this innovative service.”

The Heathrow ‘EntertainMe’ kiosks include a range of the latest newspapers and magazines, movies, TV series and, of particular interest to many travelers, city guides, destination video tours and similar items. They will be regularly updated to include new movie releases and other key content as they become available.

• Industry initiative to study noise reduction procedures

Farnborough, UK | July 16, 2014– Airbus, British Airways (BA), Heathrow Airport (LHR) and NATS (the main air navigation
service provider in the United Kingdom) have launched a unique partnership to study and develop operational procedures to reduce the number of people affected by noise around London’s Heathrow. The study will use British Airways’ A380. The A380 is recognised as one of the quietest aircraft today.

This project utilises the capabilities of the A380, the quietest aircraft of its size, and looks at how the aircraft manufacturer, airline, airport and air navigation services provider can further reduce the noise impact of flight operations for local communities. Airbus ProSky, the Air Traffic Management (ATM) subsidiary of Airbus is in charge of designing the departure and arrival procedures based on NATS, LHR and BA recommendations.

The four cross-industry partners have announced a three-stage ‘Quieter Flight’ project.

· The first stage identifies the operational improvements that are possible. These include for departures for example, reducing thrust and optimising the height at which the aircraft is flown. Changes to these departure procedures have the potential to significantly reduce noise levels.

· The second stage will see the testing and training of procedures in a British Airways flight simulator.

· Once all the project stages are complete, the partners expect to bring all the operational improvements together into a series of demonstration flights with the A380, starting from early next year. These procedures will then be made available to other operators and airports around the world.

Airbus’ executive Vice President, Customer affairs, Christopher Buckley said: “the A380 is the ideal aircraft to conduct the “Quieter flights” because it has the latest state of the art technologies that allow optimised paths to be flown very precisely. The A380 is able to further reduce the noise of what is already the quietest aircraft of its type. Together with Airbus ProSky, we are honored to be a key player in this unique industry project that addresses a real issue worldwide.

British Airways’ environment strategy manager, Captain Dean Plumb said: “The A380 is the ideal aircraft for this project as it has unique operational capabilities that can be adjusted to reduce noise during take-off and landing. The next step for the Quieter Flight Partnership is to train our pilots to use the optimised noise procedures in the simulator and then to test these improvements in flight trials.”

Matt Gorman, Sustainability Director for Heathrow said “We are really pleased to be working closely with industry partners on this project. Heathrow is at the forefront of international efforts to tackle aircraft noise and collaborations such as this form part of our long term commitment to do this whilst also safeguarding the connectivity and growth that Heathrow provides.”

Ian Jopson, NATS Head of Environmental and Community Affairs, added: “Air traffic management has a vital role to play in tackling the impact of aircraft noise and NATS has an excellent track record of working with the rest of the aviation industry and community groups on this important issue. The Quieter Flight project, brings together the expertise of the whole industry, and when combined with the wide range of other initiatives we are working on, will help make a difference to those people living under the flightpath.”