SkyTeam to Streamline Heathrow Check-In

posted: 20 February 2008 04:19 pm ET

: The SkyTeam alliance hopes its new co-location facility and common-use check-in kiosks at London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4 will prevent lines like these 2004 queues at British Airways' World Traveller check-in desks. Credit: AP Photo/Dave Caulkin

SkyTeam alliance airlines serving London Heathrow will benefit from shared check-in kiosks, extra check-in desks and additional bag drop-off locations when the alliance's new co-location facility opens in the airport's Terminal 4 next year.

Heathrow will be the first airport in which all SkyTeam members will share self-service kiosks, allowing alliance passengers to access travel reservations with any of the 10 SkyTeam carriers serving London's primary gateway airport. The kiosks will be located in a large check-in area that will be shared by all the SkyTeam airlines serving Heathrow.

The common-use nature of the self-service kiosks and the greater number of kiosks available will help improve passenger flow through the terminal, reduce congestion and lower operating costs for its member airlines, the alliance said.

SkyTeam expects to complete its Terminal 4 co-location facility for member airlines in spring 2009. The alliance is investing in conjunction with Heathrow's operator BAA, which is spending approximately $195 million on expanding and renovating Terminal 4. Until the opening of the airport's new, 30 million-passenger-a-year Terminal 5 in March, the biggest user of Terminal 4 has been British Airways, a member of the oneworld alliance.

"Co-locating our member operations at London Heathrow will allow SkyTeam to offer our customers worldwide a superior travel experience in one of the most contested markets in the world," said Giorgio Callegari, chairman of SkyTeam airport and infrastructure special projects.

"In order to maximize this customer offering at Heathrow, we are working together as an alliance and with BAA to make the necessary renovation and branding investments in Terminal 4, where we will be the anchor airline alliance," said Callegari.

The launching of service late next month by SkyTeam's three U.S. carriers -- Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines -- and the co-location of all its members to one terminal will allow SkyTeam to increase its service out of Heathrow to nearly 50 flights a day, the alliance says.

These will include services to long-haul destinations such as Nairobi and Seoul; European cities including Amsterdam, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Prague, Rome and Rotterdam; and U.S. airports such as Houston Intercontinental, New York JFK, Newark, Atlanta Hartsfield and Los Angeles.

"London Heathrow will play a key role in the SkyTeam global network for connecting and point-to-point traffic," said Callegari. The alliance's transatlantic hubs already include Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport, as well as Houston, New York JFK, Newark Liberty and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Thinking ahead

SkyTeam began preparing almost two years ago for its members to share a terminal at Heathrow, nine members signing a memorandum of understanding with BAA in 2006 to co-locate their facilities. Since then, SkyTeam members and BAA have worked together to optimize the design of Terminal 4, designing an extended and refurbished departure concourse to ensure better traffic flow for passengers making their way to their departure gates.

The airline's members will move to Terminal 4 over the next 12 months. At the end of March 2008, U.S. carriers Continental, Delta and Northwest Airlines will join KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and AkyTeam associate member Kenya Airways, which already operate out of Terminal 4.

Then, in the spring of 2009, Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines and Korean Air will relocate. BAA anticipates that Terminal 4 will handle some 10 million passengers -- including those flying on non-SkyTeam airlines which operate from the terminal -- once all the airline moves are complete.

SkyTeam has two full member carriers, Aeromexico and China Southern Airlines, which do not yet serve Heathrow. In addition to associate member Kenya Airways, the alliance also has two other associate airlines, Spain's Air Europa and Panama's Copa Airlines, which don't serve Heathrow. SkyTeam carries 428 million passengers annually on 16,400 daily flights covering 841 destinations in 162 countries.