Heathrow Terminal One deserted ahead of closure next month

Terminals at busy airports are rarely seen as empty as this. But this particular facility, Terminal One at Heathrow, is into its final days ahead of its closure next month.

One by one, airlines have stopped flying from T1 and transferred to other terminals.

Now T1 plays host to just a handful of flights by British Airways, with the last of them, a BA flight to Hanover, leaving on the evening of Monday June 29.

Closure, followed by the terminal's demolition, brings to an end 47 years of operations from the terminal.

It was formally opened by the Queen in May 1969, and was renowned for being the biggest short-haul terminal of its kind in Western Europe.

Once a major part of Heathrow, T1 has been overshadowed by the opening of newer, improved facilities at the west London airport in recent years.

In 2008, T5 opened and quickly thrived, despite a chaotic opening day when there were huge delays and travel chaos.

In 2009, the old T2 which had been the first terminal to operate at Heathrow and which was opened by the Queen in 1955, closed and was replaced by a £2.5 billion new T2, which opened in June 2014.

The T2 opening is part of an £11 billion redevelopment of Heathrow which will see T2 double in size by 2019, at which point T3 will close and, like T1, will be demolished.

At this point what was once a five-terminal airport will become a three-terminal hub - comprising T2, T4 and T5.

In the next few weeks Heathrow Ltd bosses will learn whether their plan for a new runway at the west London airport has been recommended by the Whitehall-appointed Airports Commission which has a rival Heathrow scheme and a Gatwick runway plan on its shortlist.