London, once center of an empire on which the sun never set (once upon a time), is still somewhat the center to the world. Lots of people flock to London for all kinds of reasons. To cater to this stampede, London need lots of airports. Some of London's airports are Gatwick Airport, Heathrow Airport, London City Airport, Luton Airport Stansted Airport, London Biggin Hill Airport, London Ashford Airport, and London-Corbin Airport. Let us look at some major ones:
Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport is the major entry point for London as well as the rest of England. It is in fact United Kingdom's biggest airport. Over 90 airlines operating from Heathrow Airports which currently uses four terminals serving visitors from 180 destinations in over 90 countries. Heathrow Airport is also Europe's busiest airport for passenger traffic, and the primary hub of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways and a major hub for bmi airline which operates cheap air flights from the United Kingdom to Europe, Middle East and the United States of America.Heathrow Airport is 15 miles (24 km) west of Central London with two parallel main runways running east-west and four terminals. There is one more terminal under construction - Terminal 5 scheduled to open in March 2008. Heathrow Airport plans to add extra runways.
Transportation between Heathrow Airport and London
As the major airport of London, Heathrow Airport have many transportation possibilities to London City. Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station is the fastest and most frequent, just 15 minutes and at 15 min intervals. The fare is £15.50 (USD 30.80). If you are looking for the cheapest, then Piccadilly Line to central London (London Underground) will be your choice, but will take longer at 50 minutes. Get the 'Oyster Card' for to get cheaper fare. Single journeys are around £3.50 with Oyster card. You will be required to place a deposit of £3, refundable on return. Other ways, paper ticket, but it will cost you £4, no deposit, but 50 pence more.If you want convenience, take a combination of Heathrow Express to Paddington, then take a taxi to your final destination. You can also hire a taxi to take you from Heathrow to Central London, and if you don't run into traffic jams, it will take around one hour. Fare will be between £45 to £60. There is also a shuttle service operated by the National Express Dot2Dot between Heathrow airport and central London.
More choices: Heathrow Connect rail service, a slower version of Heathrow Express taking the same route. This one stops at intermediate stations.
For those wanting to go to Clapham or London Waterloo, South London, take the 285 bus to Feltham station or the SouthWest Trains to Clapham Junction or Waterloo. Journey time will be around 20 minutes, depending on circumstances.
Heathrow Airport Hotels
There some some travelers who prefer to stay in hotels in the vicinity of the airport rather than in hotels in the City center, some because of convenience, some because of cost. In the first place, everyone knows how expensive car parking in city centers are, but many airport hotels offer free or discounted rates car parking. Whatever it is, you can have your choice of London Heathrow Hotels where the choices can range from budget rates from as low as GBP 40 at Shepiston Lodge located at 31 Shepiston Lane, Hayes, Middlesex, UB3 1LJ, to 5 star luxury accommodation in London available from GBP 98 at Radisson Edwardian Heathrow Hotel, 140 Bath Road Hayes Middlesex UB3 5AW.Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is London's second largest airport and the second busiest airport after Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. It only has one runway, but is the busiest single runway airport in the world. In terms of passengers per year, it is the world's 22nd busiest airport, and in terms of international passengers per year it is in 7th place. Located in Crawley, West Sussex, it is only 5 kilometre or 3 miles north of Crawley town center, 46 kilometre or 28 miles south of London and 40 kilometre or 25 miles north of Brighton.Airlines operating from Gatwick Airport fly to 200 destinations. Gatwick Airport itself handled over 34 million passengers in 2006. Since charter airlines generally do not operate from Heathrow, chartered airlines therefore use Gatwick as their main base for London and the Southeast. Many airlines operate between Gatwick and the United States of America because of the restrictions on access to Heathrow Airports imposed by the Bermuda 2 bilateral air services agreement between United Kingdom and United States of America. Gatwick Airport serves a major operational base for British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic.
Transportation between Gatwick Airport and London
If you are in a hurry, take the Gatwick Express which is a high-speed rail link between the airport and London Victoria Station. Frequency is every 15 minutes and journey time is about 30 to 35 minutes. Fare depend on what class you choose. For Express class, fare is £14 (one way) and £26.80 (return). If you insist on First Class and want priority security procedures, fare is higher at £20 one way and £38 return. You may use Day Return, Railcards or Carnet, but you can't use Travelcards.Those who don't mind longer journey time and prefer lower fare, try Southern Rail which is a train service to Victoria via Clapham Junction. Frequency is also about every 15 minutes. Journey time is about 35 to 40 minutes. Fare is £9 one way to Victoria. You also cannot use Travelcards. If you can travel in a group of 3 people or more, you get a group discount for a day travel card which you can also use for all London Underground and TFL buses for one whole day, and for all these, you pay only £6.10 per person for after peak hours.
Other possibilities include First Capital Connect (Thameslink) which serve the route between Gatwick station and London Bridge, City Thameslink, Farringdon, Kings Cross, through north London to Luton Airport and beyond. Sounds very flexible.
Gatwick Airport Hotels
For cheap hotels, look for them at London Gatwick Hotels many of which offers free extras such as free parking, free breakfasts and meals, free Internet access, even free meals at the hotel restaurants in London. You can get budget rates at Gatwick Airport hotels from as low as GBP 39 at Chestnuts Luxury Guest House, Gatwick to 3 star Chestnuts Luxury Guest House Gatwick with rates from only GBP 39. It is only 8 Minutes to Gatwick Airport with luxury Bread and Breakfast at reasonable prices and offers holiday parking facilities.Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport is the third largest London airport with a single runway located in the Uttlesford District of the county of Essex. Stansted Airport is roughly about 30 miles (48 km) north-east of London, 2 miles (3 km) from Bishop's Stortford and 6 miles (10 km) from Harlow. Some major European low-cost airlines uses Stansted Airport as a hub for their operations. Stansted Airport has only one terminal with three boarding piers. 22 million passengers passed through Stansted Airport in 2005.Transportation between Stansted Airport and London
For land transportation, there is a railway station below the terminal building of Stansted Airport trains operated by CrossCountry serving Cambridge, Leicester and the Midlands. Trains are scheduled every 60 minutes. Another train service, the Stansted Express, a non-stop rail link going to Liverpool Street station, London with departure. Frequency is between 15 to 30 minutes. The journey time is 45 to 60 minutes. This is the most expensive way to get to London, but it is also the fastest and most convenient way. Fare is £15 one way and £25 return. You cannot use Travelcards for Stansted Express. Stansted Express goes beyond Liverpool Street station to Tottenham Hale and Liverpool Street, but takes 15 minutes for such a short journey. You cannot carry bicycle aboard Stansted Express, but folding bicycle is acceptable.You can also use the London Underground. To get to West End, West or South London, take the Stansted Express up to Tottenham Hale, change to the Victoria Line and that will take you to Oxford Circus and Victoria. It will cost £14.50 one way to Tottenham Hale. It is £2.50 with the Oyster card to Oxford Circus: £2.50.
If you want express bus, there is Terravision which service the route between Stansted Airport and Bishopsgate (Liverpool Street station) and Victoria Coach terminal. Frequency is hourly and journey time is about 75 minutes. Fare is £8 one way and £14 return) to Victoria, £6.70 one way and £11.80 return) to Liverpool Street. You cannot use Travelcards for Terravision express bus.
If you want to go to London Victoria via Golders Green, take the National Express Bus. Frequency is every half hours or more. Fare for one way is £10 and for return is £16. To get to Stratford, fare is £8 one way and £14 return. Bicycles, except folding bicycles, is not allowed to be carried onto National Express Bus. Expect delays as you will be held up by traffic jams, especially on the Victoria Service.
You can book online in advance for journey on easyBus services to Baker Street. This can you as low as £2, but if you purchase tickets on the bus, it will cost you £8.
For travel by road, there are express bus or coach services from Stratford Airport to Victoria Coach Station, Liverpool Street Station and Golders Green. The fare is half that of the train but journey time is longer and takes about 80 to 130 minutes. Another bus service, the easyBus provide road transport between the Stansted Airport and Baker Street in Central London.
Stansted Airport Hotels
BudgetStansted Airport hotels like the Saracen's Head Hotel Great Dunmow situated at the High Street, Great Dunmow, Essex CM6 1AG, go for as cheap as GBP 58 and can be found at London Stansted Hotels.Luton Airport
The London Luton Airport or what was previously called Luton International Airport is an international airport at the edge of the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England about 30 miles (48 km) north of London 2 miles (3 km) from junction 10a of the M1 motorway. Luton Airport is the fourth largest airport after Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. Luton Airport is one of London's five international airports, the fifth one being London City Airport.Total passengers at London Luton is 9.41 million in 2006 and is ranked the seventh busiest United Kingdom airports. Monarch Airlines, Ryanair, easyJet, Thomsonfly, Wizz Air and Silverjet uses Luton Airport as its hub.
Luton Airport has plan to further expand the airport to include a full length runway plus a new terminal, but this was opposed by the residents and the plans were eventually abandoned.
Transportation between Luton Airport and London
At the Luton Airport Parkway railway station, First Capital Connect operate services to Bedford, St Albans, London, Wimbledon, Sutton, London Gatwick Airport and Brighton. You can also take the East Midlands Trains services which travels at hourly frequency and go to London Saint Pancras, and also to Leicester, Nottingham and Leeds. From the Luton Airport, you can take the free shuttle bus to get to the station and vice-versa. The journey is only just over a mile.Green Line Coaches and easyBus operat direct bus services to London. For other towns in the midlands and north of England, take the National Express coaches.
For those with cars, Luton Airport is just a few miles from the M1 motorway. The M1 highway goes to London, and also connects to Leeds. For parking, there is a short stay car park next to the terminal. For medium and long term parking, there are Airport car parks to the west and east of the terminal which are linked to the terminal by shuttle buses. There are also many off airport private car par operators which you can pre-booked.
1 Comment:
we can also book a taxi from london Airport as after travelling so long hours in a flight we need to reach at our place as soon as possible
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