It's 'chocks away' for the more aerodynamic Terminal 5

The European short-haul terminal will shut when the airport's new Terminal 5 (T5) opens for business in March 2008.

When T5 is completed several airlines will be moving into different terminals at the UK's biggest airport.

This would have cut Terminal 2's annual passenger numbers from nine million to less than 1.5 million.

'Sadness and nostalgia'

In November last year, BAA announced that under its �1.5bn Heathrow East plan, Terminal 2 would be knocked down, as would the Queen's Building next door, to be replaced by a new terminal capable of handling 30 million people.

While this decision to close Terminal 2 is made with a mixture of sadness and nostalgia, it must be remembered that Terminal 2 is Heathrow's first and oldest terminal BAA statement See BAA's share price

BAA is still waiting for planning permission for the project, but the latest announcement means that Terminal 2, which opened in 1955, will close whatever the future for the Heathrow East project.

"A decision has been made today to close the facility after all of the airline relocations have taken place," the company said.