SYSTEM OVERVIEW

Owned by BAA, Heathrow is the world’s busiest international airport where over 90 airlines have made their base. Terminal 5 (T5) has been created to ease congestion and enable Heathrow to maximize use of its existing runways whilst creating a world class gateway for passengers.
BAA contacted GAI-Tronics when Heathrow were looking for two different types of telephone to fulfill specific criteria across T5.

Weather resistant handset telephones were required for operations and maintenance - in areas such as baggage handling, runways and on the apron.  The phones would be used for airport staff to contact other areas within the airport. These needed to be rugged with large buttons for use with gloved hands.

Help Points were required for the disabled refuge areas, to be used in the case of emergencies. These needed to be hands-free and to comply with DDA legislation for the airport.

Resilience and reliability for public areas and inclement conditions were the underlying requirement for both.  BAA already have GAI-Tronics telephones installed and trusted across the BAA estate, including the rail link, so GAI-Tronics were a natural choice for BAA.

SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY

Over 200 Help Points and 200 Commanders were provided. The Help Point telephones are hands-free with a large, palm-operable button on the front and Braille wording for partially sighted or blind passengers. In an emergency situation, people using the disabled refuge area can press the button, which is programmed to call through to the control room. The staff in the control room can also ring the help points to speak to people in the area to provide essential instructions or information. Help Points were delivered in custom colours to blend in with other help point facilities around the airport.

The Commander telephones are full keypad versions, where baggage handling staff and other maintenance crew can call through to other telephone extensions at the airport. Not having to remove gloves to dial means workers save valuable time on the job.

To enhance the telephone functionality, GAI-Tronics supplied its Telephone Management Application software to allow the airport to remotely monitor the health status and to update the stored information in the telephones. This system can also highlight possible problems across the network as it works over a standard telephone line.