Heathrow airport is located 15 miles west of London, the airport has excellent public transport links from central London and all over the rest of the country. Heatrow airport began its life as a small grass airfield that was privately owned. Then in 1946 the Ministry of Civil Aviation took over and the tented terminal was soon replaced, and by 1947 three new runways had been completed. Today Heathrow is the UK's busiest airport and handles a staggering 64 million passengers per year, and flies to over 170 worldwide destiantions.