Keith Greenfield, Managing Director of Heathrow Express, and John Holland-Kaye, BAA Commercial Director, unveiled details of a £16 million investment including a new corporate identity, staff uniforms and a refurbished fleet. The presentation was followed with a catwalk of the new uniforms modelled by Heathrow Express staff.

Keith Greenfield said “As London takes centre stage in 2012 we are proud to be the front door to the city. We will be ready to host spectators, supporters and the world’s media on Heathrow Express and are proud to be ambassadors for London.
Brand

The existing logo was modified subtly with new palette of colours introduced.

Trains
£15 million investment was directed at the upgrading of the fleet.

Much of the investment has been spent on increasing safety on board. New features include addition of anti slip flooring, door pillars, step lighting, changes to push button height and grab handle shape, and contrasting door surrounds and carpet thresholds for higher visibility.

The interior of the fleet was designed with an aircraft interior in mind. The First Class layout reflects an airline with a row of four seats, two seats on either side separated by an aisle in the middle facing either forward or rearward direction of travel.

Two 26” widescreen LCD high definition screens will be installed in the vestibules to provide customers with useful, high quality information about their flight or onward transport connections.

Dan Smith, Head of Engineering at Heathrow Express says “Heathrow Express was built with airline business travellers in mind. This recent wave of investment means the fleet is years ahead in terms of safety compliancy and continues to lead the way in terms of on board innovation and technology. We also want to ensure that the experience of travelling on Heathrow Express continues to be exemplary, especially in this important year for London”

Uniforms
The uniform has been designed with the key areas of operational ease, safety and high visibility at the front of mind whilst remembering that staff had requested a uniform that set them apart from other train operating companies.

Material is currently going through extensive testing and the full uniform is due to go live in July.

Operational benefits include not having to iron, other considerations include health and safety compliance and “clever fabrics” that cater for temperature variations of 20 degrees.

The roll out of the new Heathrow Express brand identity will be executed in stages with the new train launch on April 26th.

Heathrow Express’ other touch points with the customer will also undergo an extensive change. Both the airport and Paddington station ticket offices and signage will be re-branded, an advertising campaign will see the brand reach out directly to the consumer and the Heathrow Express presence at BAA’s London Heathrow will be increased. Technological developments including website functionality, mobile apps and other brand hardware have also been developed to make the overall experience of using Heathrow Express streamlined and customer focused.

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