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London's Heathrow airport is to undergo one of the biggest changes to its air traffic control set up in 50 years.

The world's busiest hub is to get a new control tower with the handover between the old and new due to take place on 21 April.

Officials have chosen 02:00 BST as the exact moment of the switch over as this is the quietest time for the airport.

The new control tower has been in planning for two years and the training of staff has been taking place for 12 months.

'Our controllers have been simultaneously operating on one set of systems and training on an entirely new set, and it's a tribute to their professionalism that they have been able to do this without any interruption to service over the past year,' said Brandon Chapman, director of airports business at air traffic management firm NATS.

'The new tower is a major change in the way we work and a fantastic facility; it will serve Heathrow well into the future and provide an air traffic control platform for decades to come.'

The new tower is key to the opening of the new Terminal Five at Heathrow.

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