SURINDER ARORA: A TIMELINE
1972: Arrives in the UK from Punjab, India, aged 13.
1977: Joins British Airways on £ 34 a week, funding flying lessons while working evenings in hospitality.
1993: Buys four derelict houses on Bath Road, Heathrow, for £ 161,000. Identifies a gap in the market for airline crew accommodation.
1999: Opens the first Arora hotel at Heathrow, purpose-built for British Airways crew. Arora Group is founded.
2008: Financial crisis tests the business severely. The group comes through, emerging stronger.
2012: Acquires the Renaissance London Heathrow— the hotel where he worked the night shift as a young man.
2017: Opens InterContinental London – The O2, the group’ s first central London property.
2025: Arora Group announces a privately financed proposal for a third runway at Heathrow, valued at £ 2bn.
150 May 2026