A view of the inside of the new Terminal 5 building at Heathrow Airport in west London, which opened in March 2008. Writer Alain de Botton is spending a week there and will publish his experiences. A view of the inside of the new Terminal 5 building at Heathrow Airport in west London, which opened in March 2008. Writer Alain de Botton is spending a week there and will publish his experiences. (Akira Suemori/ Associated Press)

Heathrow Airport has hired a writer-in-residence to observe and interview passengers, the results of which will be published in a book.

In what it calls a first, the British Airports Authority (BAA) has allowed Alain de Botton, a philosophical writer whose works include The Art of Travel and How Proust Can Change Your Life, to spend a week at its new Terminal 5. His stint started on Tuesday.

"If you wanted to take a Martian to a single place that best captures everything that is distinctive and particular to modern civilization, in its highs and lows, you would undoubtedly take them to the airport," said the 39-year-old Swiss-born British author, whose latest book is The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work.

De Botton spends some of his time at desk in the departures area, interviewing staff and passengers.

He says the airports authority, which is sponsoring the project and paying him, has given him complete editorial freedom and access to all parts of the terminal.

"One of the first things I said when they offered it to me was that I should be allowed to say what I want to say," de Botton told The Guardian newspaper.

'It is the opposite of routine'

The results of the experiment will be published in September, with the airports authority distributing 10,000 free copies to passengers.

"Opening Heathrow to literary critique is a bold and adventurous step for us," admitted the airport's chief operating officer, Mike Brown.

Heathrow has a lot riding on this. When Terminal 5 opened in March 2008, it was blasted with plenty of criticism. Hundreds of flights were cancelled and thousands of pieces of luggage were lost when the terminal's computer system shut down.

De Botton, who has already visited in-flight meal maker Gate Gourmet and the terminal's high-tech baggage system, says he simply wants to unveil the mysteries of transport.

"I love transport, I love airplanes. It is the opposite of routine, even when it goes wrong."

With files from The Associated Press