Birmingham Airport

For the Birmingham, Alabama airport, see Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

Birmingham Airport
File:Birmingham Airport 2010.png
IATA: BHX ICAO: EGBB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Seven Metropolitan Boroughs of West Midlands (49% total) (Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall & Solihull) Airport Group Investments Ltd. (48.25%) (Teachers' & VFMC) Employee Shares (2.75%)
Operator	Birmingham Airport Ltd
Serves	Birmingham, United Kingdom
Location	Bickenhill, West Midlands
Focus city for	Flybe Monarch Airlines Ryanair Thomas Cook Airlines Thomson Airways
Elevation AMSL	328 ft / 100 m
Website	birminghamairport.co.uk
Map
EGBB Location in the West Midlands
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 15/33 3,052 10,013 Asphalt
Statistics (2013)
Passengers 9,120,201 Passenger change 12–13 2.2% Aircraft Movements 95,713 Movements change 12–13 3.3%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority

Birmingham Airport (IATA: BHX, ICAO: EGBB), formerly Birmingham International Airport is an airport located 5.5 NM (10.2 km; 6.3 mi) east southeast of Birmingham city centre, at Bickenhill in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull within the West Midlands, England. The airport is a base for Flybe, Monarch, Ryanair, Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways.

The airport offers both domestic flights within the UK, and international flights to destinations in Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, North America and the Caribbean. After handling a record 9.6 million passengers in 2008, passenger numbers declined to around 9.1 million in 2013, making Birmingham the seventh busiest UK airport.

Birmingham has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P451) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

Location

Birmingham Airport is 5.5 NM (10.2 km; 6.3 mi) east-south-east of Birmingham city centre, in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. It is bordered by the National Exhibition Centre to the east, Marston Green to the north, Sheldon to the west, and the village of Bickenhill to the south.

It is primarily served by the A45 main road, and is near Junction 6 of the M42 motorway. It is connected by the elevated AirRail Link with Birmingham International railway station on the West Coast Main Line.

The airport's location south-east of the city, plus the only operational runway being north-west – south-east (15/33), means that depending on wind direction, aircraft land or take-off directly over Birmingham. The relatively short north-east – south-west runway (06/24) is not operational, and has been incorporated into the taxiway for aircraft departing the end of runway 33, or gaining access to runway 15.

History

Where Birmingham Airport is now, as it was around 1921. (See for a modern map of Birmingam Airport and around.)

1920s to 1939

• 1928: Birmingham City Council decided that the city required a municipal airport.
• 1933: Plans were submitted, identifying Elmdon as the site for the airport, delayed by the Great Depression.
• 8 July 1939: Duchess of Kent, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark opened Elmdon Airport. The airport was owned and operated by Birmingham City Council. Initial services flew to Croydon, Glasgow, Liverpool, Ryde, Shoreham, Manchester and Southampton.

World War II

• World War II: The airport was requisitioned by the Air Ministry and was used by the RAF and the Royal Navy as an Elementary Flying School and a base for the Fleet Air Arm. During this time, the original grass strip was replaced by two hard runways: 06/24 at 2,469 feet (753 m) and 15/33 at 4,170 feet (1,271 m). Avro Lancaster and Stirling bombers manufactured at the Austin Aero Company's shadow factory at Cofton Hackett could not take off from the short runways at Longbridge. Instead they were transported by road, minus the wings that would be attached at Elmdon. They were test flown from the aerodrome, and once declared airworthy they were flown to their operational units.
• 8 July 1946: The aerodrome returned to civilian use, though still under government control.

1946–1970s

During the post-war years, public events, such as air fairs and air races were held on the site.

• 1 January 1960: The City of Birmingham took over responsibility again.
• 1 April 1960: The City of Birmingham assumed full responsibility.
• 1961: An additional terminal building to handle international traffic was opened, called The International Building.
• 1967: The main runway was extended to 7,400 feet (1.4 miles) to allow jet operations, including introducing VC-10 services to New York.
• 1970: The Birmingham Corporation Act 1970 gave the corporation the power to attest constables for the airport, creating the Birmingham Airport Police.
• 1974: Ownership of the airport passed to the newly formed West Midlands County Council.

Part of Terminal 1, the runway is seen beyond.

1980s – 2000

• 4 April 1984: The current airport was first used. A new terminal was opened on the east side of the runway adjacent to the Birmingham International railway station and the National Exhibition Centre, able to handle three million passengers a year.
• 30 May 1984: Elizabeth II opened it.

  It included a Maglev Airport Rapid Transit system, running between the airport and Birmingham International railway station on a 600-metre (1,969 ft) track.

  The original Art Deco 1939 terminal and control tower are still visible and are in use as aviation related offices, near hangars to the west of the runway.

• 1985: Take Off, a sculpture by the Polish artist Walenty Pytel, was set up, on a roundabout on the approach road. It is 1.4 m (4.6 ft) tall. The unpolished steel sculpture was designed to commemorate 40 years of peace in Europe.
• 1986: Ownership of the Airport transferred to the newly formed West Midlands Joint Airport Committee, comprising the seven West Midlands district councils. Shortly after this, the Airports Act 1986 was introduced, requiring municipal airports with turnover greater than £1m to become Public Airport Companies.
• 1 April 1987: Ownership of the airport was transferred to Birmingham International Airport plc, although still owned by the seven West Midlands district councils.
• 26 July 1991: A second terminal, "Eurohub", opened (with Concorde in attendance), more than doubling the airport's capacity. This second terminal was designed for the use of British Airways and its partners as part of a "hub and spoke" system whereby aircraft would arrive in waves from domestic and European destinations and allowed easy transfers so that a passenger from, say Edinburgh, could connect to a range of European destinations. In 1980, British Airways started operating a service to New York-JFK,and Toronto-Pearson.
• 1993: The Government limited public sector borrowing. This meant that the airport could only expand by using private sector finance. 51% of the local council shares were sold to restructure the airport into a private sector company, enabling a £260 million restructuring programme to begin in 1997.
• 1995: The Maglev Airport Rapid Transit system was closed due to high cost and problems sourcing parts.

2000 to 2010

The AirRail Link joins the railway station to the airport, operated by a track and pulley system

Part of the Terminal 2 apron, the runway is seen beyond.

• 3 March 2000: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the £40 million redevelopment of the airport. The redevelopment introduced a new customs and immigration hall, twelve new shops, a new baggage reclaim area, a new arrivals concourse, a new pier with three air bridges, sixteen new check-in desks in Terminal 1. They also linked Terminal One with Terminal Two (previously "Eurohub") for the first time with the newly built Millennium Link. Following on from this, a total of £18 million was spent on a replacement for the Maglev; the AirRail Link people mover, which was the first in the world to be used at an airport. Along with this, the public transport interchange was built to extend Birmingham International railway station for airport users. This has since been named Birmingham International Interchange.
• 2000: Emirates launched a new service to Dubai, eventually going twice daily in 2005.
• 20 October 2003: Concorde made her final visit to Birmingham Airport on as part of her farewell tour.
• July 2007: Birmingham was voted the best airport in Europe in the 5 million to 10 million passengers per year category.
• January 2008: The shorter runway (06/24) was decommissioned. It had been used with less frequency due to its short length, noise impact, and its inconvenient position crossing the main runway making it uneconomic to continue operation. The closure also allowed for apron expansion on both sides of the remaining runway. However it remains open as a taxiway and a helicopter airstrip.

Emirates brings the A380 to Birmingham to celebrate 70 years of the airport and the opening of the new international pier.

• June 2008: Work began on building the new three-story International Pier. It was officially opened on 9 September 2009. As part of the airport's 70th anniversary, the airport welcomed the Airbus A380 as the first user of the pier. The special service was the first commercial A380 flight in the UK to take place outside London Heathrow Airport.

  The new pier is a three-storey construction, 240 metres long and 24 metres wide. Departing passengers will be accommodated on the top level, with arriving passengers on the middle level and office accommodation for airline and handling agents on the ground floor.

  The new facility provides air-bridged aircraft parking for seven wide-bodied aircraft and enough space to serve 13 smaller aircraft at any given time and is capable of accommodating 'next generation' environmentally-efficient wide-bodied aircraft such as the Airbus A380, Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787 'Dreamliner' as well as the larger aircraft types such as the Boeing 777 which currently serves the airport daily. The new pier also hosts a new lounge for business class Emirates passengers.

• 2009: The airport introduced charges for passengers using its luggage trolleys. Passengers now pay a non-refundable charge of £1/€2 for the use of a baggage trolley with payment accepted in coins or by card. The airport explained that the provision of a free bus service should reduce demand for trolleys.

2010 – present

In September 2010 an announcement was made that following the merging of Terminals 1 & 2 in 2011, the airport would drop the International from its official name to become Birmingham Airport. A Midlands based marketing agency was recruited to "create a new corporate identity that reflects [Birmingham Airport's] current position in the market place, as well as its future potential". Figures from Birmingham Airport show that 8 million people live within a one hour's drive of the airport, but less than 40% of them use it. It is hoped that the rebrand will make the airport "more visible to the market". However, the new name was used from November 2010. The new logo, interlocking circles in shades of blue, and slogan, "Hello World", were designed to reflect the airport's new positioning as a global travel hub.

In January 2011, the airport merged its two terminals into a Single Terminal Building. This involved the construction of two new floors been added to the airports terminals (& Millennium Link). The 3rd floor was built in the Millennium Link (also in the two terminals) accommodating the new Centralised Security Search area and a/the Lower Ground Floor, accommodating the new Arrivals and Meeting & Greeting (Meet & Greet) area. There are also plans to extend both terminals, adding an additional Departures and Arrivals.

In August 2013, Air India began operating flights to Delhi and Amritsar using Boeing 787 aircraft.

Future

The airport has published a master plan for its development up to 2030, called "Towards 2030: Planning a Sustainable Future for Air Transport in the Midlands". This sets out details of changes to the terminals, airfield layout and off-site infrastructure. As with all large scale plans, the proposals are controversial, with opposition from environmentalists and local residents. In particular the requirement for a second parallel runway based on projected demand was disputed by opponents.

Although initial plans for a second runway were scrapped, this is now firmly back on the airports agenda ahead of the report into Britains aviation strategy being published. Plans for a 2nd runway on the other side of the M42, along with a new terminal building and business park have been published and it's hoped they could help create around 250,000 jobs.

It's also been estimated that if these plans were to go ahead, the airport could handle around 70,000,000 passengers annually, and around 500,000 aircraft movements.

Runway extension

Originally, the target for completion was in time for the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics. However, work began in late 2012, with a target date to be fully operational by early 2014.

In August 2013, the old carriageway of the A45 road was closed and the new carriage way was opened. This is to make way for the new runway extension currently being constructed.

The extension will increase the runway length from the present 2,605 m (8,547 ft) to 3,003 m (9,852 ft), the main plan was to have a 150m starter extension along with the 400m extension but because the plan for the tunnel had been cancelled because of costs the runway length will be 3,050 m (10,007 ft).There will be a loop taxiway from which planes will taxi to the runway and then takeoff. The airport owners believe there is likely to be sufficient demand for long-range direct services operated by aircraft whose operations are constrained by the current runway length. The present runway length is short for an airport with Birmingham's passenger throughput and range of destinations, and limits aircraft to destinations on the east coast or in the midwest of North America, in the Gulf and Middle East, or on the South Asian subcontinent.

Plans for the extension of the airport runway and the construction of the new air traffic control tower were submitted to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in January 2008 and approved in March 2009. The construction of the runway extension and a new air traffic control tower began in March 2011. The extension to the southern end of the runway originally required the A45 Coventry Road to be diverted into a tunnel under the extended section, but to cut immediate costs, it will be diverted to the south of the runway until 2020, when it'll be moved into a tunnel.

Taxiways will be further improved to allow for terminal expansion and to improve runway occupancy rates. A new turn off was completed in June 2006 and saw an improvement in traffic rates on southerly operations, where the only available option for landing traffic had been to travel to the end of the runway to exit.

New control tower

Building a new control tower for the airport began in July 2011, to replace the old tower which has stood at the airport since it was opened in 1939. The tower was completed in March 2012. As soon as the equipment was installed, testing and training began in summer 2012. The tower was fully operational by summer 2013. An Olympic ceremony was held at the airport on 23 April 2012, the Olympic rings were unveiled on the tower and could be seen from the A45 road and the main terminal building. This was to commemorate the build-up to the London 2012 Olympic games. These rings were removed once the Olympic Games officially closed, just before 2012 Summer Paralympics began.

The proposed 'Birmingham Interchange'

High Speed Two

As part of the proposed High Speed Two rail link, a new railway station called Birmingham Interchange would be built to serve both the airport and the National Exhibition Centre. The station would be built on the far side of the M42 motorway and connect to the airport using a "rapid transit people mover". If the project is given the go ahead, High Speed Two is currently planned for completion by 2026.

On 23 February 2011, it was reported that Birmingham Airport had announced the HS2 extension could be a solution to runway capacity problems in London, citing that will be quicker to get to London from Birmingham than from London Stansted once completed and claimed that the airport had capacity for nine million more passengers.

It has been found that Birmingham airport is the most accessible airport in the UK. It's been estimated that upon the completion of HS2 around 40,000,000 will be within 1 hours journey of the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Thomson Airways Boeing 757 taking off from Birmingham Airport

A Turkmenistan Airlines Boeing 757 preparing for departure

Norwegian Air Shuttle Boeing 737-300 taxiing at Birmingham Airport

Monarch Airlines Airbus A321 taxiing at Birmingham Airport

Helvetic Airways Fokker 100 taxiing at Birmingham Airport

CityJet Avro RJ85 taxiing at Birmingham Airport

Onur Air Airbus A321 taxiing at Birmingham Airport

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Athens (begins 10 June 2014)
Aer Lingus	Dublin
Aer Lingus Regional operated by Stobart Air	Cork, Dublin, Shannon
Air France	Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Air India	Amritsar, Delhi
Air Malta	Seasonal: Malta
Air Transat	Seasonal: Toronto-Pearson
Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways	Seasonal: Innsbruck
BH Air	Seasonal: Burgas, Varna
BMI Regional	Gothenburg-Landvetter
Brussels Airlines	Brussels
Brussels Airlines operated by Flybe	Brussels
Brussels Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways	Brussels
Cyprus Airways	Seasonal charter: Larnaca
Eastern Airways	Newcastle upon Tyne
EasyJet	Belfast-International Seasonal: Geneva, Grenoble
Emirates	Dubai-International
Freebird Airlines	Seasonal charter: Antalya, Dalaman
Flybe	Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast-City, Bordeaux (begins 13 May 2014), Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Florence, Glasgow-International, Guernsey, Hanover, Inverness, Isle of Man, Jersey, Knock, Lyon, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Stuttgart, Toulouse (begins 13 May 2014), Waterford Seasonal: Alicante, Avignon, Bergerac, Brest, Chambéry, Dubrovnik, Geneva, Ibiza (begins 29 June 2014), Innsbruck, Kittilä, La Rochelle, Newquay (begins 16 May 2014), Palma de Mallorca (begins 13 May 2014), Perpignan, Porto, Reykjavík-Keflavík (begins 29 June 2014), Salzburg, Turin Seasonal charter: Lleida
Germanwings	Berlin-Tegel, Hamburg
Germanwings operated by Eurowings	Düsseldorf (begins 18 September 2014)
KLM	Amsterdam
Lufthansa	Frankfurt
Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings	Düsseldorf (ends 17 September 2014)
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine	Munich
Monarch Airlines	Alicante, Barcelona, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gibraltar, Gran Canaria, Hurghada, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Málaga, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Rome-Fiumicino, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Venice-Marco Polo Seasonal: Almería, Bodrum, Bordeaux, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Grenoble, Heraklion, Ibiza, Menorca, Split, Seasonal charter: Chania, Corfu, Kavala (begins 27 May 2014), Kefalonia (begins 11 May 2014), Preveza, Rhodes, Skiathos(begins 27 May 2014), Zakynthos
Pakistan International Airlines	Islamabad
Ryanair	Alicante, Barcelona, Bratislava, Bydgoszcz, Derry, Dublin, Faro, Gran Canaria, Katowice, Kraków, Lanzarote, Málaga, Malta, Milan-Bergamo, Rzeszów, Tenerife-South Seasonal: Gdańsk, Ibiza, Kaunas, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Perpignan, Reus, Trieste
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Scandinavian Airlines operated by Blue1	Stockholm-Arlanda
Swiss International Air Lines	Zürich
Swiss International Air Lines operated by Helvetic Airways	Zürich
Thomas Cook Airlines	Alicante, Antalya, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Malaga, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South Seasonal: Almería, Banjul, Bodrum, Burgas, Corfu, Enfidha, Grenoble, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, İzmir, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Santorini, Turin, Zakynthos
Thomson Airways	Alicante, Antalya, Cancún, Barbados, Enfidha, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Funchal, Lanzarote, Hurghada, Málaga, Montego Bay-Sangster, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Sal, Orlando-Sanford, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife-South Seasonal: Almería, Boa Vista, Bodrum, Bourgas, Catania (begins 1 June 2014), Chambéry, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Enontekiö, Faro, Geneva, Gerona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Izmir, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Malta, Marrakech, Menorca, Naples, Porto Santo (begins 25 May 2015), Pula, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Santorini, Skiathos, Sofia, Verona, Zakynthos
Thomson Airways operated by TUIfly	Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca (begins 25 May 2014)
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk
Turkmenistan Airlines	Ashgabat
United Airlines	Newark

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Aviavilsa	Vilnius, Minsk, Plovdiv, Saarbrucken
FedEx Express	Manchester, Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Atlantic Airlines	Isle of Man
BinAir	Oporto, Bilbao, Katowice, Cologne/Bonn

Accidents and incidents

• 4 January 2002 (2002-01-04): A Bombardier-CL604 business jet crashed on take-off from runway 15 at Birmingham. The aircraft with registration N90AG was on lease by AGCO corporation and was carrying two company executives, two pilots and an observer. After arriving from Palm Beach International Airport the previous evening, the aircraft was parked overnight at Birmingham where ice formed on the wings due to the cold weather conditions. The following morning the pilots did not request de-icing of the aircraft before their flight to Bangor Airport in Maine. The ice on the wings caused one wing to dip on take off, the aircraft inverted, crashed into grass beside the runway and caught fire. There were no survivors. Sleeping pills taken by both pilots the night before the crash are thought to have been a factor in reducing the pilots' judgment.
• 23 February 2006 (2006-02-23): Mahan Air Airbus A310 operating a flight from Tehran, Iran, was involved in a serious incident while on approach to Birmingham International Airport. The aircraft descended to the published minimum descent altitude of 740 ft despite still being 11 nm from the runway threshold. At a point 6 nm from the runway the aircraft had descended to an altitude of 660 ft, which was 164 ft above ground level. Having noticed the descent profile, Birmingham Air traffic control issued an immediate climb instruction to the aircraft, however, the crew had already commenced a missed approach, having received a GPWS alert. The aircraft was radar vectored for a second approach during which the flight crew again initiated an early descent. On this occasion, the radar controller instructed the crew to maintain their altitude and the crew successfully completed the approach to a safe landing. The accident investigation determined that the primary cause was use of the incorrect DME for the approach, combined with a substantial breakdown in Crew Resource Management. Three safety recommendations were made.
• 15 June 2006 (2006-06-15): A TNT Airways cargo 737-300 made an emergency landing at Birmingham with damaged landing gear. The aircraft, registration OO-TND, had been flying from Liege in Belgium to Stansted. Due to poor visibility at Stansted the flight diverted to East Midlands Airport. As the weather at East Midlands was also poor, the aircraft performed a full autopilot approach. During this approach the autopilot momentarily disengaged causing it to deviate from the course. The aircraft hit the grass to the side of the runway, which caused the right main gear to detach. The crew initiated a go-around, declared an emergency and diverted to Birmingham. After it landed on Birmingham's main runway, the airport was closed for a number of hours. The pilots were unharmed. However, the company ascribed the incident to human error and both pilots were dismissed. The official report into the accident highlighted a number of factors contributing to the accident – poor weather forecast information; a message passed from Air Traffic Control to the aircraft at an "inappropriate" time; the pilot accidentally disconnecting the autopilot when attempting to respond to the message; the pilot losing "situational awareness" and failing to abort the landing.
• 19 November 2010 (2010-11-19): A Cessna Citation aircraft, registration G-VUEM, crashed at Birmingham Airport during final approach in thick fog. Reports from West Midlands Police were that there were two casualties, one critical. The aircraft was bringing a human liver from Belfast airport, for a transplant operation which was subsequently completed successfully. The airport reopened at around mid-day the following day.

Security incidents

• 6 June 2007 (2007-06-06): The Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme exposed serious security flaws at Birmingham Airport over a six-month period. Fifteen members of staff working for the security contractor "ICTS UK Ltd" were suspended and subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct. Members of security were filmed asleep on duty, reading magazines whilst operating x-ray scanners, leaving aircraft unguarded, and ignoring bags sent for extra security checks, as well as being understaffed. The security lapse was deemed so serious, that it was commented upon in the United States Congress by Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the US Congress Homeland Security Committee, who advised that all flights to and from Birmingham Airport should cease. Despite dismissing the members of staff in the programme for their actions, ICTS still claimed that the footage had been "contrived to exaggerate and sensationalise" the issues.
• 8 June 2009 (2009-06-08): The West Midlands Police helicopter (G-WMAO) was destroyed by arsonists, and subsequently written off. A year later, a new Eurocopter EC135 similar to G-WMAO was handed over to West Midlands Police at the Farnborough Airshow. Thousands of pounds have now been spent upgrading security surrounding the new police helicopter.
• 14 February 2010 (2010-02-14): A faulty Archway Metal Detector (AMD) was switched off in Terminal 2 and not switched back on again, allowing hundreds of passengers to pass through unchecked. The "serious failure" was not spotted until police officers wearing metal equipment passed through and the AMDs did not sound. Birmingham Airport commented that a full and thorough investigation was under way.

Traffic and statistics

Passenger numbers

Birmingham handled a record 9.6 million passengers in 2008, and 9.1 million passengers used the airport in 2013, making Birmingham the seventh busiest UK airport.

	Number of Passengers	Number of Movements	Birmingham Airport Passenger Totals 1997–2013 (millions)
1997	6,025,485	79,880
1998	6,709,086	88,332
1999	7,013,913	98,749
2000	7,596,893	108,972
2001	7,808,562	111,008
2002	8,027,730	112,284
2003	9,079,172	116,040
2004	8,862,388	109,202
2005	9,381,425	112,963
2006	9,147,384	108,658
2007	9,226,340	114,679
2008	9,627,589	112,227
2009	9,102,899	101,221
2010	8,572,398	95,454
2011	8,616,296	93,145
2012	8,922,539	92,632
2013	9,120,201	95,713
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority

Route statistics

Busiest by country (2013)

Rank	Country/Region	Passengers handled	% change 2012–13
1	Spain	1,949,011	05.2
2	United Kingdom	1,102,703	07.7
3	Germany	842,670	02.0
4	Ireland	711,011	03.4
5	France	529,293	08.4
6	United Arab Emirates	499,573	05.4
7	Netherlands	460,012	03.4
8	Turkey	409,770	07.1
9	Greece	308,966	00.6
10	Italy	277,011	011.8
11	Portugal	224,036	010.0
12	Poland	190,674	015.1
13	Switzerland	164,117	018.8
14	Cyprus	159,335	022.4
15	Egypt	151,384	038.5
16	USA	113,823	05.7
17	Belgium	106,983	01.9
18	Pakistan	97,365	00.3
19	Tunisia	81,355	053.8
20	Denmark	80,088	05.9

Busiest domestic and Crown dependency routes (2013)

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	% change 2012/13
1	Edinburgh	284,150	00.6
2	Belfast-City	266,379	013.6
3	Glasgow International	203,464	02.2
4	Belfast-International	157,222	0543.5
5	Aberdeen	99,198	011.2
6	Derry	52,322	05.0
7	Isle of Man	41,676	04.0
8	Inverness	34,813	05.5
9	Jersey	34,685	027.7
10	Guernsey	34,409	024.5

Busiest international routes to and from Birmingham Airport (2013)

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	% Change 2012 / 13
1	Dublin	561,017	07.2
2	Dubai	499,573	05.4
3	Amsterdam	459,701	03.5
4	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	365,784	01.3
5	Alicante	294,332	05.8
6	Frankfurt	280,218	04.5
7	Tenerife South	275,317	012.3
8	Palma de Mallorca	258,959	09.2
9	Malaga	251,838	017.9
10	Lanzarote	188,015	00.3
11	Düsseldorf	184,722	05.2
12	Faro	177,387	016.4
13	Munich	174,476	00.5
14	Dalaman	168,179	03.5
15	Sharm el-Sheikh	133,894	035.9
16	Barcelona	121,369	0151.7
17	Ibiza	121,368	02.7
18	Istanbul	110,224	031.2
20	Brussels	106,940	01.9

Ground transportation

Public transport

Train

Birmingham Airport is served by Birmingham International station. The station is on the West Coast Main Line between Birmingham and London. London Midland and Virgin Trains operate from Birmingham New Street station to Birmingham International station approximately every 10 minutes (during the day time), with a journey time of 10 to 15 minutes. There are three services per hour to and from London Euston, the journey time being around 70 minutes. Access between the railway station and the airport terminal is provided by the free AirRail Link.

Birmingham International railway station/Birmingham Interchange

Bus and coach

National Express West Midlands operates the main bus routes calling at Birmingham Airport, those being the 900 to Birmingham city centre and Coventry, and the 966 to Erdington and Solihull. Additionally service 97A to Birmingham via Chelmsley Wood now runs to the airport 24hrs a day. Other smaller operators also call at the airport. Bus stops are situated outside Terminal One. Most buses are operated by National Express West Midlands, who do not give change when selling tickets, so foreign travellers will need to ensure they have British coins when taking a local bus.

National Express Coaches operate various long distance coaches calling at Birmingham Airport on the way to or from Birmingham Coach Station, such as the 777 and the 422.

Taxi

Black cabs are available at the taxi-rank outside the arrivals area of the terminals.

Car

Birmingham Airport is accessible from the north and south via Junction Six of the M42 motorway. From Birmingham city centre, the A45 runs directly to the airport. There are no pick-up or drop-off areas available outside the terminal. Instead, there is a "Drop & Go" car park outside the terminals for which there is a charge of £1 for 10 minutes, plus another £1 for each subsequent 10 minutes. Alternatively, the first 15 minutes parking in Long Stay 1 is free. The airport offers short and medium stay car parks close to the terminal, and long stay car parks with a free bus service to the terminal. The airport suggests using Short/Medium car parks 1/2/3 for arrivals.

Birmingham Airport is the location of six global car-hire firms with a dedicated return and collect car park near to the terminals.

Bicycle

The only cycle route available heads south over the A45 travelling towards Solihull. Birmingham Airport have however published "recommended routes" for cyclists. Free short term cycle parking is available close to Terminal One. For longer stays, bicycles must be stored in Left Luggage for a charge.

See also

• Transport in Birmingham

External links

Media related to Birmingham Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Birmingham Airport – Official website
• Airport Consultative Committee
• Birmingham Airport companies grouped at OpenCorporates
• Opening ceremony, 1939 Pathé Newsreel