A few points:

- the building of a solar farm in isolation isn’t that ambitious if it was the only thing built, but it isn’t!

- name me a UK airport where it’s pax describe it for its “pleasurable qualities, opportunities and subsequent experience!”

- and tell that to our closest competitor geographically (EMA) and our closest competitor in terms of pax in 2019 (GLA), both of which are FAR away from their 2019 pax levels! The recovery from covid was neither a given or guaranteed, and

- and what makes you think the owner of BHX/BRS/LCY don’t understand “the risk and development of the airline industry”???

…but who am I to get in the way of rant!
 
I do not regard the introduction of solar panels as ambitious in any context. What is the point if it cannot use the electricity it seemingly produces on a rare clear day for a single set of escalators. I recently travelled into BHX from BNE and was literally ashamed of the experience. Nobody ever says “ we prefer to fly from BHX because it stands out from all the rest for its pleasurable qualities, opportunities and subsequent experience.” As far as I can see all the competitors have equally survived and recovered to a similar extent from covid . The airport will never attract the business it’s potential deserves until it is sold to an entity which totally understands the risk and development of the airline industry.
The people who run the airport know what they are doing.

And BHX is not, according the Which, the worst airport in the UK. The worst one appears to be doing pretty darn well at 30 mppa. Connectivity, frequency and convenience rule the day. Better to spend an extra minute in a security or check-in queue than an extra hour or so going someplace else.
 
The people who run the airport know what they are doing.

And BHX is not, according the Which, the worst airport in the UK. The worst one appears to be doing pretty darn well at 30 mppa. Connectivity, frequency and convenience rule the day. Better to spend an extra minute in a security or check-in queue than an extra hour or so going someplace else.
BHX is undergoing a lot of internal work on the security area which has made the whole experience not as good as it should be but hopefully when the work is eventually finished hopefully the experience will be a lot better.

The same has probably impacted on the 'Northern Gateway' being named as the worst airport in the UK as the scale of the building work there is huge compared to what is taking place at BHX.

I really cannot understand why the work ay BHX is taking so long as the only external building was in respect of the new lifts all the other work is just internal refitting.

I am sure when all finished people will forget about any not so good experiences but I agree to0 say I am going to fly from elsewhere is mad if that leads to a trip up the M6 or similar.
 

taken from the Daily Telegraph on Sunday:-

American drones at RAF base to cause chaos for holidaymakers on vital UK flight path

Airspace closures to allow USAF spy drone flights could ‘disrupt thousands of passengers’ at Birmingham airport


US military drone flights from an air base in Gloucestershire are set to cause chaos and delays for thousands of holidaymakers, aviation bosses fear.

Plans to fly the drones from RAF Fairford “2-3 times per week” will disrupt thousands of passengers aboard flights to and from Birmingham airport, its bosses have warned.

Drones have to be segregated from all other flights because the uncrewed aircraft cannot “detect and avoid” them to prevent collisions.

Yet introducing the long-range RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drones to the Gloucestershire base means severing a vital flight path used by airlines serving the West Midlands airport several times a week.

Now airport managers have written to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) warning that flights could be extended by hundreds of extra miles and delayed by up to 20 minutes while the Global Hawks are flying to and from Fairford.

Chris Cole, of anti-drone campaign group Drone Wars UK, said: “There has been a significant push to open UK skies to large military and civil drones for some time, with advocates arguing that bureaucratic red tape is simply frustrating progress.

“Yet in this significant test case, which saw large US military drones fly over the UK for the first time, the regulatory process was clearly insufficient as one of the key stakeholders with important responsibility for public safety was simply overlooked.”

Public consultation documents published late last year show that Birmingham bosses found out about the US Air Force (USAF) drone flights just a few months before they were due to go ahead – even though aviation rules say they should have been notified as long ago as 2021.

Extra CO2 emissions

In letters seen by The Telegraph, senior airport managers then highlighted airline bosses’ concerns about blocking the airport flight path to the CAA.

Ryanair said that if the USAF’s plans went ahead in full, more than 2,800 passengers could be delayed every week, affecting 15 flights and wasting almost nine tonnes of fuel – leading to 34 tonnes of extra CO2 emissions – while routing around the blocked flight path.

Jet2 flights from Portugal, Spain and the Canary Islands could face delays of more than 20 minutes while being forced to fly for an extra 145 miles because of the drones, the airline said. The extra distance would add costs of up to $1,100 per flight, raising fears of passengers being charged more to cover the increased costs of avoiding American drones.

Fears of disruption came to pass last August when two Global Hawk test sorties resulted in 10 scheduled flights by Jet2, Ryanair, easyJet and TUI having to be re-routed on their way into Birmingham, a CAA public consultation document revealed.

The problems are arising because a new aerial danger area complex intended to keep the US military drones separate from airliners clashes with one of the existing approach routes to Birmingham, meaning it cannot be used for drones when commercial flights are passing through it and vice-versa.

The danger area complex – blocks of sky that can be closed to passing flights, similar to lane closures on a motorway – was set up to the south-west of Birmingham so the Fairford drones can climb safely away from their base.

Yet the complex, called D218, overlaps one of the permanent approach routes to the West Midlands airport which is known as FIGZI 1B. Airliners descending along FIGZI 1B to land at Birmingham enter part of D218.

American military presence

Senior US officers want Global Hawk drones based at RAF Fairford as part of the American military presence in Europe.

While nominally a British military airfield, RAF Fairford has been a US base since 1948. The USAF says it “serves as the preferred bomber forward operating location in Europe for USAF Global Strike Command”.

Fairford also hosts the annual Royal International Air Tattoo, a military airshow.

A Birmingham Airport spokesperson said: “We continue discussions with the relevant parties and remain hopeful of a mutually acceptable solution.”

A spokesperson for the MoD said: “We are working closely with the relevant air traffic control services to ensure that the USAF can safely use the airspace around RAF Fairford to operate drones.

“No final decisions have been taken and we are working to minimise any potential impact to other airspace users.”

Ryanair did not comment beyond the public consultation documents. Jet2 did not respond to a request for comment.
 
I think that until a new invester comes forward and buys Ontario teachers pension plan % from them, then sets out it's future plans for the airports expansion and announces the exact amount that it will invest and spend on the airports future growth. How much would it cost to purchase Ontario teachers pension plans percentage stake in Birmingham airport.
 
I think that until a new invester comes forward and buys Ontario teachers pension plan % from them, then sets out it's future plans for the airports expansion and announces the exact amount that it will invest and spend on the airports future growth. How much would it cost to purchase Ontario teachers pension plans percentage stake in Birmingham airport.

We have to be careful what we wish for with other investors as not all the other investors are necessarily better.

Luton had a massive expansion by aena and amp capital, but it seems to have been a cheap and ugly job with the new roofs leaking early on and supermarket style panels used in the buildings!

I was very enthusiastic about GIP, who bought Edinburgh from BAA, but having travelled through Edinburgh recently, I saw that it’s still very much a work in progress. It’s extremely small and crowded considering the number of passengers it handles. This was despite a terminal expansion in 2019.

Vinci is now also investing in EDI but it seems to be a theme with UK airports that investors wait for them to get overcrowded before building. And then, the expansions are sometimes done on the cheap, so the airport becomes crowded again very quickly.

Coincidentally Vinci also owns Gatwick and having travelled through the south terminal a few times I found it looking rather old and tired and very short of seating!

Maybe these things will be fixed in future but the grass is not always greener on the other side.

OTP were willing to fund our departure lounges extension before COVID so I am willing to wait and see whether they bring that back before I will make a judgement on them.

I think the bigger issue is the inability of the council to invest. If the councils are short of money (and a lot of them are), then i think that is a bigger problem than OTP having a 25% stake.
 
Birmingham will be seeing 'considerable investment' of 'well over a million pounds per week' although no further details given.

Just sort out the security Good Sir, it's all that we ask 🙏

 
Birmingham will be seeing 'considerable investment' of 'well over a million pounds per week' although no further details given.

Just sort out the security Good Sir, it's all that we ask 🙏

And arrivals! ;-)
 
Vinci is now also investing in EDI but it seems to be a theme with UK airports that investors wait for them to get overcrowded before building.

If they build something before it is 'full' it is, arguably, a waste of capital. Business cases write themselves when the baseline - i.e. doing nothing - is straining at the seams. Its much more difficult to justify when there is surplus capacity.

Of course, a different choice might be to invest before it gets full, which is great in a magic money tree world. You can value passenger experience more highly in a business case if that's what you want to do. But when the owners of these facilities are investment banks - which ultimately require stability - the last thing they will do is spend what they dont need to.

Birmingham will be seeing 'considerable investment' of 'well over a million pounds per week' although no further details given.

Just sort out the security Good Sir, it's all that we ask 🙏


Im told that the next phase of work (on moving duty free in to the old security space) starts shortly (well, this month - it may already have commenced). That means walls can start eventually to come down, so you flow straight out of security in to duty free and onwards into departures (complete with new F&B units). Probably also means changes (to get more space) upstairs landside.

Baby steps. Be nice if it would happen quicker but that needs 1) space to do so, 2) the cashflow to do so, and 3) passengers to accept it. Best solution would be to close the airport for a few months and do it all in one foul swoop - but that isnt going to happen for a myriad of very sensible (and obvious) reasons!
 
Hi and good evening.

With night flying being approved by Solihull council and the authorities to also approve it aswell.When is this set to take place this night flying period?
 
Hi there all, regarding the chancellors comments about a 3rd runway at Heathrow, very bad idea. By allowing Heathrow to build a 3rd runway, will have a bigger impact on other UK airports, more than people will understand. By increasing there capacity further, will reduce other UK airports business and reduce passenger demand at those airports that are trying to survive. I don't really think when Sir Howard Davies was appointed to commission a report on UK airspace expansion and grove, the main directive was to see where capacity at Heathrow would increase on the levels needed, to allow Heathrow to stay in the same elite league as all those other airports the handle 50 million plus passengers, all other UK airports would be left to fend for themselves.
 
But Heathrow is competing against Paris CDG, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, not Birmingham. It cannot retain a leading position without another runway. I really don’t see that it will impact numbers at BHX. If your idea is that excess passengers at LHR will willingly route to BHX and then take the train, forget it, however fast the transfer time.
 
Hi there Gulf traveller, no I not suggesting that at all, I have not mentioned anything about excess passengers travel up to Birmingham airport, what for, if they want to fly direct to US, why would they use Birmingham airport. Birmingham airport, doesn't and hasn't had any direct flights to USA for ten years. No the point I'm trying to make, by giving Heathrow airport the go ahead to build a third runway, will enable it to increase its capacity, draw more passengers in. This could or would prove costly to Birmingham airport, because if Heathrow offers way, way more than Birmingham airport can in increased capacity. It will have a ripple affect, meaning, reduced passenger levels at Birmingham airport, meaning that instead of trying to handle 12 million plus passengers at year, that could reduce down to 11,10,9,8,7 million passengers a year, causing huge economic impact on the West Midlands and Warwickshire area. Causing job losses, which is not what we want. We want big growth and not massive retraction. So this is why I'm against the idea of a 3rd runway at Heathrow.

The chancellor should be allowing Gatwick another runway, expand Manchester, Birmingham and Stansted and give regional support to other airports as well.
 
But Heathrow is competing against Paris CDG, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, not Birmingham. It cannot retain a leading position without another runway. I really don’t see that it will impact numbers at BHX. If your idea is that excess passengers at LHR will willingly route to BHX and then take the train, forget it, however fast the transfer time.
It might not impact negatively on BHX, but there are certainly some not-so-impossible scenarios in which it might.

Slots taken up by the more niche long haul airlines that have been quueing up to try and get into LHR wont affect us. Nor would expanding BA’s domestic flight network.

But on the other hand, we’ve had easyJet coming out in support of the 3rd runway, so it seems they think it will become cheaper to operate into LHR. They already operate from CDG and AMS. And a LCC base at LHR would also in some ways be much more attractive to midlands travellers than LTN (overcrowded) and LGW/STN (distance to travel). Having a lot of budget flights out of LHR that weren’t available before would not be ideal for BHX, I think.
 
Exactly my point jfy1999, as you mentioned easyJet supporting the 3rd runway at Heathrow airport, this would mean a great deal offered by Heathrow, far better than what we are offering them. This means that all the hard work in persuading easyJet to use Birmingham airport, this could mean that if they were to set up a new base from Heathrow as well. That could quite easily put a dent in any future expansion plan of routes from Birmingham airport, that would not be a good decision made at all, it could also cost Birmingham airport dearly in the future. If and when the 3rd runway is built.
 
I take your point. But I think that LGW and LTN have far more to fear. In general, people use LCCs because they are there locally. There will be some niche destinations where that is not true. But BHX is not used as an overflow for LHR. They are distinct markets. BHX will be fine.
 
Well let's hope so, LCC prime directive and business plan is low cost meaning- cheaper flights seats available, again what I said before. What ever deal bhx has agreed with easyJet, because if Heathrow can offer even better than what Birmingham airport can only offer, then easyJet will take the better and use it to its full advantage. This would and could put Birmingham airport in a very vulnerable and sticky situation, meaning that a better incentives that are offered by Heathrow may not be viable for Birmingham airport to continue that deal that easyJet has accepted from Birmingham airport, which could lead to reduction in frequency offered, but quantity of routes on offer. This could have a massive impact on Birmingham airport in the near future.
 
Well said Ian, that's been my whole point all along, the government isn't interested in regional airports, it never has. Just as long it can enable and support Heathrow as the hub airport in the UK, that's all it's worried about, no one else. Everyone else has to fend for themselves.
 

Upload Media

Upgrade Your Account

Subscribe to help support your favourite forum and in return we'll remove all our advertisements. Your contribution will help to pay for things like site maintenance, domain name renewals and annual server charges.



Forums4aiports
Subscribe

NEW - Profile Posts

Jon Dempsey wrote on HPsauce's profile.
Hi, I was born and lived in B36 for a long time - Lindale Avenue, just around the corner from Hodge Hill Comp.
I just noticed your postcode on a post.

Do you still live in the area?
survived a redundancy scenario where I work for the 2nd time
If you’re tired of takeoffs, you’re tired of life.
49 trips undertaken last year. First done this year which was to North Wales where surprisingly the only slippery surfaces were in Conwy with the castle and it's walls closed due to the ice.
Aviador wrote on SNOWMAN's profile.
Thanks for the support @SNOWMAN

Trending Hashtags

Advertisement

Back
Top Bottom
  AdBlock Detected
Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks some useful and important features of our website. For the best possible site experience please take a moment to disable your AdBlocker.