Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[nwoody2001]

Yes but it’s mainly been Tom and Andrew they went to Bahrain for Routes 2024

Girona for something regards to route development aswell but I can’t remember what it is off the top of my head.

I respect the fact Nick has been very busy with Terminal and Net Zero projects at bhx including Security however Them 3 have delivered decent routes though Andrew Pelham has been in the role around a year

Tom and Andrew are the Route Development Team at BHX. They should be the lead people at Bahrain for Routes 2024

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Tom and Andrew are the Route Development Team at BHX. They should be the lead people at Bahrain for Routes 2024

They are the core sole of route development at bhx.Wonder what Andrew has up his sleeve for bhx?

 

[Ianbutty]

I am sure these employees really enjoy speculation like this.

At present BHX is fine. Could be a lot better if the company spent a billion quid. But having come through MXP T1 on Monday, there are far worse airports.

 

[Knotty]

Tom has been to route development events more then Nick Barton out of his spinning chair

On a serious note.Nick Barton has done a great job expanding routes and getting bases at bhx however the security is a serious mess

Can you kindly elaborate as to which parts of Security "Is a serious mess"?
Is it the redevelopment work, actual screening or Queues, or indeed all?
If the latter, as I've stated before, being a frequent traveller early morning during the peak, my longest wait has been 20 minutes, which I find acceptable. Indeed my partner returned to ALC yesterday, arrived to check in, inc Suitcase, at 04.10, and was shopping by 04.35!! One other factor, I appreciate some only travel once a year, but you can guarantee there is always at least one in the queue, not prepared what to do when they get to the security trays. Can take a minute to empty pockets, remove belt, remove fleece etc. Multiply that by a few in the peak and it has a knock on effect. Not BHX fault!! Perhaps you can share your own experiences with 'this mess'?

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Can you kindly elaborate as to which parts of Security "Is a serious mess"?
Is it the redevelopment work, actual screening or Queues, or indeed all?
If the latter, as I've stated before, being a frequent traveller early morning during the peak, my longest wait has been 20 minutes, which I find acceptable. Indeed my partner returned to ALC yesterday, arrived to check in, inc Suitcase, at 04.10, and was shopping by 04.35!! One other factor, I appreciate some only travel once a year, but you can guarantee there is always at least one in the queue, not prepared what to do when they get to the security trays. Can take a minute to empty pockets, remove belt, remove fleece etc. Multiply that by a few in the peak and it has a knock on effect. Not BHX fault!! Perhaps you can share your own experiences with 'this mess'?

1. destruction of the Escalator has most certainly affected queues.

2.Majority of the Waiting times decreased but still busy at peak times

 

[Ray Finkle]

Yesterday we went from entering a very busy Jet2 bag drop to World Duty Free in around 25 mins. Yes we had fast track but i don't think the regular queue would have taken more than about another 15-20 mins.

Every airport is going to see some sort of queueing at peak times, it's not just a BHX thing. Last year was a shambles but this year it's so much better

 

[nwoody2001]

1. destruction of the Escalator has most certainly affected queues.

2.Majority of the Waiting times decreased but still busy at peak times

1. How? as Knotty and Ray describes above, there are not any notable issues with queuing at the moment. Yes queues exist but nothing more than expected during peak season.

2. You have just described every major airport in the world!

 

[thunderchild]

Agree with other comments in that security was a massive improvement on last year - we were through in about 15 minutes although admittedly it wasn’t at peak time but still very busy. The place is still a building site though and I honestly couldn’t see what had been done since last summer - exposed ceilings and makeshift corridors all over the place - hopefully it will all look nice when completed but at the moment it just looks a mess and seems to have been going on forever.

Jet2 arrivals wasn’t the best - no egates on that side and only four passport desks open so it took a good half hour to get through but at least by that time the bags were waiting.

I agree that Jet2 have completely outgrown the old Eurohub, the terminal wasn’t designed for that many jets and passengers.

As for the tent….talk about herding cattle!

 

[Ianbutty]

Agree with other comments in that security was a massive improvement on last year - we were through in about 15 minutes although admittedly it wasn’t at peak time but still very busy. The place is still a building site though and I honestly couldn’t see what had been done since last summer - exposed ceilings and makeshift corridors all over the place - hopefully it will all look nice when completed but at the moment it just looks a mess and seems to have been going on forever.

Jet2 arrivals wasn’t the best - no egates on that side and only four passport desks open so it took a good half hour to get through but at least by that time the bags were waiting.

I agree that Jet2 have completely outgrown the old Eurohub, the terminal wasn’t designed for that many jets and passengers.

As for the tent….talk about herding cattle!

Don't mention the.tent ever. When I stayed at the Holiday inn at BHX I looked across and thought what the "being polite" is that " being polite" tent doing at a major international airport?

When I arrived at mxp, the BEA livered BA Airbus 319 was here. flash back to the good olden days.

 

[Nibbles]

1. destruction of the Escalator has most certainly affected queues.

Sigh - not this again. If you hadn't removed the escalator, you couldn't have built the new security area at all. The queuing area is where the escalator was. Removing the escalator enables security to be moved substantially, which then frees up space for the upcoming duty free/departure lounge extensions.

There is another debate on whether a new escalator(s) - located somewhere near the lift bank - would've been better than lifts. But as ive said ad nauseam before to have escalators you need to be able to guarantee flow at the top and the bottom at all times. Without that, it is not safe to operate and would have to be turned off. This is the exact reason why several London Underground stations have to close during peak hours because the escalators are chucking people in to an ever busier station and a crush is very likely. With lifts that issue completely goes away, though at the expense of a queuing area pre-lifts (which, during construction last year, was chaotic).

As far as im concerned the airport has done a pretty good job within the limited space that they have available!

 

[rollo]

I've been through BHX three times since the new security system came into operation and to be fair the depature experience has been fine for us. We have two more trips coming up and do not have any concerns as the new system now seems to be functioning as designed. Additionally the existing people mover is due to be replaced by a new system entering at the Jet2 area as part of the HS2 works removing some of the (preferred) need of an escalator in the main departure area as the new design I've seen on this forum shows an escalator by the old Euro-Hub.

One area crying out for improvement in my view is baggage claim which is pretty cramped and dowdy I believe there are expansion plans in the pipeline and cannot happen soon enough the current set up does not give a great first impression of Birmingham.

Border control always works well for us and overall I think BHX gives a decent service but not fantastic.
BHX like many airports it's forced to expand through a bolt on process due to its location.

Finally I do wonder from some of the comments on here if some folk have ever actually flown from the airport


.

 

[Knotty]

I've been through BHX three times since the new security system came into operation and to be fair the depature experience has been fine for us. We have two more trips coming up and do not have any concerns as the new system now seems to be functioning as designed. Additionally the existing people mover is due to be replaced by a new system entering at the Jet2 area as part of the HS2 works removing some of the (preferred) need of an escalator in the main departure area as the new design I've seen on this forum shows an escalator by the old Euro-Hub.

One area crying out for improvement in my view is baggage claim which is pretty cramped and dowdy I believe there are expansion plans in the pipeline and cannot happen soon enough the current set up does not give a great first impression of Birmingham.

Border control always works well for us and overall I think BHX gives a decent service but not fantastic.
BHX like many airports it's forced to expand through a bolt on process due to its location.

Finally I do wonder from some of the comments on here if some folk have ever actually flown from the airport


.

Totally agree with your observations. Must say I like your last para, yes it does make you wonder!!

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Cheers for all ur views about security and Barton.At least we’re now settled in debate.

 

[nwoody2001]

I'm not sure there was any debate!

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

I'm not sure there was any debate!

End of discussion for me anyway.My queries got answered

 

[thunderchild]

As many seem to be of the opinion that BHX is an expensive airport to fly from I thought I’d share that members of my family (six in total) are flying Emirates from BHX next week as the fares were £150 cheaper than MAN. They live in Stoke on Trent so MAN is usually their default departure point. But by flying from BHX they’ve saved £900!

 

[Jon Dempsey]

This is the exact reason why several London Underground stations have to close during peak hours because the escalators are chucking people in to an ever busier station and a crush is very likely. With lifts that issue completely goes away,

Obviously, someone who has not used Covent Garden station in the summer!

 

[Nibbles]

Obviously, someone who has not used Covent Garden station in the summer!

I have, many times. Though this is not really comparable, because its woefully inadequate for the amount of people - mainly tourists - who want to use it. And there is absolutely no space to put any escalators in. Of course, there are escalators just down the road at Leicester Square, so why bother putting them here in stead?

For a better example, look at Euston. The down escalators are closed almost daily in the peak because the ticket hall, tunnels and platforms are all full (partly a function of no space on the trains to get them off the platforms in the first place). If there is no (or insufficent) space at the end of an escalator, a crush will entail, so to fit an escalator in - with modern design standards - you end up with a huge empty area within which you can do nothing.

The lifts - whilst not perfect (and remember there is one providing access to the air rail link which reduces available capacity by a quarter) - make it much easier to control passenger flows when you have very limited space. When coupled with a more efficient security system (which we now), the queues are as good as anywhere with a similar setup.

I sometimes think people think we are in Denver or Dubai or 'another massive airport with swathes of empty space to build on', where we can fit in and afford to spend a boat load of money on infrastructure we dont need 99% of the time simply so that we have no queues for the 1% peak time.

 

[Nethercote2019]

Hi- With the 80’s stands having a make over this winter & i realise it’s not concrete being added … how many stands are there now & how many will there be when the paint dries ?
Thanks

 

[nwoody2001]

https://www.aurora.nats.co.uk/htmlAIP/Publications/2025-06-12-AIRAC/graphics/427333.pdf