Birmingham Airport Master Plan 2018

Birmingham Airport to invest £500 million to grow passengers to 18 million by 2033
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• The draft Master Plan outlines ambitious plans to grow by 40% to 18 million passengers per year by 2033.
• Birmingham Airport is opening its plans to the public from today with an extensive consultation that will run to the end of January to seek views from local communities and stakeholders
• The Plan reaffirms the Airport’s commitment to serve the region and its communities, increasing its contribution to the local economy from £1.5 billion to a forecast £2.1 billion a year and 34,000 jobs in 2033.
• An investment of around £500m will increase capacity and vastly improve the passenger experience, to make Birmingham one of Europe’s leading regional airports.

Birmingham Airport has today (Tuesday 6th November 2018) launched its draft Master Plan, titled,‘The Midlands Gateway to the World’. The Plan sets out in detail how the Airport will make a self-financed new investment of £500 million over the life of the plan to improve, modernise and extend facilities that will deliver increased capacity for our airline customers and enhance the passenger experience.

The draft Master Plan further reinforces the integral part the Airport plays as a catalyst for growth across the Midlands and in the UK’s economic prosperity. It outlines the Airport’s role in driving future economic benefit to the region which will increase by 42%, totalling £2.1 billion a year and 34,000 jobs by 2033.

A greater choice of flights and destinations, alongside improved regional connectivity and a direct link to HS2, are vital to the continued growth of the region’s thriving economy. The global markets to which the Airport connects help to drive international trade, investment, employment, inbound tourism and the success of the region’s many universities.

The Airport will continue to improve air links for people in the region, providing more flights to cultural hubs, business centres and a greater choice of outbound holiday destinations. It will continue to expand the existing wide range of short-haul and long-haul scheduled and charter services and destinations, with both full-service and low-cost airlines.

Building on existing commitments to sustainability and community support, the draft Master Plan demonstrates how growth to become one of Europe’s leading regional airports will be balanced with a responsibility to the environment and the people who live and work in the Airport’s vicinity.

This ambitious yet sustainable plan is focussed on addressing the key constraints to more rapid growth. This will involve a major expansion of the terminal facilities, the construction of additional new aircraft stands and working with national agencies and regional partners to deliver improved public and road transport surface access for passengers.

All of the forecast demand growth is fully achievable on the existing single runway which has the physical capacity to handle 25 to 30 million passenger movements a year. The draft Master Plan also follows recently restated Government policy of making the best use of the UK’s existing runways.

Simon Richards, Acting Managing Director, Birmingham Airport, said:

“Birmingham Airport is already the preferred national and international aviation hub for the Midlands and our ambition is to build on this to become one of Europe’s leading regional airports, acting as a key economic accelerator, delivering great service to passengers, and helping to showcase the region.

“Over the next 15 years, we will expand and significantly improve the Airport to maximise our potential as a single runway airport by investing £500 million. Our plans take account of our forecast growth and will increase operational efficiency for our airlines and partners and improve the experience for our passengers.”

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said:

“Birmingham Airport is a key part of an economy that is growing faster than anywhere else in the UK and it is important we invest and grow this asset to ensure it keeps being a driver of prosperity.

“These bold plans will not only see a huge investment by the airport but commit to using the existing single runway to drive this growth. For my part, I will work with the airport and key partners like HS2 and the NEC Group to ensure we deliver the world-class facility our region and country deserves.”

Neil Rami, Chief Executive, West Midlands Growth Company, said:

“The West Midlands has firmly established itself as the UK’s driver of growth, fostering centres of excellence in business and leading the country’s traditional sectors – such as manufacturing and engineering.

“The region lies on the cusp of a period of great economic growth, supported by major infrastructure projects such as HS2, that will help attract more people and investment than ever before. To realise this potential, we are committed to working with our partners at Birmingham Airport to showcase the region to the world.”

Birmingham Airport details in the Plan its commitment to working closely with partners across the region, playing its part in driving growth. The Plan highlights how important factors such as public transport and highways improvements are to ensure the Airport is able to reach its potential.

Alongside the draft Master Plan, the Airport will be consulting on a new draft Surface Access Strategy. This will outline how it will meet growth requirements and targets, as well as continuing to work in collaboration with transport bodies and operators.

The launch of this draft Master Plan triggers the start of a 12-week public consultation for stakeholders to feed back their views on the Airport’s Plans. A number of public exhibitions will take place throughout the West Midlands from the 12th November to the 22nd January 2019. The consultation period will end on the 31st January at 23:59.

Full details of the plan and how to feedback can be found at www.bhxmasterplan.co.uk

 

People will use it for sure. It will just be less pleasant for much of the year, considering the great British weather. The existing arrangement is that you don’t have to step outdoors at all, whereas with the new one, I believe you have to go outdoors at both ends.

The terminal is perhaps understandable. But the fact it’s not even indoors at the HS2 end is a bit strange. And I think many passengers will view that as a downgrade compared to what we have now.

 

People will use it for sure. It will just be less pleasant for much of the year, considering the great British weather. The existing arrangement is that you don’t have to step outdoors at all, whereas with the new one, I believe you have to go outdoors at both ends.

The terminal is perhaps understandable. But the fact it’s not even indoors at the HS2 end is a bit strange. And I think many passengers will view that as a downgrade compared to what we have now.

The People Mover will be part of the HS2 station itself....

 

Not an obsession for me but I do see it as yet another missed opportunity.

Getting pax to use HS2 for Birmingham's advantage rather than London's is going to be a little more difficult than persuading someone to get the Metro home to Chelmsley Wood. Having it fully integrated may only be a small positive but every little helps.

I think the biggest disappointment for me is that it appears as if T2 is staying for the foreseeable. It's awful to walk through when Jet2 check in is in full swing but it seems as if pax using T1 bag drop will have to choose between that or carting their bags outside in the British weather.

I guess things may change if/when new owners take over.

 

Just like the Blues, new owners who have ambition cannot come soon enough. To be fair the pension fund did pump in a fair amount, but need to show more muscle and convince people not to trot off to other airports all the time.

 

I can cope with the Jet2 holding pen as it's there to serve a purpose and nothing more but that image of the people mover is just horrendous

It is actually adding an entrance to the airport immediately at an already space-constrained check-in/bag drop area which is close to the start of one, soon to be two, security area queues.

Good luck Mr Titterington.