Birmingham International Airport (United Kingdom)
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| Birmingham International Airport | |||
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| IATA: BHX – ICAO: EGBB | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Birmingham International Airport Ltd | ||
| Serves | Birmingham | ||
| Location | Metropolitan Borough of Solihull | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 328 ft / 100 m | ||
| Coordinates | Coordinates: | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 15/33 | 2,605 | 8,546 | Asphalt |
| 06/24 | 1,315 | 4,314 | Asphalt |
| Statistics (2006) | |||
| Aircraft Movements | 119,490 | ||
| Passengers | 9,147,384 | ||
| Statistics from the UK CAA[1] | |||
Birmingham International Airport (IATA: BHX, ICAO: EGBB) is a major airport located 5.5 nautical miles (10.2 km) east southeast of Birmingham city centre, in the borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. It is the sixth busiest airport in the UK after London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester Airport, London Stansted and London Luton.
Birmingham has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P451) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.
The airport is close to the M42 motorway and A45 main road. It is also well connected with and served by Birmingham International railway station on the Birmingham to London line.
The airport handled nine million passengers in 2005. It offers flights within the UK, Europe, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and North America.
In July 2007, Birmingham airport was voted best Airport in Europe in the 5 million to 10 Million Category. [2]
Contents |
[edit] History
The airport was opened at Elmdon on 8 July 1939, and was owned and operated by Birmingham City Council. During the Second World War the airport was requisitioned by the Air Ministry and was used by the RAF for military purposes. It returned to civilian use in July 1946, though still under government control.
During the post-war years, public events, such as air fairs and air races were held on the site. The City of Birmingham took over responsibility again in 1960. Ownership of the airport passed to the newly-formed West Midlands County Council in 1974.
In 1984 a new terminal was opened, able to handle three million passengers a year. A second terminal, "Eurohub", supposedly the first terminal in the world to combine domestic and international passengers, opened on 26 July 1991 (with Concorde in attendance), more than doubling the airport's capacity. The original art deco 1939 terminal and control tower are still visible, near hangars to the west of the main runway.
In 1983 the airport was privatised, although the local authorities still own a 49% share. On 1 April 1987, the ownership of the Airport transferred to Birmingham International Airport plc, a public limited company owned by the seven West Midlands district councils.
In 1995, the Maglev Airport Rapid Transit system was closed due to high cost and problems sourcing parts. A cable driven system replaced the Maglev line and it reopened in 2003.
Concorde made a final visit on 20 October 2003 as part of her farewell tour.
Take Off, a sculpture by the Polish artist Walenty Pytel, stands in a roundabout on the approach road.
The food court comprises a seating area, a self-service bar, a coffee bar and an American/Italian restaurant. The airport also has other food establishments, including a Burger King and a Frankie and Benny's and several cafe bars. Airside, a new Yates wine bar has recently opened. It also has an airside and terminal-side shopping area, including shops such as World News, Ladbrokes bookmakers and Boots The Chemist.
In June 2007 the airport made headlines when British TV series Tonight with Trevor McDonald revealed the findings of long investigation into airport security. They found that contractors from the company ICTS, employed by the company fell asleep on duty, ignored baggage x-rays and worked under the influence of illegal drugs.[3]
[edit] Future
The airport has published a master plan for its development up to 2030. 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 is disputed by opponents.
The first major element is an extension to the main runway, targeted for completion in time for the 2012 London Olympics. The extension will increase the runway length to 3,000 metres, as well as including a starter strip to provide a maximum takeoff run of 3,150 metres. The airport owners believe there is likely to be sufficient demand for long-range direct services operated by aircraft whose operation would be constrained by the current runway. At 2,605 metres, this 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. The construction of this extension to the southern end of the main runway will require the A45 Coventry Road to be diverted into a tunnel under the extended section.
The second element will be the construction of a shorter (2,000 metre) parallel runway, scheduled for 2020. The current cross runway will also be officially closed to allow for apron expansion on both sides of the main runway. Taxiways will be improved to allow for terminal expansion and to improve runway occupancy rates. One new turnoff was completed in June 2006 and has seen an improvement on traffic rates on southerly operations, where the only available option for landing traffic had been to travel to the end of the runway to turn off.
The development of Terminal 1 will see improvements made to the International Pier and a new satellite pier to the north of the terminals. The masterplan also details the need for a third terminal, which will coincide with the opening of the second parallel runway. The planned extension to the main runway will also require a new control tower to be constructed.
It was announced on September 26, 2007 that plans for a second runway had been scrapped but plans to build another terminal and increase capacity will go ahead with works expected to finish in 2012.
[edit] Airline news
On May 31, 2007, Ryanair announced growth from Birmingham by increasing the number of flights to Dublin but also starting a new route to Shannon.
In early July 2007, Pakistan International Airlines announced that they are upgrading their service to a Boeing 777 but cutting the service to three weekly. In 2008, the service will go back to five weekly. Also in July 2007, EasyJet announced that they would start up services from Birmingham International Airport, with daily flights to Geneva and two flights a week to Grenoble.[4] In the same month, FlyWhoosh announced a new route to Newquay in Cornwall just after starting services to Dundee. This has now been postponed.
On August 10, 2007, Skyeurope announced a new service to Bratislava starting on October 30. And on August 16, 2007, Air India announced that it was increasing its frequency from six to seven flights a week on the Amritsar-Delhi-Birmingham-Toronto service.
On September 11, 2007, bmibaby announced a new route to Madrid with a four times a week service commencing on December 7, 2007.
On November 08, 2007 , BmiBaby announced a new route to Krakow with a twice weekly service commencing February 12th 2008
ON November 28, 2007 , BmiBaby announced a new route to Milan-Bergamo with a three times a wek service commencing April 1st 2008
[edit] Airlines and destinations
[edit] Terminal 1
- Adria Airways (Ljubljana) [seasonal]
- Aer Arann (Waterford)
- Aer Lingus (Cork, Dublin)
- Air India (Amritsar, Delhi, Mumbai [seasonal], Toronto-Pearson)
- Air Malta (Malta)
- Air Slovakia (Bratislava)
- Air Sylhet (Dhaka, Sylhet, [begins 2008 pending government approval])
- Air Transat (Toronto-Pearson) [seasonal]
- bmi
- bmibaby (Aberdeen, Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast-International, Bordeaux, Cork, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva [begins 15 December] , Glasgow-International, Jersey, Knock, Krakow [begins 12 February], Lisbon, Madrid [begins 7 December], Malaga, Marseille, Milan-Bergamo [begins 1 April], Murcia, Nice, Palma Mallorca, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino)
- BritishJET (Malta)
- Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
- City Airline (Gothenburg-Landvetter)
- Continental Airlines (Newark)
- Cyprus Airways (Larnaca)
- Cyprus Turkish Airlines (Dalaman, Ercan)
- easyJet (Geneva [begins 14 December], Grenoble [begins 23 December])
- Emirates (Dubai)
- Eurocypria (Larnaca, Paphos)
- First Choice Airways (Agadir, Alicante, Almeria, Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Grenoble, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malaga, Monastir, Palma, Paphos, Reus, Sharm el Sheikh, Sofia, Taba, Tenerife-South, Toulouse, Varna, Zakynthos)
- Flyglobespan (Toronto-Hamilton) [seasonal]
- Lufthansa (Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf)
- Eurowings (Dusseldorf)
- Monarch Airlines (Alicante, Almeria, Faro, Ibiza , Lanzarote, Mahon, Malaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife-South)
- MyTravel Airways (Agadir, Alicante, Almeria, Arrecife, Bodrum, Cancun, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Girona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Sharm El Sheikh, Tenerife South, Zakynthos)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle (Warsaw)
- Onur Air (Dalaman, Bodrum)
- Pakistan International Airlines (Islamabad)
- Royal Bengal Airlines (Dhaka, Sylhet [begins late 2008 pending government approval])
- Ryanair (Dublin, Shannon)
- SAS (Copenhagen)
- SkyEurope (Bratislava)
- Thomas Cook Airlines (Alicante, Antalya, Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Cancun, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Girona, Herakion, Ibiza, Izmir, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Lyon, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Tenerife-South, Thessalonika, Toronto-Pearson, Zakynthos)
- Thomsonfly (Alicante, Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Cancun, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Girona, Goa, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, La Romana [begins 21 December, 2008], Las Palmas, Luxor, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Montego Bay [begins 3 May, 2008], Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Puerto Plata, Pula, Punta Cana [begins 10 May, 2008], Reus, Sal - Cape Verde Islands [begins 7 November, 2008], Salzburg, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Thessalonika, Turin, Varna, Verona, Zakynthos)
- Turkmenistan Airlines (Ashkhabad)
- TUIfly (Cologne/Bonn)
- XL Airways (Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Hurghada, Kalamata, Kavala, Larnaca, Salzburg, Santorini, Sharm el Sheikh, Skiathos, Volos)
[edit] Terminal 2
- Air France
- Eastern Airways (Inverness, Isle of Man, Newcastle)
- Flybe (Aberdeen, Belfast-City, Berne [seasonal], Brest, Brussels, Chambery [seasonal], Dubrovnik, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Galway, Geneva [[seasonal]], Glasgow-International, Guernsey, Hamburg, Hannover, Inverness [begins 30 March, 2008], Isle of Man, Jersey, La Rochelle [seasonal]], Milan-Malpensa, Newquay [begins 1 April, 2008], Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Stuttgart, Toulouse)
- Flywhoosh (Dundee)
- KLM
- operated by KLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam)
- Swiss International Air Lines (Zurich)
[edit] Cargo airlines
- FedEx (Paris CDG)
[edit] Incidents
- On the morning of 4 January 2002 a Bombardier-CL604 business jet crashed on take-off from runway 15 at Birmingham.[5] 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 West Palm Beach 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 besides 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.
- On 15 June 2006 a TNT Airways cargo 737-300 made an emergency landing at Birmingham with damaged landing gear.[6] The aircraft, registration OO-TND, had been flying from Liege in Belgium to London Stansted Airport. 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.[7] However, the company ascribed the incident to human error and both pilots were dismissed.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Aircraft Movements, Air Passengers by Type and Nationality of Operator
- ^ Birmingham Airport Award. Airports Council International. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ ITV webpage on the Tonight programme
- ^ [1] BBC News EasyJet Starts Birmingham Services
- ^ "AAIB Report on N90AG accident"
- ^ "AAIB Report on OO=TND incident"
- ^ "Aviation safety network summary of TNT accident"
- ^ "BBC News article, 27 July 2006 - Cargo plane crash pilots sacked"
[edit] External links
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| London | City · Gatwick · Heathrow · Luton · Stansted · Southend · Biggin Hill · Ashford |
| England | Birmingham · Blackpool · Bournemouth · Bristol · Coventry · Doncaster-Sheffield · Durham Tees Valley · East Midlands · Exeter · Gloucestershire · Humberside · Leeds-Bradford · Liverpool · Manchester · Newcastle · Newquay · Norwich · Southampton · Land's End · Plymouth · St. Mary's · Brighton |
| Scotland | Aberdeen · Edinburgh · Glasgow International · Glasgow Prestwick · Inverness · Sumburgh · Barra · Benbecula · Campbeltown · Dundee · Eday · Fair Isle · Islay · Kirkwall · Lerwick · Oban · Scatsta · Stornoway · Tiree · Westray · Wick |
| Wales | Cardiff · Anglesey |
| Northern Ireland | Belfast City · Belfast International · Derry |
| Crown Dependencies | Alderney · Guernsey · Isle of Man · Jersey |
