Airport growth plans set to provide 'great benefit' to West Midlands region, bosses say

Last week, a key decision on increasing the number of night flights arriving and departing was passed by Solihull Borough Council, which is set to support growth plans for the airport.

Birmingham Airport CEO Nick Barton told the Express & Star that the business was now set to plough in "considerable investment" into facilities to capitalise on the decision.

"We continue to forecast high single digit growth per year at the airport, and that is something that we will have to support with considerable investment of our own which will be measured in the hundreds of millions of pounds," he said. 

"We're investing well over a million pounds a week for the foreseeable future to make sure that we can accommodate all of that growth and improve the product offering that we have at this airport.

"Coupled with that we'll also see the first stages of HS2's connection being built at the airport over the next couple of years so there's an awful lot to look forward to which will be to the great benefit of this region."

The move to increase night flying at the airport, ratified last week, was put forward by Birmingham Airport in what it says is a move to respond to changes in aviation, which see low-cost carriers taking slots earlier in the day and later in the evening.

In December, EasyJet announced plans to locate an extra two aircraft at their Birmingham hub in a bid to expand their services from the region.

"We've got a large number of based aircraft here overnight, which from an airport perspective is the best sort of operation to run for our network, for our airport and for our community," added Mr Barton. 

"But those aircraft have to depart first thing in the morning, operate all day and then come home to roost in the evening. It's very difficult to run that sort of model efficiently unless you can accommodate the sort of changes that were supported last night by the council.

"The West Midlands is the second best attractor of foreign direct investment after central London which is the first time that's happened, so it's really very strong for the region which obviously drives economic growth for everybody - this isn't just about Birmingham Airport this is about everybody benefitting from it."