Birmingham Airport is making a bid to become as big as London’s Heathrow and potentially the busiest aviation hub in the world. An audacious land-grab to overtake Heathrow – which currently handles 70 million passengers a year, more than any other airport in the world – is being made by a coalition of Midlands councils and business leaders.
The runway extension due to be completed next year will give Birmingham a capacity of 27 million, which is more than a third runway at Heathrow could deliver in a decade. The longer-term vision for a “UK Central” international hub airport at Birmingham would see it overtake Heathrow as Britain’s biggest, able to handle as many as 70 million passengers a year and linked into the proposed HS2 fast rail network. When HS2 is completed, the capital’s main interchange station in West London would be just 31 minutes away from Birmingham.
Paul Kehoe, the chief executive of Birmingham Airport, claims the UK’s long-haul traffic cannot continue to be routed through one airport in West London. Mr Kehoe said: “In 20 years’ time, British air travel will double. We believe that the best option is to create a network of long-haul national airports, each supporting the comparative economic advantages of that region to boost trade, foreign investment and tourism.”
Such a plan could be undermined by the reluctance of major airlines to commit to long-haul routes starting and ending outside the London area. British Airways said last year: “British Airways does not believe that regional airports can ever be an alternative to provision of effective hub airport capacity serving London and the South East.” Virgin has also implied that it is not convinced by Birmingham as an alternative, saying Heathrow and Gatwick are “full at peak times because passengers want to fly from those airports”.
Alongside a larger Birmingham airport, the coalition’s project includes plans to expand capacity at Manchester and Edinburgh airports, which would help ease over-crowding at Heathrow and other airports in the South East. According to Birmingham’s analysis, better use of the six largest regional airports could add 116 million passengers to airport capacity by 2050.
independent.co.uk