Birmingham Airport has revealed its masterplan to take the airport from its current 13 million passengers per year up to 18 million by 2033.
The £500 million project will see the departure lounge in Terminal 1 expanded by 40 per cent and a new mezzanine level added. Additional check-in facilities, and additional seating and retail space are also in the plan.
The Midlands airport has had a mixed couple of years with the rise and fall of airlines such as Primera Air, which operated transatlantic flights from Birmingham before collapsing into administration.
But the airport has seen traffic grow with its core airlines, Ryanair, Thomas Cook, Tui and Jet2.
The airport has recently finished a consultation period with local residents which over the 12 weeks saw 129 responses, with the majority of community and residents responding to the set questions via the website.
According to the airport, a total of 132 people attended the public events that were held in 20 venues across Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell.
The results of the consultation showed that 77% of respondents supported the decision by the airport to make use of its existing runway, whilst 70% agreed it should safeguard land for the future. Meanwhile, 73% were in favour of the airport doing more to maximise employment and economic benefits and 74% wanted to see it minimise environmental impacts as it grows, whilst 70% agreed with its approach to community engagement.
Nick Barton, Birmingham Airport’s CEO, said, “We’ve applied significant efforts to consult as far and wide, through as many channels as possible, with as many people as we could, to give people the chance to tell us what they think of our future plans. We’re therefore pleased to see that the majority of feedback received was in general support of our plans for growth, which were considered to be sustainable, economically viable and socially responsible.
“Making our future vision available to our neighbours and regional partners gives clarity and guidance and we’re very grateful to all those that took time to give us their feedback. This has helped us ensure that our future plans are right and will benefit our local community and the wider Midlands region.”
The Airports Master Plan outlines how the airport will develop its site to handle the increase in passenger numbers up to the year 2033 and will help to create jobs for 34,000 people and generating over £2 billion regional economic benefits.
You can view Birmingham Airports Strategy Plans here.