Latest News
The team at Birmingham Airport Car Parking will bring you some news stories about Birmingham International Airport, which we hope you will find interesting.
New Technology at Birmingham Airport March 6 2010
Facial recognition scanners have been introduced at Birmingham Airport as an alternative to queuing for traditional border control passport checks.
Any British adults and those from within the EU are eligible to use the scanners if they hold a biometric passport containing an electronic chip.
Alex Lawther, from the UK Border Agency, said the response to the new machines had been "very favourable".
Passengers swipe their passport into a machine then wait for their face to be scanned.
If the images match, the gates open and allow the passenger through passport control.
Sounds like a great idea
Runway Extention at Birmingham Airport needed March 6 2010
Birmingham International Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe puts his case for expanding Birmingham Airport, rather than Heathrow.
Mr Kehoe says "Heathrow's third runway would cost in the order of £6bn and passenger numbers would rise from 90 million to 120 million a year," he says. "With the £120 million runway extension here, we would go from nine million to 30 million passengers.
"We would get two-thirds of the numbers of extra passengers Heathrow would get for less than 2% of the cost. You wouldn't have the social upheaval of closing villages and knocking down schools. Nobody will have to leave their homes for the runway extension."
A longer runway at Birmingham would simply mean aircraft can take off with more fuel, reaching transatlantic destinations. "You will have exactly the same aeroplanes you have today," says Kehoe. "But with that 400 extra metres taking the runway to 3,000m, they can fly 2,000 miles further and reach Beijing and the west coast of the US. The runway extension is a vital component of the West Midlands economy."
Birmingham Airport has plenty of space for expansion, so the idea seems pretty sound to us at birmingham airport car parking.
Birmingham Airport passenger numbers still declining March 1 2010
Passenger numbers for January 2010 at Birmingham Airport have been reported at 521,566.
This is a year on year decrease of 7.2%
New shops for Birmingham Airport February 8 2010
Pret A Manger has signed a deal to open three shops inside Birmingham International Airport.The shops are the first to open in any airport outside the South East region. There will be one shop in the departure lounge of Terminal 1, one before departures in the same terminal and a new external kiosk.
Andrew Walker, the managing director at Pret, said: "We are really impressed by the vision of Birmingham Airport and are looking forward to working in partnership to deliver a great service to their millions of passengers."
Richard Gill, the head of commercial market development at the airport, added: "We are delighted to be welcoming another established and successful brand here to Birmingham Airport and look forward to seeing the outlets operational and offering passengers their trademark high-standard of fresh produce.
"The airport is currently embarking on a £13 million terminal redesign, which will see a vastly improved commercial offering to passengers, and these new Pret A Manger outlets signal our intent to attract the very best to Birmingham."
Snow causes disruption at Birmingham Airport February 18 2010
Winter snow has closed the runway at Birmingham Airport, and paaengers are experiencing delays.The runway was not expected to reopen before midnight but airport bossed were due to review the situation.A total of 19 flights have been delayed with no update expected until shortly before midnight. One flight, to Dublin, was cancelled.
Survey says Passengers prefer Birmingham Airport January 23 2010
50% of the Londoners surveyed said they would consider flying from Birmingham Airport if the government opens a high-speed rail link, cutting the journey time between the two cities from 70 minutes to 40 minutes.
Two thirds of the respondents to the poll would reportedly be willing to travel for two hours to another airport to avoid using Heathrow.
Job Losses at Birmingham Airport January 22 2010
Birmingham Airport is closing its information desk, leading to 25 redundancies.
Passengers’ queries will now be answered by on-floor ‘customer service assistants’ who will patrol the terminals from the end of this month in what airport officials say will improve efficiency.
Four control rooms have also been incorporated into a £1.5 million ‘control centre’ to undertake core functions. Twenty-five people took voluntary redundancy as a result of the restructure.An airport spokeswoman said: “The airport has reviewed and rationalised its control functions to ensure that, as it moves forward, it continues to run a more efficient operation that can meet the needs of its customers and partners.
“The changes will improve operational efficiency and the customer experience, as well as harmonise certain areas of the business.
“The review includes the creation of a new £1.5 million control centre to undertake the core functions that are currently carried out across four separate locations, and putting more highly visible frontline customer services staff on the floor in the terminals, which reduces the need for a fixed information point.
There will be 18 customer service assistants, who will be on duty depending on seasonal and operational demands.
The separate control room functions, from security to building management, will be undertaken from one facility.Due to be up and running in March, the new centre will provide the team with an oversight of all systems, allowing them to make key decisions using state-of-the-art equipment.
This week Birmingham Airport revealed plans to merge its two terminals at a cost of £13 million.It claimed that the changes would make things easier for passengers by speeding up the process of getting them through security and into the departure halls.
Heavy snow hits Birmingham Airport January 5 2010
snow coated Birmingham in minutes today causing Birmingham Airport runway to close and reducing Birmingham traffic to a crawl.
More snowfall is forecast from lunchtime to the early hours with up to 10cm expected to settle in some areas.
Sarah Holland, from the Met Office, said: “We will see some more snow coming through this afternoon and we do currently have warnings out for the West Midlands.
“We are still going to see some heavy snow this afternoon and tomorrow as well, through until six o’clock in the morning.
“We could see between 2 to 5cms and possibly up to 10cms in some areas.”
She added temperatures would remain bitterly cold overnight and are expected to fall to -4 or -5 degrees Celsius in some places, with widespread icy conditions tomorrow.
Once the snow does clear, Wednesday is predicted to be dry and bright but temperatures will not rise much above -1 or -2.
A spokeswoman for the airport said both terminals remained open but work was ongoing to clear the runway. It was not yet known how long this might take.
She said: “We are working hard out there at the moment. The runway was nearly cleared when it just started snowing again.
“Safety is the most important priority and we won’t allow anything to come or go unless we are absolutely sure the runway meets the conditions.”
Passengers are also being warned to allow more time in setting out for their flights and anyone with concerns was advised to speak to their airline.
A spokesman for Birmingham City Council said gritting was ongoing while the team of workers kept an eye out for the next wave of snowfall.
He added some schools had closed but this had been due to boilers not working more than snowy weather.
Security Investment at Birmingham Airport January 4 2010
A £10 million overhaul of security at Birmingham Airport is set to take place over the next 18 months.
The new project will involve removing existing checkpoints from Terminal One and Terminal Two, creating a new centralised security area.
The new single area will be constructed on the first floor of the building between the existing terminals, while the option of introducing new, high-tech body scanners is also being considered by airport.
The project is part of a huge overhaul of the airport, which bosses say is well overdue.
Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham International Airport said: “Going through security is pretty grim at either terminal.
“We want to have a new centralised area, although as to the question of whether there will be new body scanners introduced, this is something that will come from Government.”
“We also have a new Emirates business lounge opening in February and will be introducing new shops and an onward travel centre.
“Improving passenger experience will be our main goal for 2010.”
The airport has a 10-year target to double passenger number from nine million to 18 million a year by 2020 and Mr Kehoe said over the next 10 years £200 million will be invested in the airport.
But he said there were a number of challenges facing the airport over the next year.
The airport laid off around 80 people from a staff of 600 as it has battled the recession last year, with flights down four per cent on the previous year.
He said: “The overall position doesn’t make for happy reading. There are significant challenges ahead.
“The key fact for us at Birmingham Airport is that if the West Midlands economy sneezes we catch a cold. Our fortunes are linked to theirs.”
Mr Kehoe added the future of the economy of the West Midlands rests on extension plans.
He said: “The region needs this extension, but the company can’t fund the West Midlands.”
Passenger number fall at Birmingham Airport December 29 2009
PASSENGER numbers at Birmingham airport slumped 8.6 per cent in November.
The figures, which showed the airport handled more than a million passengers last month, show the “difficult conditions” facing the industry according to the airport’s chief executive Paul Kehoe.
He said: “It remains the case that the winter season will be particularly tough for the aviation industry, despite indications that confidence is slowly returning to the market.
“November’s downturn is indicative of the difficult conditions facing the industry as a whole, however the airport team continues to discuss a number of possibilities with new airlines.”
Some routes did achieve growth last month with the airport seeing a 54 per cent in visitors to Hanover, 51 per cent to Tenerife and 36 per cent to Biarritz.
Not good news for Birmingham Airport Car Parking
Hopefully, the recession will end soon.
Birmingham Airport Drug Smugglar caught December 14 2009
A man who was caught in Birmingham smuggling 28 packages of heroin into the country after swallowing them is starting a nine-year jail sentence.
Mohammed Asif Choudary, 35, formerly of Newtown Street, Leicester, was stopped at Birmingham International Airport by UK Border Agency officers when he arrived on a flight from Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 11. He had swallowed around 138 grams of heroin in 28 small packages.
HM Revenue & Customs said the Class A drugs had an estimated value of around £7,500, although this would have doubled or even trebled once "cut" by drug dealers.
Choudary was charged with drug smuggling offences under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
He was also charged with possession of a Section 1 firearm and ammunition, in connection with a sawn-off shotgun and 49 rounds of ammunition found during a subsequent search of his former home.
An HMRC spokeswoman said the 35-year-old pleaded guilty and was jailed for nine years on Tuesday at Manchester Crown Court.
Mike O'Grady, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation for HMRC, said: "It never fails to amaze me that people take such huge risks with their health and freedom to try and make what they think is easy money.
"The reality for such drug mules is they face a real chance of dying from the moment they ingest these packages.
"Our investigations, with support from Leicestershire Police, led to the discovery of a sawn off shotgun and ammunition highlighting the associated violence that goes hand in hand with the drugs trade."
A really messy case. Well done to the authorities.
Birmingham Airport figures decline November 20 2009
October's figures from Birmingham International Airport have indicated that the travel hub faces a difficult winter.
Passenger numbers fell by 5.8 per cent last month, the airport's data has revealed.
Paul Kehoe, chief executive officer at Birmingham Airport, said there was talk of green shoots of recovery, but added that it looked as though the winter season would be "tough".
"While it might be a case of riding out the storm until the spring at least, we are confident that we have the infrastructure in place to take advantage of the upturn in business when it comes," Mr Kehoe added.
Despite the overall decline in passenger numbers, there was growth on some flights from the travel hub including those to Krakpw, Londonderry, Bologna and Arrecife.
Earlier this week new flights from Birmingham Airport were launched by MSC Cruises to give their customers a bigger variety of travel options.
Birmingham Airport has announced that there are no restrictions on travel for passengers, however, the Government is advising passengers not to travel if they are suffering from swine flu.
The airport is telling passengers showing symptoms of the H1N1 virus to contact their airline before travelling.
Eastern Airlines cuts service from Birmingham Airport to Isle of Man August 7 2009
Eastern Airlines has confirmed that it will be withdrawing its two routes from the Island. Eastern will cease operating its flights to Birmingham Airport and also Newcastle Airport at the end of August, with its last flights on the routes on August 23rd. The Isle of Man to Birmingham Airport route will continue to be flown by Flybe, which will increase the number of flights it operates on the route in September.
Rail link to Birmingham International Airport? July 15 2009
The Birmingham New brings us this story
"Planned high-speed rail services to the city must include a stop at Birmingham International and NEC, MPs have warned.
Solihull MP Lorely Burt (Lib Dem) and Meriden MP Caroline Spelman (Con) weighed into the debate over the proposed route of a high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham, after it emerged business leaders were locked in a bitter dispute with Birmingham City Council over the plans.
The council has been pushing a Government inquiry to ensure trains run directly into Birmingham, putting the city centre within an hour’s journey-time to central London.
And it has succeeded in persuading Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency, to back the case for direct services into the city.
But the approach has sparked dismay among business leaders, who argue that the needs of the NEC and Birmingham International Airport are being ignored.
They are calling for a full analysis of the economic case for routing trains to Birmingham International station, or to a new station nearby.
Ms Burt said: “It is hugely important that the NEC and the airport are served by high speed rail.”
Ms Spelman said it may be possible to offer different routes used at different times of the day.
The airport and NEC are about eight miles east of Birmingham city centre. Making passengers change in central Birmingham would add significantly to journey times, while a direct service would reach the city within 55 minutes of leaving London.
The Government has appointed former civil servant Sir David Rowlands to chair a company called High Speed Two, which is examining the options."
Just one or two things to add. First, the talking will go on for years, second, if ever approved, the link will take years more to be built, and thirdly, just ignore the talk, and carry driving to the airport and booking your birmingham airport car parking with us.