Birmingham International Airport (UK)

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

I’ve seen the plans of the satellite terminal and it does look as though the big jets will be catered for, which is good news. The international pier currently in use will also be demolished and replaced with a new bigger pier. This will have dedicated wide bodies stands too, hopefully. 2001 will be the last year that BHX will suffer from this problam of not having suitable stands, and when the work has been completed, it will be a very impressive airport. If you want to find out more about Birmingham, check out the official web site, www.bhx.co.uk – the site is worth a visit and contains plans of what the finished airport will look like in 2005.

It is interesting to note that Air India are intending to start a new service from BHX when they have more spare aircraft available. The flight will route from Bombay or Delhi to BHX via Paris CDG. I have heard that the A310 may be used.

Turkmenistan are starting a BHX Toronto twice weekly service from 23rd Jan as well.

I am currently in the process of constructing a web page devoted to BHX, although I have only just started work on this and I will let you know the address when it is finished, hopefully in February/March.

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

I dont know much about BHX but what you tell me looks serious problemn for the airport. Not having parking space for big birds and being rated as the 5th busiest airport, thats terrible. Air India used to fly there but they stopped there service due to losses and availability of aircrafts. Yes Emirates is having succes all over UK and Europe. U know so may people migrate all over Europe and Emirates is not very expensive to travel in. BHX should solve this problemn asap otherwise the way the traffic is increasing in the UK…they r gonna face serious troubles.

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

I really must bring this subject up again. Emirates started flying a daily BHX-Dubai service in December using the A330-200. No big deal to some, but very important to the ongoing development of BHX.

However, the problem is that this new service has highlighted a problem that has been hindering the airport for quite some times now. The problem? The lack of wide bodied stands available. When you consider that BHX is the UK’s fifth busiest airport, you would expect it to have proper stands for the big jets, wouldn’t you?

One day last week, the A330 arrived ontime from Dubai only to be held up due to the allocated stand being unsuitable because a B757 was parked on the next stand and if the A330 were to try and use the stand, her wings would have hit the 757.

Surely the airport should be better prepared for handling aircraft of this size? Pakistan have been flying 747’s out of BHX for almost a year, and I’m sure they have the same problems from time to time.

There is not enough space in between stands to handle a pair of A330/747 sized aircraft, and BHX wants to compete with Manchester and Heathrow????? Oh dear.

Luckily, a new satellite terminal will start to be built later this year, and this should address the problem. It is a pity that this problem exists already though.

The good news is that the Dubai service is doing well and Emirates stated in a press conference that they want the service to go twice daily within the next 18 months. Let us just hope that they will wait for the new satellite terminal to be built first…

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

The last I heard, BA and KLM were talking of a possible merger. I read this in a recent issue of Airliner World (it was also the headline on the front cover of that particular issue, I recall). Didn’t the two talk of a merger in the early nineties as well?

It doesn’t surprise me at all if this so called merger is off, I would have thought the EU (as well as every major airline) would be against it.

BA seem desperate to link up with another airline. I remember when they tried it with American. If you think they treat passengers badly, you should have seen the way they treated their staff at the time of announcing the proposed American link up. Most employess heard it first on the TV and radio. Disgusting.

Believe it or not, I’m not really anti BA. But the things they have done over the past few years have really made me think of them in a negative way. Perhaps I should rename this topic “What do people think of BA?”

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

Which British Airline doesn’t offer a friendlier service than BA :-)?

In the 45 years I’ve been connected in one way and another with the fortunes of civil aviation, I’ve watched BA and its (senior partner) predecessor, BOAC, play ducks and drakes with, first, Manchester and Glasgow and, since the inception of BA, the rest of the provincial UK airports.

The original BEA did, at least, pioneer a great number of services from provincial airports.

In my opinion, Ayling was taking BA where it should have gone a long time ago – down the road of being a London base, business passenger orientated airline which American Airlines would have eventually swallowed up.

P S I see KLM are the latest to fall out of bed with BA

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

Interesting point about American Airlines, PhilB. It is true that BA have never really pushed transatlantic services from BHX, and I feel they would be quite happy to let American expand. BA used to fly BHX-JFK until 1998, but they were scared off by Continental and it’s Newark service, which attracted high load factors from day one. Plus, the Continental service offered cheaper fares…

In reality, BA is only bothered about the London market. I feel it sees regional airports such as BHX and MAN as areas which don’t make us much money as they’d like, and so they let their franchise partners such as Maersk Air expand the so called ‘BA route network’. True, BA have invested in new aircraft at BHX in the form of the A319, but all nine examples based will be flying from Heathrow after 2003. BHX will get the smaller A318.

The simple fact is, BA aren’t too bothered about BHX. This is one of the reasons why I am a big supporter of British European, they have established an impressive route network from BHX over the past few years, plus I think they offer a friendlier service.

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

Sorry about the typos in the previous piece. I think the meaning is clear 🙂

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

That’s a very clear and lucid exposition of the Birmingham situation. You are so right about people living near airports wanting services but not the aircraft and their attendant noise.

I’ve been bangibng on about this for over 35 years, run conferences about it and, believe you me, the only answer is to accept human nature and work round the problem. Some years ago there were numerous complaints about aircraft noise at LHR from parts of Hounslow. Newspapers ran articles and there were “shock” pictures od 747s almost brushing rooftops (clever use of telephoto lenses and a little bit of cut and paste). Turns out that over 50% of those that signed petitions actually either worked at the airport, worked for companies directly involved with the airport or were family members of airport workers!!

Re the Japanese Govt 747 going direct to Tokyo:

Whilst this would have been fully fuelled, it would have had no cargo and only a small pax and baggage load. We had an Air China 747-400 go Shannon – Beijing direct a couple of months ago after a Foreign Ministerial visit. It had 135 plus crew plus baggage and used about 7,500 feet – co-incidently it flew Dublin – Shannon at 7,500 feet the day before so the pax could see the countryside!

The only point I would take issue with you on is BHX being competition for MAN. MAN has picked up some Midlands traffic over the years, but not as much as LHR has. The population of a 60 mile deep corridor centred on Liverpool in the west and Hull in the East is greater than the population of a 75 mile radius of Charing Cross (UK 1991 census).

This is MAN’s natural hinterland and catchment area and can well fill the projected capacity for the next 15-20 years. BHX has its own natural market (the only point of conflict would be the Stoke area).

Provincial airports in the UK have to stop fighting each other if they are to convince Government that they need fully open access for all carriers. Whilst MAN can provide services BHX can’t, they should push those flights hard in the Midlands to ensure people get away from using the Londan gateways so, when the airlines realise enough passengers are coming from the BHX catchment area to justify a regular service, they will put one on, Government regulations and aircraft availability permitting.

One final point, what are American proposing for BHX? If I was the airport management I’d be very wary of a One World stitch up between BA and American which has happened to some degree at MAN with BA not doing much into the US on the basis that AA have great connections from ORD and DFW.

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

Sorry, I missed the point about Turkmenistan and Kazhakstan airlines. PhilB is correct, but Kazkakstan do not currently fly from BHX.

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

The main runway will be extended in the next few years. Rumour has it that BHX will annouce their intentions in early 2001, and the extension may be comlete in around 2003. The town of Solihull will not be a problem for the extension, as it lies around five miles from the current threshold of runway 33. However, the village of Bickenhill will suffer, and nearby buildings such as the Clock public house and a petrol station will almost certainly need to be demolished. As for your point about Turkmenistan, they operate 757’s from BHX, so runway length is not a problem for these impresive narrow bodies. Also, Kazhakstan Airlines do not fly from BHX, I think you may be confusing them with Uzbekistan. This airline operates twice weekly services with 757’s to Tashkent.

Your other point about the PIA 747’s is what a lot of people already (wrongly) think. When some people hear of a 747 landing on the 2600m runway that BHX has, they assume it will have problems. This is completely wrong. Wardair flew 747’s out of BHX to Toronto Pearson International for years, and without any problems. The PIA services can rotate from the runway with 300-380 PAX onboard, they can do this because they are never fully fueled and they route to Karachi/Islamabad via Copenhagen. I have witnessed this service arrive at BHX many times, and they slow to a taxi speed long before they reach the end of the runway. True, a fully fueled 747 with 300 PAX on board would have problems – but that main runway can throw up a few surprises. Two Japanese Government 747-400’s flew into BHX in 1998 for the G8 summit. When the summit finished, the 747’s flew direct from BHX to Tokyo non-stop, although they did not have much runway to spare when their wheels left the tarmac!

Also, the nearby borough of Solihull has a lot to answer for. Many local residents complain that a runway extension will disrupt the community with more aircraft noise, a loss of green belt (which BHX already owns), etc, etc. In the next breath these same people moan when they have to fly to LA from LHR because a service is not available from BHX because the runway is not long enough! If people don’t want an airport to disrupt their lives, then they should not move near one in the first place.

With the London airports becoming more restricted with the amount of traffic that uses them, it is a certainty that a regional airport such as BHX will benefit with new long haul routes. Operators are lining up all the time to fly from BHX….Eg, Emirates (from Dec’00) Air India (Nov’00) Turkmenistan (new routes to New-York and Toronto), Cathay Pacific, Delta. American even want to establish BHX as it’s new Midlands hub. They fly to Chicago already, but they plan to fly to Dallas, Miami and JFK from 2001.

BHX has a bright future ahead of it, and it’s recent success has surprised many. Manchester now has some real competition.

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan operate to Birmingham, not because of any great need for services to/from their countries but because they have rights to cities in the Indian sub-continent and offer cheap flights to the ethnic populations in the Midlands. Pakistan an Emirates, already with large and very successful presences at both LHR and MAN will also tap into this market.

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

In the summer i flew from BHX to Belfast City. The terminals are very spacious and it is well signposted. Getting to the airport couldn’t be easier as trains at the station go to Birmingham New Street. This can get you almost anywhere.

My one concern is the length of the runway. This however can not be lenghened one way as then it would involve knocking down houses and roads. The other way is the Coventry Road (A45) and the town of Solihull. This could not be destroyed (well maybe if you had a big sum of money).

I also went to the the Pakistani 747-300 (although it was only and -200 at the time i went). It had no problem touching down but it may if it was full. The runway has restricted Long-haul traffic.

I am also wondering how airlines flying from Birmingham such as Turkmenistan Airlines and Kazhakstan Airlines operate successfully. I also am pleased to see Emirates about to lauch a Dubai service with a A330. I am pleased to see my local airport doing so well!

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

I did hear that they are planning an extension of the runway at some point. The major obstacle is the main A45 road between Birmingham and Coventry which would need to be diverted quite substantially.

Although I’ve never flown from BHX, the spotting is quite good as the observation deck is enclosed (not so good for photography though) and getting there could not be simpler as the airport has its own station on the main rail line.

Happy flying

Alan

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

I think the biggest problem BHX faces in terms of future development is the length of the main runway (15/33), it is a mere 8,500ft in length.

The runway is fine for aircaft flying to European and US east coast destinations, but the problems arise when routes farther afield are planned. Pakistan International (PIA) recently introduced a route from BHX to Karachi operated by B747-300, the service attracts around 300-350 PAX per flight. The downside to this new service is that it has to fly via Copenhagen, so it is not direct – the runway is not long enough to sustain a fully laden 747.

A runway extension has been planned for some time, but it has been met with much opposition from local residents and the local council, so the planned extension has been shelved. This is a dangerous time for BHX, as Manchester International lies 79 miles north of the airport and has a much longer runway (as well as a second under construction), so it would be a much more suitable alternative for any airline wanting to introduce a new service to say Los Angeles or Tokyo.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years, because if that runway isn’t extended, BHX will be known as the also ran in the UK airport league – and that can’t happen.

RE: Birmingham International Airport (UK)

It could have a brilliant future, because the catchment area is quite big, but it is a bit shadowed by the present of London
Airports which get a great portion of the passangers. BA could promote the airport if they use it to aliviate the state of
Heathrow congestion. For the moment they don´t much in this point. I haver never flown there but I have visited it a couple of times (spotting) and I like it. Its small, convenient and easy to reach.