Birmingham Airport runway extention almost ready to go…

My local airport – Birmingham Airport – has been working away in the background, trying to improve the passenger experience, whilst trying to offer itself as an alternative to London Heathrow or Manchester Airport for longer-haul flights.

The main terminal at Birmingham Airport – Image GhettoIFE.

Part of the problem Birmingham Airport has is its runway. Apart from only having one of them, it is a bit short for very long haul services as the 2603 meter runway currently restricts take off weights and rang, limiting services from Birmingham to India, Pakistan, the  Persian Gulf and the US East Coast.

Part of the major works that have gone on recently to resolve this problem is the extension of the runway by 400 meters – taking it to 3,003m long – enough to handle the A380 fully loaded.

Operations will commence on the new runway from 1st May.

Airlines that will taking a closer look  the new runway include:

• Biman Bangladesh Airways (Dhaka and New York)
• China Southern who are operating three charter flights during the Summer 2014 season

There is a sense of “if you build it, they will come” to this project – and with the runway as it will be, I wouldn’t be surprised if Emirates add an A380 service to Birmingham once a day.

If other airlines will follow will be the big question – Birmingham Airport does suffer from the squeeze effect of Manchester Airport to the north, East Midlands Airport to the east and the London Airports to the south.

Whilst Birmingham Airport may only be an hour or so away from London, unless the services start from the airport to utilise this new runway extension, this could be some very expensive tarmac…