1939
Birmingham’s “Elmdon” Airport was constructed by the City of Birmingham on a site eight miles south east of the city centre and opened on the 1st May 1939. The first arrival was the Lord Mayor in a two-seater Swallow aircraft to be followed that same afternoon with the first scheduled flight, a De Havilland Dragon Rapide from Liverpool.

A formal opening attended by HRH The Duchess of Kent and the Prime Minster, the Rt Hon Neville Chamberlain, was held on the Saturday 8th July 1939 by which time no less than eight destinations were being served from Birmingham.

Unfortunately this early success was short lived as within two months the Second World War broke out and the Air Ministry requisitioned the site. During the war years the airfield was used for both flight training and flight testing of Lancaster and Stirling bombers built in nearby factories.



1948
The airport reopened for civil flights on the 8th July 1948 but in the austere post war years it was not until 1949 that scheduled services recommenced a daily service to Paris operated by a British European Airways Dakota. Over the following years scheduled services and passenger numbers grew steadily and in the 1950’s the first “package tour” flights were introduced to the continent.


1949 (Aer Lingus celebrations)
60 years ago, on Monday 2nd May 1949 - Aer Lingus opened a direct passenger service between Dublin and Birmingham, a route that they continue to operate to this day! Needless to say this makes Aer Lingus the longest established airline at BHX having served the airport for continuously sixty of its seventy years.

Click here for the history of Aer Lingus at Birmingham.




1954
By 1954 services to Dublin, Belfast, Jersey, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Northolt were established using Dakotas, Vikings and Viscounts. The airport now offered two hard runways - both just over 4000ft in length, restricting the use of larger, four engine aircraft. By 1959 the main runway was extended by 800ft and the first jet airliner to visit was a Comet from Lyneham in April 1961. Viscounts were now dominant on expanding services and the BEA route to Jersey was proving very popular.


1960
In the 1960s, Constellations, Vanguards and Electras were appearing, but the runway length still restricted operations by these larger aircraft. In 1964 the go-ahead was given to extend the main runway to 7,398ft. In Spring 1966 when part of the new extension was available jet flights began with One-Elevens and Spanish Convair 990s. Noise complaints increased as more jets used the airport - including DC-8s, DC-9s, Tridents and Boeing 707s.


1967
In 1967 the main runway was extended to allow the regular use of jet airliners for the first time and this resulted in a further increase in routes and passenger traffic.


1971
In April 1971 BOAC VC10s began services to New York, though it was poorly supported and closed in October 1972. During peek periods the terminals became crowded and it was obvious that expansion was required as the wide-bodied jets started appearing. The first wide-body was a Laker DC-10 in 1972 followed by the first Jumbo jet, a Qantas example, arriving in June 1978. The first regular 747 flights were operated by CP Air to Toronto in 1979.

By the mid 1970’s the airport was handling over a million passengers a year and the existing terminal on the “Elmdon” site was already bursting at the seams. A long planning and consultation exercise thus began to build a completely new terminal on a site on the eastern side of the airfield adjacent to the main railway line to London and the recently built National Exhibition Centre (NEC).


1980
The first Concorde arrived in 1980 operated by Air France. Approval had now been given to construct a new terminal close to the NEC, work beginning in 1981. The new terminal was opened by The Queen in May 1984, opening the door for new routes and an increase in passengers. Birmingham’s own airline, 'Birmingham Executive', was born in 1983, opening many new routes into Europe. It later became Birmingham European until being taken over by Maersk of Denmark and then established as a British Airways franchise.

In 1984 work to enlarge the terminal began and in 1989 construction began on a new airport hotel. From 1986 an expanded cargo facility could now operate near the old terminal site. In 1987 the airport became Birmingham Airport plc.

Passenger traffic grew strongly in the 1980’s and in 1988 work commenced on a second terminal “Eurohub” adjacent to the “Main” terminal with both terminals subsequently being joined together by the “Millennium Link” and both re-named to 'Terminal 1' and 'Terminal 2'.

Concorde was a visitor for the official opening of the "new" terminal in 1984.




1984 (celebrating 25 years)
On the 4th April 2009 the airport was celebrating 25 years! On this date, the airport saw the start of the "modern era". On Wednesday 4th April 1984 the "new" terminal site opened for business - over the previous night a major operation had taken place to relocate all the airlines, their aircraft and equipment from the Elmdon site to the new facility on the eastern side of the airfield.




1990
The main runway could now offer 2600m (8,530ft) for take off, helping to attract scheduled flights to the USA. American Airlines started services to Chicago using Boeing 767s shortly followed by Continental with Boeing 757s and DC-10s to New York. Charter flights became available to the Dominican Republic and recently Mexico.

In 1991 the Eurohub was opened, used by British Airways and it's partners. Noisy jets were very rare by 1998 with the replacement of older 737s and BAC 1-11s with new generation aircraft. Passenger numbers increased year by year so large-scale development plans were drawn up. This will increase the size of both terminals and the parking areas. Air Traffic Control facilities have improved with the installation of ground surface radar for use in low visibility.

By the late 1990s air transport movements have increased at a high rate to 111,000 and at peak times during weekday mornings their is now one movement every 60 seconds. In 1999 there were up to 13 charter aircraft based at the airport daily during the Summer and on busy Summer mornings up to 7 wide-bodied transatlantic flights were handled. 7 million passengers were handled during 1999, currently increasing at a steady annual rate. This is quite an achievement when you consider that no 'low cost, no frills' airline is based at Birmingham, where as other airports have seen passenger figures swell with the arrival of such airlines.


1997
In 1997 a further restructuring of the airport company took place with a new holding company - Birmingham Airport Holdings Limited being formed - and the West Midlands District Councils reduced there shareholding to 49% through a share sale to the private sector. This allowed the Airport to access funding outside the Governments Public Sector Borrowing Requirements that had previously constrained the borrowing capability and therefore capital expenditure programme available to the airport.


2000
By the year 2000, the Airport was handling more than 7.5 million people a year and the shareholding arrangement changed again, when Aer Rianta and Bridgepoint Capital (formerly Nat West Equity Partners) increased their investments in the Airport. The additional shares were acquired by John Lang Investments Limited and National Car Parks Limited who respectively held a 4% and 4.25% shareholding. In 2001 Macquarie Airports Group Limited acquired Bridgepoint Capital Limited shares.

On March 3rd 2000, Her Majesty, The Queen, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, officially opened a £40 million terminal development, which provided a two-storey arrivals concourse linking the two passenger terminals for the first time, and a new pier with three glass-sided air bridges, 16 new check-in desks, a new baggage reclaim hall with 6 carousels, 12 new catering and retail outlets, and new Customs and Immigration halls.

The year 2000 also saw one of the world's major airlines, Emirates start daily flights to Dubai allowing convenient access to Asia and Australia.


2001
In December 2001 Macquarie Airports Group Limited acquired Bridgepoint Capital Limited shares. As a result, the proportion of shareholding in the Airport Company, up until September 2007 was as follows: Seven West Midlands' District Councils 49%; Aer Rianta 24.125%; Macquarie Airports Group 24.125%. The remaining 2.75% takes the form of an Employee Share Trust.


2002
In January 2002 the airport changed the names of its two terminals to Terminal 1 (Main Terminal) and Terminal 2 (Eurohub).


2003
Continuing its commitment to provide its passengers with greater facilities and easier access via public transport, Birmingham Airport opened the £11 million Air-Rail Link people mover system and the £7 million public transport Interchange in March 2003. Birmingham was the first airport in the world, and the only location in Europe to feature the Air-Rail Link, an Austrian-built cable-driven system, that has been operating successfully in Las Vegas since 1999. Its two trains, each consist of two carriages and can carry up to 1600 people per hour between the rail station and passenger terminals with a journey time of just 90 seconds. On arrival at the rail station, passengers step into Birmingham International Interchange, a two-storey public transport facility, which makes the transfer between all modes of transport even easier.

More than 9 million people were using Birmingham Airport in December 2003, and at this time Birmingham was identified as the preferred location for growth in the Midlands in the Government’s White Paper, “The Future of Air Transport”. Although the Government suggested that Birmingham would need a new short wide spaced runway and an extension to the existing runway by 2030, Birmingham Airport’s Management reviewed these proposals. It concluded, in its 2007 Master Plan, ‘Towards 2030, Planning a Sustainable Future for Air Transport in the Midlands’, that that the Airport would not require a second runway before 2030 but an extension to the existing runway, is the main priority for Birmingham Airport.


2005
The airport welcomed low-cost flights with bmibaby and Monarch Scheduled opening up bases in 2005, the airport also saw Emirates launch its second daily service to Dubai.

The airport has seen major works being carried out within and around the terminal building with a large extension to the departure lounge, alterations to customs, a new-look for Terminal 2 check-in, runway re-surfacing, new taxiway turn-off for Runway 15 and recently major works for further remote parking stands for Terminal 2 opposite parking stands 1-7.


2007
In September 2007 Macquarie Airports Group and Aer Rianta sold their 48.25% in the Airport to the ‘Airport Group Investments Ltd’ (AGIL) for £420 million. AGIL is a limited company owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Victorian Funds Management Corporation. The current shareholding arrangement is as follows: Seven West Midlands district councils (49%), Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Australia's Victorian Funds Management Corporation (48.25%) and the Employee Share Trust (2.75%).

Following the extensive consultations that were held on the expansion of Birmingham Airport’s runway a Planning Application was submitted to Solihull Metropolitan Council in January 2007 to extend the runway by 400 metres which would enable the airport to reach the West Coast of America, South America, the Far East and South Africa. On 15th December 2008, Solihull MBC’s Planning Committee unanimously supported the Application subject to agreeing appropriate mitigation measures to provide protection and reassurance for local people and the wider environment.

To handle future growth and aspirations to reach all corners of the globe the Airport embarked on a £45 million state-of-the-art extension to Terminal One in June 2007. The new 'International Pier' replaced the current out-dated facility constructed in 1984. It is the single biggest investment that the Airport has made in over 20 years. The new Pier is a three storey construction; 240 metres long and 24 metres wide. Departing passengers are accommodated on the top level, with arriving passengers on the middle level and office accommodation for airline and handling agents on the ground floor. This provides air-bridged aircraft parking for seven wide-bodied aircraft and enough space to serve 13 smaller aircraft at any given time. The Pier also provides vertical segregation to separate inbound and outbound passenger traffic, in line with national security requirements. New gate lounges for passengers have also been created.


2008
By the end of 2008, some 9.6 million people use Birmingham Airport and the future looks very bright. However, only 30% of the Airport’s catchment uses Birmingham in favour of taking flights from other UK airports so it is the Airport’s desire to expand the range of services available from Birmingham, by expanding the runway, and giving the region’s business and leisure travellers the choice they want. Nevertheless, the Airport’s Management are mindful that any growth needs to be achieved sensibly and sustainable to protect the local and global environment against its operation. The Airport has a good track of being a good neighbour and any permitted growth will be subject to stringent planning obligations.


2009 onwards
In July 2009 the airport opened up their brand new £45 million International Pier for its passengers, Emirates also opened a new £1.3 million lounge on 12th March 2010 with in the pier for its Business Class passengers and Skywards Gold members.

During 2010 and 2011 so far the airport has been busy in the terminal, refurbishing the main departure lounge and Immigration hall along with re-branding as 'Birmingham Airport' with the word 'International' erased from its name. The "One Terminal" project has now been completed and was officially opened on the 13th May 2011 with a new centralised security point and arrivals area, new walk-through World Duty Free store in arrivals and at the entrance of the main departure lounge along with further new shops, Birmingham Airport is now a one terminal facility.

The airport is now working on a new £10 million control tower which is expected to be completed in 2013, the new 115ft tower will be built on a 33ft high hill and will dominate the western side of the airport and be easily visible from the A45. Once commissioned it will take over from the original control tower which is situated at the old Elmdon Airport site and has been in use since 1939. The move from Elmdon to the current airport location took place in 1984 but use of the old 79ft high tower continued. The new building will give air traffic controllers a better view over new buildings which have sprung up on the airport complex but more importantly will allow them to see to the end of the new 400-metre runway extension which it is ultimately hoped to build.

The runway extension will hopefully be next...

How the airport looks today...
The front of the terminal building showing off the airport's new-look and logo along with their new slogan "Hello World"...



Arriving passengers now get to shop in Duty Free after clearing the baggage hall and customs...



The all new centralised arrivals hall, this was originally the car hire area...



An aerial view of the new airport layout...



Another aerial shot with better views of the new international pier...



Not only has the airport itself seen changes but the airport has now welcomed 2 new hotels from Ibis & Etap. Also see photos of the proposed new air traffic control tower with work commencing in May 2011, positioned next to the A45 Coventry Road...