Turkish delight! 31/01/12
Turkish Airlines confirmed yesterday (Monday 30th Januaury 2012) that they will increase their Birmingham to Istanbul service from 5 times weekly to a daily service as of the 25th March 2012! This is excellent news for Birmingham! Turkish Airlines started their service back on the 15th December 2008 and have stuck at the route through what has been a difficult few years not helped by the significant growth in their capacity out of Heathrow.

Mustafa Yildirim, General Manager for Turkish Airlines at the Airport, said, "As the Best Airline in Europe, we're committed to Birmingham Airport and the decision to increase our operation demonstrates this. Turkish Airlines can offer travellers excellent choice, service and punctuality across Europe, the Indian Sub-continent, the Middle East, the Far East and Africa, with a choice of 190 destinations across our network".

Flights will continue to be operated by mostly 737-800(W)'s and A320's.





Ryanair to Budapest! 31/01/12
Ryanair have just added Budapest as a new route for their Birmingham network, flights will operate twice weekly (Tuesday's and Saturday's) as of 28th March 2012. Great to see a new route for the airport! Ryanair's Maria Macken said: "Passengers in the West Midlands now have a choice of 24 top Ryanair destinations from Birmingham Airport giving them even more choice than ever".





Flybe takes over Waterford service 31/01/12
Flybe have recently announced that they will be starting new flights to Waterford, replacing the ex-4 times weekly Aer Arann service which operated up until November 2011. Flights are to operate daily as of the 25th March 2012 with Dash 8-Q400's. Increasing the capacity on the route, unlike Aer Arann, Flybe have a very strong brand in the local area and also offer many connections from Birmingham.





November & December figures up 31/01/12
The November 2011 figures are up 0.3% at 547,133.
During November significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Fuerteventura 124.4%, Shannon 31.9%, Istanbul 30.9%, Copenhagen 25.8%, Faro 21.9%, Stuttgart 21.4%, Munich 21.2%, Malta 21.0% and Cork 15.7%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included - Cyprus 100.2% and Portugal 89.8%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 87.9% of the total passenger traffic in November whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 12.1%.

The December 2011 figures are up 4.0% at 510,547
- as a result the annual total came in at 8,621,460 an increase of 0.5% on 2010.
During December significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Fuerteventura 93.6%, Geneva 76.7%, Istanbul 48.0% Edinburgh 47.1%, Turin 45.5%, Grenoble 40.2%, Munich 27.9%, Paris CDG 27.3% and Prague 27.3%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included - France 88.1%, Austria 69.6% and Finland 36.1%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 87.1% of the total passenger traffic in December whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 12.9%.

Both months may of seen increases, however they are not comparable on last year! In November 2010 the airport was closed on a busy Friday afternoon for over 20 hours following the landing incident involving Citation G-VUEM (click link to view). Also during November ans December, heavy snow fall caused many problems, diversions and cancellations.



Austrian Airlines return 16/12/11
Austrian Airlines return this Winter 2011/2012 with weekly ski flights to Innsbruck. With the first flight actually operating this morning (Friday 16th), flights will be operated by 737-800(W)'s although they will be using an A321 on next weeks flight only. Up until January, flights will operate on a Friday (due to Christmas falling on a weekend) but will switch to a Saturday service as of 7th January 2012.

As they will be operating 737-800(W)'s on the route, they have 5 aircraft in the Austrian colour scheme, along with 1 in the Star Alliance scheme and 1 in the Lauda Air scheme.





City Airline becomes 'Skyways' 16/12/11
As of the 30th November 2011, City Airline merged with and became Skyways. With no changes to their Birmingham service to Gothenburg, flights will continue to operate on a daily basis with ERJ-135/145's but under the new red Skyways brand. An update on schedules are posted below...

Current schedules during December 2011:
CF017/018 Arr 13:20 - Dep 13:50 - Daily.






Easyjet are back! 16/12/11
Easyjet have returned with their usual ski flights to both Geneva and Grenoble. All flights are now operated by A319's after withdrawing all their remaining 737-700's. The airline will again be using both Easyjet UK and Easyjet Switzerland aircraft during the Winter 2011/2012 season, with daily flights during the week along with 4 flights on a Saturday and 3 on a Sunday.





Figures down during October 16/12/11
The October 2011 figures are down 3.8% at 763,706.

During October significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Almeria 104.8%, Fuerteventura 83.7%, Malta 44.9%, Milan 41.8%, Istanbul 40.6%, Arrecife 21.4%, Munich 20.6%, Shannon 17.1% and Stuttgart 13.7%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included - Spain 4.4%, Greece 3.0% and Madeira 1.3%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 79.5% of the total passenger traffic in October whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 20.5%



Comtel Air collapses 16/12/11
Just when things were looking up, the Comtel Air/Takhart Travel service to Amritsar via Vienna has been suspended. All flights have been cancelled until further notice whilst Mint Airways (who had the contract to operate the service for Comtel Air) positioned their based 757-200 back to Madrid.

In a little detail... the flights were being sold by Takhar Travel in Smethwick but the ATOL holder was a company called Astonbury Limited (trading as Skyjet) - which had an agreement with Comtel Air who had chartered Mint Airways to operate the flights. Astonbury/Skyjet have now ceased to trade with the result the CAA having to step in and repatriate the passengers.





Major expansion from Monarch! (updated)16/12/11
On the 3rd November 2011, Monarch announced massive expansion from Birmingham for Summer 2012. 5 new routes will be added to their Birmingham network, flying to Dubrovnik (twice weekly), Heraklion (twice weekly), Milan (4 times weekly), Rome (5 times weekly) and Venice (4 times weekly) with 6 aircraft being based from the Spring. 4 A321's and 2 additional A320's.

Managing Director of Monarch Airlines, Kevin George said, "The strategy for Monarch Airlines is now firmly focused on its scheduled operations and we are delighted to be adding these new routes to our already extensive network of leisure destinations across Europe from Birmingham".

"Since launching scheduled services from Birmingham in Summer 2005, Monarch's operation has continued to grow from strength to strength and we have expanded our operations based on customer demand. We are all very excited to be adding two additional aircraft to our Birmingham fleet and introducing our first flights to Italy and Croatia, which is fantastic news for our customers in the Midlands and cements Birmingham as one of Monarch's key UK airports".

For the Winter 2011/2012 season, the airline will be basing 3 A321's.





Lufthansa announces Berlin! 10/11/11
Lufthansa announced yesterday (9th November 2011) that they will be launching a new daily service between Birmingham and Berlin from Sunday 3rd June 2012. Flights will be operated by A319's with Lufthansa using Berlin's brand new airport - Berlin-Brandenburg "Willy Brandt" Airport.

Announcing the new service Karsten Benz, Lufthansa Vice President Sales and Services Europe, said: "The addition of direct flights to Berlin reaffirms the importance of Birmingham within the Lufthansa network. The opening of the new Berlin-Brandenburg "Willy Brandt" Airport next year provides new opportunities for Lufthansa to increase its offering to Birmingham passengers"

From 3rd June 2012, the airline will be flying to 4 German cities including Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf and now their capital, Berlin.

New Berlin schedules
LH3420/3421 Arr 19:20 - Dep 20:00 - Daily.





Air France go ALL Airbus to Paris 02/11/11
Air France are no longer using their franchise partner CityJet into Birmingham. Instead, they are now operating their 3 times daily service with A318's. (view schedules below). Certainly good news for the airport! Flybe will continue to operate their Paris CDG services with a mix of EMB-195's and Dash 8-Q400's with their code-share agreement. The Lyon service continues to operate with Brit Air CRJ-100's.

A318 Paris CDG schedules:
AF2064/2065 Arr 08:00 - Dep 09:30 - Daily,
AF1064/1065 Arr 13:30 - Dep 15:30 - Daily,
AF1564/1565 Arr 19:05 - Dep 20:00 - Daily.





September passenger figures 02/11/11
The September 2011 figures are down 1.5% at 904,374.
During September significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Almeria 94.2%, Fuerteventura 77.1%, Malta 49.4%, Istanbul 37.7%, Milan 36.7%, Dalaman 34.9%, Brussels 32.8%, Shannon 31.1% and Hannover 23.1%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included - Croatia 71.3%, Jamaica 20.4% and Greece 12.8%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 73.4% of the totalpassenger traffic in September whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 26.6%.



New ATC Tower & Travelodge 05/10/11
The new Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC) at Birmingham Airport has started to take shape and already dominates the existing facility that dates from 1939.

On completion in 2013, the new £10million ATC tower will stand 33 metres above ground level and will be home to National Air Traffic Services - NATS - the Airport’s air traffic control provider. Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport commented: "This iconic tower will be furnished with state of the art radar and navigation equipment and will give the controllers a better view of the airfield, above buildings that have been developed over the last few years. It will also allow them to see the end of the extended runway, a development that will be complete in 2014 and will allow airlines to fly to more long haul destinations worldwide".

Once fully commissioned, the tower will take over from the current 79ft control tower, which is situated at the old Elmdon Airport site and has been in use since 1939 when the original terminal opened.

Travelodge
The brand new £9.8 million Birmingham Airport Travelodge hotel has opened its doors. Located just off the A45 Coventry Road on the Elmdon site, the hotel holds 200 rooms with views over looking the airfield.

click thumbnail to enlarge.




Passengers figures during August 03/10/11
The August 2011 figures are down 2.1% at 945,539.
During August significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Almeria 128.4%, Fuerteventura 95.3%, Malta 83.7%, Milan 47.5%, Lyon 43.0%, Brest 40.9%, Dalaman 39.3%, Munich 35.4% and Brussels 35.1%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included - Malta 22.5%, Greece 20.2% and Croatia, 18.0%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 70.6% of the total passenger traffic in August whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 29.4%.



June/July airport figures 18/08/11
The June 2011 figures were down 1.1% at 861,560.
During June significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Almeria 121.4%, Fuerteventura 59.7%, Milan 36.0%, Malta 34.0%, Arrecife 26.0%, Munich 24.9%, Hannover 24.3%, Brest 18.4% and Londonderry 15.6%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included - Jamaica 21.7%, Greece 21.1% and Portugal 8.6%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 71.9% of the total passenger traffic in June whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 28.1%.

The July 2011 figures are up 1.2% at 938,999.
Emirates reported a "record" July from BHX to Dubai - up 3.7% on 2010! During July significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Fuerteventura 88.3%, Almeria 58.2%, Milan 50.9%, Dubrovnik 43.3%, Dalaman 40.6%, Bordeaux 37.8%, Shannon 37.3%, Brest 35.8% and Ashkhbad 32.1%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included - Croatia, 63.6%, Italy 26.2% and Greece 21.9%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 71.4% of the total passenger traffic in July whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 28.6%



May 2011 passenger figures 30/06/11
The May 2011 figures are down 1.3% at 778,849.
During May significant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Almeria 114.3%, Fuerteventura 90.6%, Malta 38.6%, Toronto 35.0%, Milan 30.7%, Hannover 27.6%, Lyon 23.0% and Londonderry 21.8%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included - Malta 17.0%, Italy 16.8% and Jamaica 16.2%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 76.7% of the total passenger traffic in May whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 23.3%.



Figures for April 06/06/11
The April 2011 figures are up 27.2% at 686,436.
If the month is compared back another year then the figures are down 4.3% on April 2009. Scheduled traffic accounted for 85.2% of the total passengers in April whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 14.8%.



3 new routes from bmibaby! (update) 20/05/11
bmibaby have recently announced the relaunch of 3 new routes from Birmingham for Summer 2012. The airline will again be adding Barcelona (4 times weekly), Lisbon (twice weekly) and Rome-Fiumicino (4 times weekly) to their network from 29th March 2012. Prague will also become a year round destination. All flights are now on sale.

bmibaby will be serving at least 14 destinations from March 2012. Lets hope we see more new routes!





Eurojet Announces Major Expansion 17/05/11
Eurojet Aviation, one of the UK's leading Aircraft Management, Charter and Maintenance companies, has announced a major £5 million expansion plan at Birmingham Airport. Eurojet's plans involve construction of a new 41,000sq ft complex which is set to include a state-of-the-art maintenance facility, a full service fixed base operator (FBO) and a commercial operations centre and aircraft sales suite. The maintenance facility is set for completion by the end of the year when it will become an official manufacturer-authorised service centre. Eurojet will also base two of its managed Cessna Citation aircraft at the new FBO.

Speaking about the development at EBACE in Geneva, Eurojet's Managing Director, Graeme Campbell, said: "Eurojet has operated from Birmingham for over 20 years and we are absolutely delighted to be locating this world-class development at such a high-profile airport in the heart of the country.

"The complete operational flexibility offered by Birmingham Airport – together with the tremendous support from the airport for the project – were decisive factors in selecting Birmingham, which is also the perfect location for the expansion of our FBO activities. Our enhanced Aircraft Sales Division will also have a dedicated sales suite at the new facility." When completed the £5 million scheme will create up to 50 new jobs.

Welcoming the move, Birmingham Airport's Chief Executive Paul Kehoe said: "Birmingham Airport is delighted that Eurojet Aviation has decided to open an aircraft maintenance centre at the airport on the Elmdon site. This represents an important development in the establishment of an aircraft maintenance cluster in the West Midlands.





Passenger figures for March 2011 17/05/11
Birmingham Airport handled 621,945 passengers during March 2011 - a fall of 6.2% on the previous year.
During March signficant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as Palma 176.1%, Ibiza 122.9%, Malta 87.6%, Gothenburg 22.0%, Fuerteventura 16.3%, Brussels 15.4%, Lyon 14.0% and Faro 12.6%.

Charter traffic which experience growth included Austria 59.6% and Itatly 58.0%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 84.6% of the total passenger traffic in March whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 15.4%



BHX surges into 'UK Air Cargo TOP 10'! 01/04/11
Figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) reveal Birmingham has now surged into the top 10 UK airports, based on tonnage of cargo handled last year.

Carried across a combination of dedicated freight and passenger flights, Birmingham processed over 21 thousand tonnes of cargo, up 65% on 2009. This comes on the back of figures showing a massive increase in dedicated cargo flights operating at the Airport, underlining the growing importance of the Airport to the regional and national manufacturing sector.

Growth in this area during January and February follows an increase of almost 300% last year, compared to 2009. During 2010, freight activity accounted for 3121 flights, with scheduled express freight services operated to France, Ireland and the Netherlands, plus ad-hoc services to and from points all over Europe.

With the dedicated cargo apron proving ideal for these operations, the Airport continues to win freight business from around the country. As many of the consignments are headed for major industrial and manufacturing centres throughout the UK, Birmingham is an increasingly important player in the logistics supply chain.



New spotting area! (update) 01/04/11
Yes you read it correctly, a new viewing area at the airport!
Within' the Long Stay 1 car park adjacent to the remote parking stands (the 20's stands), a small picnic/viewing area has been opened which includes benches! The area has been cleared of grass and replaced with gravel along with the removal of the double fence and wind breakers. Updates to the spotting page on the site will be coming soon!



Pax figures for February 01/04/11
The February 2011 figures are down 2.4% at 536,018.
During February signicant growth was achieved on scheduled flights to destinations such as - Malta 100.5%, Las Palmas 39.1%, Knock 33.8%, Rzeszow 31.4%, Gothenburg 29.5%, Munich 22.6%, Arrecife 20.9%, Brussels 17.7%, Frankfurt 17.1%, Krakow 16.9%, Dundee 16.1% and Larnaca 15.4%.

Charter traffic which experienced growth included - Turkey 63.4% and Cyprus 36.4%. Scheduled traffic accounted for 84.0% of the total passenger traffic in February whilst charter passengers made up the remaining 16.0%



Good news for Lufthansa 24/02/11
Lufthansa have announced that their passenger numbers at BHX increased by 13.4% in 2010.
Lufthansa has defied all the odds by announcing a substantial increase in passengers through Birmingham during 2010. Figures released today show the airline carried 409,246 passengers to and from Birmingham - up 13.4 per cent on the figures for 2009. The figures also show that Lufthansa's growth at Birmingham is more than double the passenger airline's average increase for the year.

Announcing the record year, Marianne Sammann, Lufthansa's General Manager UK & Ireland, said: "Our passenger growth out of Birmingham is exceptional, especially at a time when many airports are reporting a drop in overall passenger numbers for the year as a result of the challenges the industry faced during 2010. It proves that huge numbers of travellers still want the added value they receive from a full service airline. They like to know the ticket cost includes good quality food and drink on board the aircraft as well as allowing them to check-in at the airport and take a reasonable amount of luggage at no extra cost.

Among Lufthansa's most popular onward destinations from Birmingham in 2010 were Delhi, Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Mumbai, Budapest, Rome, Milan, Warsaw, Beijing and Sofia. A total of 90.2 million passengers flew with the airlines in the Lufthansa Passenger Airline Group. Of the total, 58.9 million flew with Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, an increase 5.9 per cent compared to 2009 figures.





2 terminals become 1 11/02/11
From Tuesday 8th February 2011, Birmingham Airport became a 'one terminal' facility. All departing passengers will now go through a new central combined security search area and inbound passengers will arrive into a single meeting & greeting area.

Through departures after clearing security, you can access both lounges left and right. Currently only Flybe, Ryanair and Air France (inc. CityJet & Brit Air) operate in the original Terminal 2 (T2) area with appropriate signage in place. Whilst for arriving passengers, after clearing immigration, baggage reclaim and customs passengers will pass through the new duty free shopping area for that last minute gift/treat before working out into arrivals!

A brand new and improved 'World Duty Free' store also opens very soon within the departure lounge.





UPDATE - The Aviation Experience / Viewing area 11/02/11
The viewing area and shop at 'The Aviation Experience' has been CLOSED until further notice!

The company that operated the area - Airtrans Limited - ceased trading recently which resulted in the stock and various fitting etc being removed from the area so it is unlikely to reopen in the foreseeable future. At this time the Airport Company are still trying to ascertain the exact (legal) status of Airtrans Limited - they have not yet had formal notice of insolvency/liquidation/receivership etc - before deciding what to do with the viewing area.

As a result there are currently no covered/internal spotting facilities at Birmingham Airport.

Save yourself a wasted journey!



Total figures for 2010! 11/02/11
Passenger figures released today by Birmingham Airport reveal a 17.1% increase in the number of travellers flying to and from Asia as the major highlight of 2010. The stats, buoyed by the likes of Emirates' ever-popular twice-daily service to Dubai, represents a fillip in what was acknowledged as one of the industry's most turbulent years. During 2010, 720,000 people flew between the Midlands' premier gateway and Asia, to cities including Islamabad, Dubai, Ashkhabad and Tehran. These results reinforce the Airport's knowledge that there is a considerable demand for flights to Asia from the Midlands and support the Company's current strategy to secure direct flights to India.

Overall, the Airport handled 8,577,822 passengers in 2010, a fall of 5.8% compared to the previous year. This fall was a trend witnessed throughout the industry, largely down to a combination of factors including the current economic downturn, extreme weather and the unprecedented ash cloud in April.

Some 6,560,778 people used scheduled flights in 2010, 76.5% of the total figure. The top three scheduled destinations were Dublin, Dubai and Amsterdam, the same as in 2009. Charter traffic accounted for 23.5% of the total figure with 2,017,044 people using these services last year. The top three charter destinations were Dalaman, Palma and Tenerife.