Birmingham International Airport
Birmingham Airport – a Strategic National Asset
Birmingham Airport is a Strategic National Asset which can form part of the solution to the ‘Heathrow Problem’ and capacity in the South-East. Around 50% of the UK population is less than a two-hour drive from Birmingham. Birmingham has enough capacity to take another 9 million passengers immediately – and more than 21 million passengers in future years, as it improves its capability in line with planning approvals already in place.
London is just 70 minutes from Birmingham Airport by rail; there is a desire to reduce this to 50 minutes. With HS2 in place this becomes 31 minutes. Even now many in the South East can probably get to Birmingham as quickly as they could reach Heathrow’s check-in desks.
Making intelligent use of spare capacity at Birmingham will help to create regional jobs and generate inward investment.
