If you are investment planning in Oswestry, Telford or Shrewsbury, the West Midlands is set to see growth at Birmingham Airport.
Following the announcement that Solihull Borough Council had approved an increase in the number of night flights, bosses said they are anticipating high single digit growth and that the airport would invest a million pounds a week to improve facilities for the ‘foreseeable’ future.
CEO Nick Barton confirmed that businesses would be capitalising on the plans by putting in significant investment into airport facilities, estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds. He added that it will dovetail with the first part of The High Speed 2 (HS2) connection to the airport taking place over the next two years, which will provide a boost to the region.
‘Low cost’ carriers have increased their presence at the airport, with EasyJet disclosing plans to base another two aircraft there as they expand early morning and late evening services from Birmingham – its ninth hub in the UK. The West Midlands and adjacent areas will benefit economically as the second biggest destination for foreign direct investment, behind central London.
While some residents living under the flightpath have expressed misgivings about night flights increasing from 5% to 7.3% of air traffic, their objections were outweighed by the perceived wider benefits to the region.
The envisaged improvements come over 15 years after the last agreement on the airport’s operations. In a statement, Solihull Council said the UK aviation industry had significantly evolved since then and that their decision complied with air, local and national aviation rules.
