Work underway on expanded facilities at Birmingham Airport after 'record year' for passenger numbers
Bosses at Birmingham Airport say construction work on expanded facilities is already underway after the airport recorded its busiest ever year.
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New figures released by the transport hub show that more than 13 million passengers passed through the airport in the last financial year, which bosses say is a new record.
The figure was bolstered by a record-breaking March period, which saw over 950,000 passengers travelling through the airport, a 3.8% increase compared to the same period last year. Further growth is forecast for this year, with close to 14m passengers expected to travel through Birmingham Airport in 2025/26.
Now, the airport has announced further work in both terminal facilities and infrastructure to improve the customer experience - including an additional baggage carousel in the north terminal, a reconfiguration and expansion of the south immigration area and two further security screening lanes- is underway.
A new food and beverage area, to cater for the increase in customers, is also planned to open in 2026.
“It’s been another record year for Birmingham Airport with more customers than ever choosing to travel through BHX," said Nick Barton, CEO of Birmingham Airport.
"This new record, which finished with a record March, shows BHX is on its way to its forecasted passenger milestone of 18m by 2033.
“Construction works on our infrastructure and terminal facilities have already commenced to accommodate this growth as we further enhance our customer experience including two additional security search areas expanded terminal facilities and new concessions.”
An estimated 162,248 passengers are forecast to travel through Birmingham Airport this Easter weekend, a 10% increase compared to last Easter. Top destinations for the weekend include Dublin, Dubai, Palma de Mallorca, Amsterdam and Antalya.
Earlier this year, the airport announced it would be spending "a million pounds per day" improving facilities for passengers over the next five years, as part of ambitious growth plans for the airport, including adding extra capacity for stands where aircraft could be based overnight.
The arrival of a purpose built high-speed rail station as part of the HS2 project will reduce travel times into central London to under an hour, according to the airport.
Plans to build a direct link from the airport into the HS2 line connecting it with London are now well advanced, with the project to build the new station currently out to tender.
Birmingham Airport says around 30,000 jobs are dependent on the airport in the region, with an estimated £3,000 per minute added to the region's economy in Gross Value Added(GVA) measures.
