page_title: Birmingham Airport
section_title: Since 2010
hierarchical_section_title: Birmingham Airport / History / Since 2010
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Birmingham International Check In Bereich 1
context_page_description: Birmingham Airport, formerly Birmingham International Airport is an international airport located 7 nautical miles east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, slightly north of Bickenhill in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, England.
  Officially opened as Elmdon Airport on 8 July 1939, the airport was requisitioned by the Air Ministry during Second World War and used by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy as RAF Elmdon. It was largely used for flight training and wartime production purposes. On 8 July 1946, the aerodrome was reopened to civilian operations.
  Birmingham Airport currently holds a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. Passenger throughput in 2017 was over 12.9 million, making Birmingham the seventh busiest airport in the UK. The airport offers international flights to destinations in Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, North America, and the Caribbean. Birmingham Airport is an operating base for Jet2.com, Ryanair and TUI Airways.
context_section_description: In September 2010, it was announced that after the merging of Terminals 1 and 2 into a single facility in 2011, the airport would drop the "International" from its official name to become "Birmingham Airport'". A Midlands-based marketing agency was recruited to "create a new corporate identity that reflects Birmingham Airport's current position in the market place, as well as its future potential". Figures from Birmingham Airport show that 8 million people live within a one hour's drive of the airport, but less than 40% of them use it. It is hoped that the rebrand will make the airport "more visible to the market". In November 2010, the new name started to be used. The new logo, interlocking circles in shades of blue, and slogan, "Hello World", were designed to reflect the airport's new positioning as a global travel hub.
  In January 2011 the viewing gallery, 'Aviation Experience And Gift Shop', closed indefinitely. In the same month, the airport merged its two terminals into a single terminal building, which involved the construction of two additional floors. A new lower ground floor accommodates the new Arrivals and Meet & Greet area, while the 3rd floor was built in the Millennium Link and the two terminals to accommodate the new Centralised Security Search area. In July 2011, construction of a new control tower began. The new control tower was completed in March 2012; it replaced the airport's original tower, which had been used since the airport opened in 1939.
  On 23 February 2011, Birmingham Airport announced that the High Speed 2 railway could be a solution to runway capacity problems in London; management figures suggested that it would be quicker to get to London from Birmingham than from Stansted Airport once completed, and claimed that the airport had capacity for nine million more passengers.
  Plans for the extension of the airport's runway, and the construction of the new air traffic control tower, were submitted to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in January 2008, and approved in March 2009. Originally, the target for completion was in time for the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics. An Olympic ceremony was held at the airport on 23 April 2012. The Olympic rings were unveiled on the tower and could be seen from the A45 road and the main terminal building. This was to commemorate the build-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games. These rings were removed once the Olympic Games officially closed, just before the 2012 Summer Paralympics began. Work on the new runway eventually began in autumn 2012. The extension to the southern end of the runway originally required the A45 Coventry Road to be diverted into a tunnel under the extended section, but to cut costs, it was diverted south of the runway instead. In Summer 2013 the new air traffic control tower became fully operational; the old carriageway of the A45 was closed and the new carriageway was opened. In May 2014, the 400-metre runway extension was officially opened; the full length was first used on 22 July 2014, when China Southern Airlines operated its first charter between Birmingham and Beijing.
  The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, a Canadian institutional investor, increased its stake in the airport to 48.25% in early 2015. It also owns 100% of Bristol Airport. Birmingham handled over 11.6 million passengers in 2016, a record total for the airport, making it the seventh busiest UK airport.
  On 28 September 2016, £100 million of investment was allocated to a new baggage handling system and two new car parks, including a drop-off car park.
  During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, a temporary mortuary was established in a hangar at the airport, with space for 12,000 bodies.
caption: Main check-in hall in Terminal 1
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