Airport plan single 'super terminal'
21.06.09
Birmingham Airport could knock two terminals into one in order to double passenger figures to 20 million in 10 years, the Post reports. New airport boss Paul Kehoe said that it was the ‘last great aviation opportunity in the UK’ following the recent approval for the £130 million 400 metre runaway extension, opening up markets such as the US West Coast and China.
Mr Kehoe said that a Conservative win at the next election would block new runways at ‘Horrible Heathrow’ and Stansted, allowing ‘Beautiful Birmingham’ to spread its wings and attract an extra 10 million passengers a year. He told Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry: ‘We have a little piece of real estate that we can exploit that will deliver dramatic changes at this airport. The challenge is to take two terminals that we have and make them one. Having two terminals is not very cost-effective. With he extra 400 metres [on the runway] plus one terminal, I believe, gives us an airport that is truly world-class.’
Mr Kehoe also said Birmingham Airport had missed out on millions of passengers by backing BA rather than budget airlines. He said: ‘We backed the wrong airline. We should have had easyJet, Ryanair and bmibaby lined up years ago and we didn’t. We should not be 10 million (passengers) - we should be 20 million today.’
John Morris, Head of Corporate Affairs at Birmingham Airport, said consultants were already looking at the one terminal concept. He said: ‘This is not about knocking large sections of the airport down. The infrastructure is already in place.’
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