The history of birmingham airport
July 1939 - Birmingham Airport opened near Elmdon, Birmingham
Birmingham airport was opened at Elmdon on the outskirts of Birmingham, some 8 miles from the city centre, on the 8 July 1939. As a municipal airport, owned and operated by Birmingham City Council, it was designed to meet the needs of the residents and the industry of the city and its immediate neighbourhoods.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, civil aviation ceased for all practical purposes and birmingham airport was requisitioned by the Air Ministry and was used by the RAF for military purposes.
Birmingham airport was returned to civilian use in July 1946, though still under government control. During the post-war years, in addition to civilian flights, public events,such as air fairs and even circuit-races, were held at the airport.
The City of Birmingham took control of birmingham airport again in 1960, and ownership of the airport passed to the newly-formed West Midlands County Council in April 1974.
As the airport became busier and international flights became more frequent, the airport, the terminal and the runway were gradually expanded. But this growth required longer term solutions, and a new Main Terminal, with a capacity of 3 million passengers, was built and opened in 1984.
The original art deco 1939 airport terminal and control tower were not bulldozed though, and they are still there today, alongside hangars to the west of the main runway. They provide good plane spotting views of birmingham airport.
On 1st April 1987, the ownership of the Airport was transferred to a public limited company, Birmingham International Airport plc, still owned by the West Midlands district councils.
July 1991 - the Eurohub, Birmingham Airport's second terminal, was opened
On the 26th July 1991 a second terminal, the "Eurohub" (or terminal 2), was opened (with Concorde in attendance), more than doubling birmingham airport's capacity.
The Eurohub is build along the 'hub and spoke' design developed in the United States for domestic operations. Eurohub took the principle a stage further, solving the complications of customs and immigration control which previously demanded separate terminals for domestic and international passengers.
The Eurohub at Birmingham airport was the first terminal in the world to combine domestic and international passengers. As a result, the farthest distance passengers have to walk to, from and between flights is just 250 metres, all within a target transfer time of just 25 minutes.
The demand for flights continued to grow at a very rapid rate and the local authority decided to seek finance from the private sector in order to continue to grow the airport and improve the facilities. Birmingham airport was privatised in 1993 and is now run as a public company (although the local authorities still own a 49% share).
The future of birmingham airport: The Government identified the airport as the preferred location for a proposed second runway in its White Paper, "The Future of Air Transport", issued in 2003 and updated in December 2006. This would sgnificantly add to the airports capacity, and cement it's position as one of the UK's top 5 airports.
However, these proposals are very controversial, with much opposition from environmentalists and local residents, and the Government has indicated that the new runway would not be required until about 2016.
