Just to finally add rutamrkd. I am not as concerned about holiday makers spending a few quid at BHX and then spend their cash abroad (their choice, I hope they have fun no problem with that). That will not make the city region prosper.
What will make the city region prosper is people from elsewhere visiting or living or investing. That is the type of traveller we need at BHX by the plane load.
You are correct and are admirable valiant chear leader for the city region; I fully get and support your points and references, however it just as, no its more important that the West Midlands CBI and the West Midlands branch of the IOD along with a significant numbers of the regions SMEs get off their collective a**es and sell their wares themselves.
Attend trade shows (Oft seen a waste of time and money by many British businesses of all sizes and that a shame ! ), use the web more effectively and have the banks actually support a global effort along with government agencies.
For the SME type enterprises prevalent within the West Midlands and indeed across much of the country without the bank and DFI support exporting is financially very risky - Dealing with letters of credit and similar instruments can produce detrimental cash flows that many SMEs simply don’t have the tools and indeed money to handle.
The West Midlands had a perfect local champion in the Baron of Birmingham -Digby Jones however lately his lack of critical thinking over Brexit has reduced my own opinion of him.
Suffice to say imho its up to Brumies, Wulfrunians and Godivas to get out there (Nothing has prevented them in the preceding forty years certainly not Brussels) . No one will simply turn up because the local airport has a flight to XYZ . No that flight to XYZ is a product of the first part of the paragraph.
A330 i am actually just putting TUA in perspective (Its a nice to have connection - ALL are) - A state carrier carrying relatively low yielding organic blobs from A to C using geographical advantage .
Low yield doesn’t necessarily correlate directly with socio economic class either .
Ians point as I understand it is one of getting British based (indeed West Midlands Based businesses) to Export more in the global market place, post Brexit (ignoring the fact that those aims and risks haven’t /won‘t change significantly from today - WTO tariff schedules remain unchanged in many of these markets) and that developing air routes will stimulate this growth.
Historically this really hasn’t been the case at all - No air travel follows quite a way down the economic curve in liberal and competitive economies (China isn’t one of those !)
