Birmingham: New Route Development & Rumours

[juliet-fox-9]

Hi there all, if Birmingham airport is known or only a bucket and spade airport, how does it leave this business model and image and move forward to make it's self more than that and lets Airlines know that it's more serious as a business traveler, than a tourist traveler, to further increase it's business and passenger numbers.

We already have thirteen flag carriers and six premium lounges.

it would be nice to recover a couple of the airlines we have lost, but a lot of things are going on which are outside the airports control.

Thanks to the situation in the USA, American carriers are focusing on US originating traffic to European tourist spots. That rules out the likes of United, American and Icelandair unless US- bound tourism from the UK dramatically picks up. I don’t see that happening as long as tourists and immigrants keep getting arrested and deported.

Canada should really be targeted as an alternative.

Thanks to the situation in the Middle East, I’d be happy just to see Saudi back.

As for European flag carriers, there’s Iberia and TAP but they might struggle to compete against the low cost carriers.

I remain hopeful for Finnair or even a direct Chinese flight but the political tensions with Russia/China and the fall in international students to the UK makes a link to the Far East seem a little more difficult than in the past.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Any expectations for next summer?

May not specifically be summer but there are rumours of a couple of new routes from an existing airline. Nice routes for them, IF, they happen but both are already served from BHX. Other than that very quiet as Ian has said.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

May not specifically be summer but there are rumours of a couple of new routes from an existing airline. Nice routes for them, IF, they happen but both are already served from BHX. Other than that very quiet as Ian has said.

Analysis of my own thinking

You mentioned
-Couple of new routes
-From an Existing airline
-Currently these routes are served from bhx
-You mentioned these may not be specifically summer
-Winter seasonal

2 guesses at this

-Corendon-SSH-HRG they were rumoured to enter the uk market last year

-EasyJet-SID and FNC they were both rumoured to start in 2026

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Jet2 have announced a charter route between Gatwick and Banjul

Hope news comes out sooner rather than later

 

[Ray Finkle]

Jet2 have announced a charter route between Gatwick and Banjul

That's one of the routes I was talking about.

If it works from LGW then it 'could' be expanded to BHX and MAN.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

That's one of the routes I was talking about.

If it works from LGW then it 'could' be expanded to BHX and MAN.

What’s the other one😉

 

[Iron Duck]

That's one of the routes I was talking about.

If it works from LGW then it 'could' be expanded to BHX and MAN.

It’s a charter !

 

[Ray Finkle]

It’s a charter !

I know!

 

[Aviador]

While looking at the offering from Liverpool, I noticed just how impressive the commercial momentum building at Elmdon has been lately, with the likes of Ryanair and easyJet driving a significant surge in regional capacity.

Between Ryanair basing its ninth aircraft to unlock new links to destinations like Agadir and Warsaw Modlin, easyJet stationing its sixth based A320 to expand its network past 40 routes, and Jet2 introducing unique additions like Palermo and the Olympus Riviera, BHX is delivering an enviable mix of high density sun routes and niche European connectivity. What makes this growth phase particularly compelling is how smoothly the airport is absorbing these extra aircraft rotations alongside its multi million pound terminal refurbishment and security hall upgrades.

This continuous commitment from the UK's big three leisure and low cost operators reinforces Birmingham’s position as a dominant midlands powerhouse. However, it also brings BHX’s wider long-term ambitions back into sharp focus. While point to point European capacity is booming, the search for expanded direct transatlantic connectivity to North America remains the defining piece of the puzzle for the airport's commercial team.

With passenger numbers pushing well past 14 million annually and the eventual arrival of HS2 set to bring central London within a 45-minute rail journey, do you see BHX’s next major milestone being the return of sustained year-round long haul scheduled routes, or could HS2 actually hinder those long haul prospects by making it so easy for West Midlands travellers to bypass BHX entirely in favour of Heathrow? Will its future ultimately remain defined by massive short-haul low cost base expansion instead?

 

[Seasider]

The faster train time to London is more likely to encourage people to LHR - where there are more services - than to BHX.

 

[rollo]

Ryanair and EasyJet are very much the drivers in BHX's continuing passenger growth in the current difficult times for the industry with every additional airframe adding a potential circa 1,000 seats a day. They contribute way more in capacity terms than say the Egypt Air service due to commence 4weekly in October through obviously a very welcome addition.

Jet2 continue to flourish but capacity growth has slowed and now is mostly based on slowly switching to the A321after the rapid expansion at BHX which was greatly helped by the demise of Monarch and Thomas Cook with TUI basically treading water. All in all the main four operators
had around 43 based aircraft this summer.

Looking west can't see much immediate prospects apart from maye West Jet summer season to Toronto. We lost our last Orlando this summer and anything else to the USA seems a no to me until Iran ends and Trump clears off, additionally the US is horrendously expensive these days.

On the Elmdon side of the airport the freight side has quietened down a bit but still not bad and the executive ops seem to be flourishing

Can't see HS2 having too much effect as it will not connect direct to Heathrow and will require a train change adding 40-55min to the journey plus the hassle with luggage etc. By road to LHR its a straightforward 2hr trip down the M40 with the usual caveats on any motorway journey these days.

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

With Corendon it’s exit from bhx in 2027(Still on sale)

The next few months will be exciting and interesting

Tui Announcing 7 new routes and S28 out in 3 weeks
Ryanair 2027 summer to be announced
EasyJet Summer 2027 new routes
Jet2 S28

More to follow……

Hopefully a few exciting weeks ahead

 

[Ray Finkle]

With passenger numbers pushing well past 14 million annually and the eventual arrival of HS2 set to bring central London within a 45-minute rail journey, do you see BHX’s next major milestone being the return of sustained year-round long haul scheduled routes, or could HS2 actually hinder those long haul prospects by making it so easy for West Midlands travellers to bypass BHX entirely in favour of Heathrow? Will its future ultimately remain defined by massive short-haul low cost base expansion instead?

I think the master plan will reveal a lot about what direction the airport will be heading in the future. The last one was very underwhelming to put it mildly.

Stand capacity isn't far off being maxed out and the buildings are too small to cope at peak times.

Will we see plans for a few new stands added here and there and some more bolt-on extensions to the terminals or will they go bold with something major to push the airport to the next level?

 

[BLB777]

Biggest unserved markets at Birmingham.
List based off 2025/2026 passenger statistics.

US:
- JFK (12,849 pax per year - 35 per day)
- LAX (7,395 pax per year - 20 per day)
- ORD (7,220 pax per year - 20 per day)

Oceania:
- PER (14,680 pax per year - 40 per day)
-SYD (12,216 pax per year - 33 pax per day)
MEL (11,280 pax per year - 31 pax per day)

Middle East:
- JED (44,761 pax per year - 123 pax per day)
- MED (17,735 pax per year - 49 pax per day)
- EBL (12,175 pax per year - 33 pax per day)

Latin America:
- LIM (2,596 pax per year - 7 pax per day)
- MEX (2,116 pax per year - 6 pax per day)
- GRU (2,061 pax per year - 6 pax per day)

Indian Subcontinent:
- ISB (105,346 pax per year - 289 pax per day)
- LHE (30,667 pax per year - 84 pax per day)
- MLE (22,547 pax per year - 62 pax per day)

Canada:
- YYZ (8,419 pax per year - 23 pax per day)
- YVR (3,333 pax per year - 9 pax per day)
- YUL (2,324 pax per year - 6 pax per day)

Asia:
- BKK (37,408 pax per year - 102 pax per day)
- HKT (28,524 pax per year - 78 pax per year)
- HKG 26,021 pax per year - 71 pax per day)

African Subcontinent:
- MRU (18,284 pax per year - 50 pax per day)
- NBO (10,583 pax per year - 29 pax per day)
- JNB (10,550 pax per year - 29 pax per day)

 

[Birmingham Aviation]

Thanks for posting this.Just goes to show that Long haul from Birmingham is on a slight downward spiral

 

[juliet-fox-9]

Thanks for posting this.Just goes to show that Long haul from Birmingham is on a slight downward spiral

Going west, i would not be surprised as there is demonstrated fall in demand across the board on the UK-US.

Going east, the loss of Saudia and PIA stand out, but i think it is hard to make a judgement when we have also had Pegasus and extra Turkish flights around the same time.

As an aside - It will be interesting to see what happens with Egyptair as they offer connections to Saudi and India but not Pakistan, which is the biggest unserved market according to these figures.

Another reason why it’s hard to make a judgement is because of induced demand. In 2014 there were no airlines serving BHX-MAD. In 2016 there were four airlines and the route was hitting 6 figures for the year. Obviously this was financially unsustainable but it shows how a direct local service can stimulate demand when it previously didn’t seem to exist at all.

I’m sure that when Saudi, for example, started there would have been midlands folk using the service who would have previously travelled up the M6 or down the M40, and I’m sure that some of them have gone back to doing so now that Saudi have pulled out.

 

[hammerb32]

35 people per day travel between the Midlands and New York? I see more than that on my Facebook feed......

 

[BLB777]

35 people per day travel between the Midlands and New York? I see more than that on my Facebook feed......

Between BHX and JFK

This isn't about people travelling from the catchment to different airports it's people who start and end their journey at BHX

 

[hammerb32]

Between BHX and JFK

This isn't about people travelling from the catchment to different airports it's people who start and end their journey at BHX

So the estimate is just shy of half a million leak to other airports so the actual demand is closer to a 1000 per day.

 

[BLB777]

So the estimate is just shy of half a million leak to other airports so the actual demand is closer to a 1000 per day.

That was stated by the airport wasn't it?


If it was 500,000 per year then yes you would be looking at that, however, just because BHX may gain a single transatlantic service doesn't mean those from the catchment will decide to fly from BHX and not LHR. A small amount of pax may decide to for convience but only enough for a daily seasonal narrowbody like GLA.