Birmingham Airport apply for permission for more night time flights
They say the region could lose out on millions if not changed.
Birmingham Airport has applied for permission for more night time flights.
BHX says the growth of the airport post-pandemic has led to the application being submitted to Solihull Council and if no changes are made the West Midlands region could lose out on millions of pounds.
The current arrangement allows for no more than 4,000 flights at night a year.
This is based on an annual restriction of five per cent of the total air traffic movements – the taking off or landing of an aircraft from the airport – to take place at night.
Night time hours are defined as 11.30pm to 6am and the five per cent is calculated from the busiest financial year for flights of the past five years.
But BHX says its forecasts are for 7,227 flights in this financial year ; 7,528 flights between 2025/26 and 7,600 flights in 2026/27.
The airport wants to change its section 106 agreement with the authority so the cap on night time movements is raised to an average of 7.3 per cent a year, with an indicative cap of 7.6 per cent.
In documents submitted to the council the airport’s consultants, McLoughlin Planning, write: “The airport handles 40 per cent more passengers.
“This has been in part down to the rise of low-cost carriers using the airport and changes in their operating patterns.
“Those changes see a much more intensive use of the aircraft over a longer operating day, meaning earlier starts and later finishes.
“Birmingham Airport Limited cannot keep pace with the changing circumstances at the airport in terms of operations and the types of aircraft and their associated movements, as part of the airport’s ongoing growth forecasts.”
BHX says the current agreement came into force in 2009 with an aim to “tighten the limits” on night time flying and reduce the figure to four per cent of the total number of flights annually.
Aviation consultants for the airport, York Aviation, said: “Broader market developments and the nature of growth at Birmingham Airport post-pandemic mean that there is, in practice, a need to revise upwards the allowance for the number of permitted night movements each year.”
BHX estimates the airport contributed around £1.2 billion in gross value added to Solihull in 2021, and around £2.1 billion within the West Midlands Combined Authority area.
BHX stresses if a change is not made to the five per cent cap by 2027 the airport’s economic contribution to Solihull could be lowered by around £115 million in GVA, and a reduction of £225 million in GVA for the West Midlands region.
If agreed the new policy would come into force for three years, beginning at the end of this month.
A consultation is underway which will run until October 24.