Birmingham Airport has been a long time attendee of World Routes and the regional forums with its regular curry lunch on Sundays proving a massive hit for delegates and bringing many visitors to its hosted networking stand.

The UK airport is growing quickly and the recent extension of its Runway has opened up additional long-haul opportunities for the airport. We spent a little time with Paul Kehoe during the recent World Routes in Chicago to learn more about the latest developments at Birmingham Airport and learnt that this year’s forum will probably prove to be its “best Routes ever”.

"Adding just 400 metres to the existing length means departing aircraft can now fly further, bringing new long haul destinations within direct range for the first time, including the Far East, the West Coast of the US, South America and South Africa,” said Kehoe.

This development has already meant that Birmingham has become the first airport outside of London to welcome direct flights from China. The series of charter flights between Birmingham and Beijing throughout the summer were only possible because of the Airport’s newly extended runway. “We see the runway extension as the main driver for future passenger growth, both in terms of long haul flights, connecting flights to feed the long haul network and increased demand for cargo freight movement,” added Kehoe.

Here’s a short video interview with the Birmingham Airport boss...