The delegation from Birmingham Airport at this year’s Routes Asia has a clear message… there is more to the UK than just London and believes it is a viable alternative to the UK capital that can offer airlines access to a core catchment of 10 million people, thriving industries and one of Britain’s most culturally diverse regions. The delegation is being lead by Jo Lloyd, Birmingham Airport’s Marketing Director and Neil Rami, Chief Executive Officer, Marketing Birmingham, the city’s strategic marketing partnership which operates the city’s leisure and business tourism programmes as well as its inward investment programme.

They are joined by aviation specialists from the airport who will be holding meetings with several airlines during the conference to highlight market options in the Midlands region and highlight that Birmingham Airport is the alternative for airlines looking to expand routes into the UK.

Speaking to The HUB yesterday following the formal inauguration ceremony, Jo Lloyd, said: “We hear so much about the UK losing lucrative new routes because of the capacity constraints at Heathrow Airport but we believe that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket and the UK should be using the spare capacity available at national airports, like Birmingham, to attract overseas investment and help to rebalance the whole of the UK economy.

“We need policy makers in the UK to think beyond a single hub model that has become an accepted view for too long and to consider alternative approaches that can deliver the airport capacity that the UK needs. Birmingham Airport is Britain’s best connected airport and has the infrastructure to handle 18 million passengers a year. Our runway extension scheme, that will be open in the spring of 2014, will enable aircraft to fly direct to all parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas, and will create further capacity to 36 million passengers a year,” she added.

The Midlands is on a new trajectory. Birmingham is home to 45,000 companies, including over 650 international firms, and lies at the centre of a £94 billion regional economy. The city secured a record high in foreign direct investment (FDI) projects during 2011/12 – a near 40 per cent increase against a national decline of two per cent.

“Birmingham is attracting more overseas investment than ever before but, to continue this trend, it is important to establish more routes into the city from our key markets. By targeting potential investors from the likes of North America, India and China, interest from businesses in these locations is increasing. We must be ready to meet their demand for direct flights to secure these investments and grow the local economy,” Neil Rami told The HUB.

In recent years, the Airport has invested £200 million in its facilities and is in the process of investing a further £100 million as it builds its runway extension that will see the landing strip grow to 3,003 metres and once fully operational will give aircraft unlimited range to and from the Midlands. Although the extension work will add just 400 metres to the runway’s length, this will permit aircraft to take-off from Birmingham with more fuel and fly direct to destinations currently out of reach, including destinations across the Far East, Africa and the Americas. But, even without the runway extension the airport could double its numbers from today.

“Nine million passengers currently use our airport per annum, but we have the capacity to handle 18 million passengers a year due to a £200 million investment programme that has been underway over the last ten years to improve our infrastructure. There are 10 million people and 12,396 exporting companies in the Airport’s catchment area, contributing close to 21 per cent of national economic output. In gross value added terms the Airport’s wider catchment provides £263 billion – compared to London’s £265 billion,” explained Jo Lloyd.

“This strong and diverse economic profile of the Midlands means that business - and leisure travellers - are crying out for direct links from their region so it makes no sense that millions of people travel from the West Midlands each year to add congestion at Heathrow. Redirecting this traffic back to the Midlands would release high value, long-haul capacity at London airports and boost the UK’s trading potential,” she added.

The Airport has also been lobbying the UK government to assign ‘National Airport’ status to key gateways to UK markets. For instance, Birmingham, as a National Airport, would be recognised as the gateway at the heart of UK manufacturing. Such an endorsement would certainly help the Airport to encourage new routes, by demonstrating Government’s commitment to the whole of the UK’s long-term aviation strategy.

The runway extension will be wholly funded by the Airport Company at a cost of £33 million. Work to resurface the entire runway will commence in November and fully operational in the spring of 2014. Alongside the runway work, the Airport is making a further investment of £13 million for the construction of a new air traffic control tower and radar system which are due to be operational within the next few weeks.

The new iconic £10m Air Traffic Control Tower stands 33 metres above ground level and is currently being furnished with state of the art radar and navigation equipment that will give controllers a better view of the airfield, above buildings that have been developed over the last few years. It will also allow them to see the end of the extended runway. Once fully commissioned, the tower will take over from the current 79ft control tower, which is situated at the old Elmdon Airport site and has been in use since 1939 when the original terminal opened.

The new Radar Tower, which boasts state-of-the-art technology, will allow air traffic controllers to survey the sky in greater detail, detecting the range, altitude, direction and speed of aircraft within a 60 nautical mile radius. Standing 36 metres high, this latest addition to the Airport’s impressive infrastructure represents an investment worth over £3.2 million. It replaces the current radar system which is nearing the end of its operational life.