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Birmingham Airport history
Birmingham Airport company history timeline
In May 1939, services to Croydon (with connections to the Continent) Glasgow, Liverpool, Ryde, Shoreham, Manchester and Southampton began.
Birmingham Airport opened – under the name of Elmdon Airport – on July 8th 1939.
Other destinations were later added until civilian use of the facility stopped following the United Kingdom's entry into World War Two on September 3, 1939.
Following the end of hostilities, the airfield reverted to civilian use on July 8, 1946, but remained under government control.
When the war was over, the airport was used for civilian flights once again, resuming on July 8th 1946.
By 1954 there were services to Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Jersey but the length of the runways restricted the use of larger aircrafts.
In 1961, an international terminal was built, and later the runway lengthened so that the airport could handle turboprop aircraft like the Vickers Viscount.
In 1961, an additional terminal building to handle the growing international traffic was opened, which was fittingly called The International Building.
The expansion of the main runway in 1966 led to an increased number of jets using the airport and the need for expansion became evident as international flights became available.
In 1967 Birmingham Airport offered flights to New York using VC-10 airliners.
Accordingly, a new service to New York using VC-10 airliner was launched during 1967.
In 1974, the newly formed West Midlands Metropolitan County Council took over management of the airport.
On 16 September 1980, the supersonic airliner Concorde made its first visit to Birmingham Airport.
Following a year of testing and trial use, the Birmingham Airport Maglev was opened to great fanfare during April 1984.
The airport came to its current form in 1984, when a new terminal was built.
The first flight to take off from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport was in June of 1986.
To accommodate such expansion a second terminal was opened in 1991.
In 1993, the Birmingham Airport Authority approved a $50.4 million-dollar renovation for the terminal zone of the airport.
During 1993, the government limited public sector borrowing came into force and was applied to Birmingham Airport.
However, during 1995, the Maglev rail link was discontinued after 11 years; the closure has been attributed to the system's unreliability, it having suffered from frequent breakdowns.
51% of the local council shares were sold to restructure the airport into a private sector company; this initiative led to the commencement of a £260 million restructuring programme in 1997.
In fact, in 2000 the airport reached an all-time record: 3 million passengers in one year.
The year 2002 saw 8 million passengers pass through the airport, an increase of 2.8% from the previous year.
On 20 October 2003, Concorde made its final visit to the airport as part of its farewell tour.
In 2003, a replacement cable-hauled system, the AirRail Link Cable Liner people mover, was opened, which reused the track and much of the existing infrastructure.
Numbers continued to rise and in 2006, over 9 million passengers passed through.
In January 2008, the shorter runway (06/24) was decommissioned.
In March 2009, the runway extension plans were approved.
To mark its 70th-anniversary, work began on a three-story international pier that welcomed the airport's first Airbus A380 on September 9, 2009.
In 2009 a new ‘International Pier’ was added to the airport, and an Airbus A380 plane used it: the first outside of Heathrow to do so.
It is hoped that the rebrand will make the airport "more visible to the market". In November 2010, the new name started to be used.
The marginally optimistic estimates expect that by 2010 around eleven million passengers will soon use the airport annually.
In January 2011 the viewing gallery, 'Aviation Experience And Gift Shop', closed indefinitely.
During February 2011 Birmingham Airport transformed back into a one terminal facility.
In July 2011, construction of a new control tower began.
In 2011, the airport started the Terminal Modernization Project.
Work on the new runway eventually began in autumn 2012.
In Summer 2013 the new air traffic control tower became fully operational; the old carriageway of the A45 was closed and the new carriageway was opened.
In May 2014, the 400-metre runway extension was officially opened; the full length was first used on 22 July 2014, when China Southern Airlines operated its first charter between Birmingham and Beijing.
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, a Canadian institutional investor, increased its stake in the airport to 48.25% in early 2015.
On 28 September 2016, £100 million of investment was allocated to a new baggage handling system and two new car parks, including a drop-off car park.
In 2016, The Learning Hub was launched in conjunction with Schools of King Edward in Birmingham, an educational centre for children and teachers alike.
Within the Top 10 UK busiest airports Home to over 50 airlines Over 12.7 million passengers recorded in 2019
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a temporary mortuary was established in a hangar at the airport, with space for 12,000 bodies.
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Birmingham Airport competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Grass Airport | 1946 | $17.0M | 90 | - |
| Louis Armstrong New Orleans Airport | - | $19.0M | 86 | - |
| TBI Airport Management Inc | 2000 | $6.9M | 70 | 8 |
| Richmond International Airport | 2012 | $51.0M | 1,212 | 20 |
| Orlando International Airport | 1975 | $2.8M | 11 | - |
| San Francisco International Airport | 1927 | $3.2M | 20 | - |
| Ports of Jersey | 2015 | $35.0M | 350 | - |
| Portland International Airport | - | $7.8M | 125 | 1 |
| John Wayne Airport | - | $18.0M | 300 | 3 |
| Tulsa Airport | 1928 | $140.0M | 125 | 2 |
Birmingham Airport history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Birmingham Airport, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Birmingham Airport. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Birmingham Airport. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Birmingham Airport. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Birmingham Airport and its employees or that of Zippia.
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