Birmingham Airport Pursues Long-Haul Opportunities Across North America And Asia

Birmingham Airport (BHX) continues to see strong growth, with passenger numbers reaching 11.4 million in 2023, marking a 19.6% increase from the previous year. Located in England’s Midlands region, BHX benefits from a strategic location, serving a catchment area of over 10 million people within a 60-minute journey, which is only set to expand when HS2 completes towards the end of the decade, making BHX just 37 minutes from central London.

BHX currently connects travelers to more than 130 destinations, with major Low Cost and Leisure airlines such as Ryanair, Jet2.com, TUI and easyJet all having bases there. Full service European scheduled carriers such as of KLM, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Air France, SAS and more have all been serving BHX for decades and the airport has a significant presence from long-haul carriers looking eastbound, such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, Air India and Saudia. With ambitions to serve 18 million passengers by 2033, the airport is actively expanding its portfolio to include more destinations in Asia and North America.

In March 2024, easyJet established a new base at BHX with three aircraft and now offers 33 routes from the city. The LCC will launch new routes to destinations including Hurghada in Egypt, Rovaniemi in Finland, Prague in the Czech Republic, Marrakech in Morocco, Krakow in Poland, and Reykjavik in Iceland during winter 2024.

Jet2.com is also set to launch Jerez and Costa de la Luz during the summer 2025 schedule having added new routes this year to Tivat, Bergen and Gdansk. SunExpress have also increased its services to Turkey this summer with a choice of 25 flights a week from BHX to Antalya, Dalaman and Izmir. Meanwhile, Ryanair, which added a seventh aircraft to its BHX operations this summer, has introduced routes to Tirana, Paris, and Derry. Turkish LCC Pegasus has also recently increased services to its Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen hub.

BHX was also selected as the first airport for the Lufthansa City Airlines inaugural flight, strengthening the connection on the already popular service from Birmingham to Munich.

As a member of Routes 360, the only digital platform dedicated to route development, BHX has uploaded multiple route opportunities to its profile.

Unserved:

• New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
• Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
• Greater Toronto Airports Authority (YYZ)
• Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK)
• Changi Airport Group (SIN)
• Underserved:
• Budapest Airport (BUD)
• Lisbon Airport (LIS)
• Copenhagen Airports A/S (CPH)
• Milan Airports – SEA (MXP)
• Athens International Airport (ATH)

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