Runway expansion could be thing of the past, says Birmingham Airport CEO
The chief executive of Birmingham Airport has told Insider that airports will have to “work together” with the planned High Speed Rail (HS2) system. Paul Kehoe said that one of the long term objectives for HS2 was to expand throughout Europe. He added: “It may be the case that in the future, airports lose passengers to the trainline. It may be more convenient for them to take a 300-mile journey to European cities on the train, and longer journeys will be taken by air. In the future, I don’t think there will be the capacity for airport expansion – which is why we need to work with the high-speed rail.”
Kehoe also said that the controversial plans to add a link to the South East airport did not have to be detrimental to Birmingham. He said: “It would only be detrimental if the train line did not stop in the West Midlands. I think there could be a logistical problem, however – with Heathrow, where does the train stop? At terminal two, three or five? It could be a problem.”
Kehoe added that he was a “big supporter” of the HS2 plans.
“In the future, I can’t see that airports will be able to expand with new runways – there just isn’t the capacity. So we need to work together with the high speed rail to deliver the services the customers need,” he said.
“I think that the process [of being linked to HS2] will show people that Birmingham has its own contribution to make as a regional airport - not London’s fifth airport, which is how we’re sometimes perceived.”
He added that although an estimated 10,000 jobs would be created through the construction of the HS2 line, the airport had been forced to make 45 voluntary redundancies this year.
“The redundancies were all voluntary," said Kehoe. “We had a lot of people step up and put themselves forward, and they were made across the board.”
The airport is continuing to evolve, however. In January this year, it was announced that the airport would embark on a £13m investment to merge its two terminals into a singles facility. This would include a centralised passenger security search area, an enlarged arrivals point, and improved shopping and catering services.
Kehoe also said that the airport is continuing its plans for an extension to its runway.
Kehoe said: “The plans for the extension are progressing slowly – we are proceeding with great caution and care. Planning permission has been granted, and we’re still aiming for a 2014 opening, that’s with all things being equal.”
Like many of the country’s airports, Birmingham’s passenger numbers were down this year. “Passenger levels are down an average of 5 per cent this year," said Kehoe. “We were affected by the ash cloud in April – we had to close for six days, so of course we were affected. But I think on a wider scale, the rises in tax and VAT and people are nervous about their jobs. People are very careful about what they spend their money on.”
