Insider Media Limited

Birmingham Airport is looking to take advantage of a largely untapped Chinese flight market, according to chief executive Paul Kehoe. Speaking to Insider at the launch of a partnership between the airport and manufacturer MG Motors, Kehoe said he wanted to enter the Chinese market as activity at its South East rivals was "unlikely" to grow.

Kehoe spoke to Insider as the airport officially launched its strategic relationship with Birmingham car maker MG Motors, whose parent company SAIC Motor is based in Shanghai, China.

He said the agreement demonstrated both parties' long term commitment to the development of trade between the West Midlands and China.

"MG motors is becoming a significant manufacturer in the West Midlands thanks to investment from its parent company," said Kehoe. "It's a strong brand with goods links to China, something we are keen to develop."

He added that direct flights to China from UK airports were scarce and a market that Birmingham Airport was keen to tap into.

"Even in the South East, flights are only available to one or two major destinations in the country, like Shanghai and Beijing as well as Hong Kong. Activity in those airports is unlikely to grow, so we're keen to take advantage of what is a definite gap in the market."

Kehoe said the airport would aim to offer flights across China once its runway extension was completed in 2014.

"We've invested about £100m in the airport over the past few years and another £70m to £80m to spend," he said. "China is expected to build many more airports in the next few years and we really want to be at the forefront of the developments.

"We know that contracts with major Chinese airlines will be intensely competitive; I'm sure Manchester will be keen to pick some of them up. But we're getting a strong foothold early on, and have a team on the ground in China speaking to the airlines now."

He added that building links with China was part of a wider international growth strategy for the airport.

"We are keen to hear from local businesses which would benefit from stronger international links," he said. "This is definitely a way we can boost our flight destinations."

The airport also has an ongoing strategic partnership with Jaguar Land Rover, whose parent company Tata Motors is headquartered in India.

William Wang, managing director of MG Motor UK, added: "Like Birmingham Airport, SAIC Motor business is in an exciting period of international growth.

"As the proud owners of the world famous MG brand, SAIC Motor has made significant investment to make Birmingham the global home of the brand, SAIC group's European engineering centre of excellence and most recently a manufacturing and sales centre for our new MG6 vehicles."

Since 2003 Birmingham has attracted £76.59m in capital investment from China, creating 596 jobs. In 2010, Birmingham received £8.68m in capital investment from the country.