Birmingham Airport

Birmingham Airport is the UK's third largest airport outside London, and the UK's seventh largest overall. It handles c13m passengers a year and c35m people live within its two-hour catchment - half the population of the UK. As the Midlands' largest airport, it serves more than 150 direct scheduled and charter routes and offers an additional 340 possible connections worldwide. Over the last 10 years, Birmingham Airport has invested more than £300m to develop its infrastructure. It is one of the West Midlands' largest employers, creating jobs for 30,900 people across the West Midlands and adding £1.5bn in GVA to the regional economy. Sitting in the centre of the country's road and rail network means that it is one of the UK's most accessible airports. When HS2 opens, the rail journey between Birmingham Airport and central London will reduce from the current 70 minutes to 38 minutes as it becomes the UK's first and only high-speed connected airport, increasing the two-hour catchment to 45m people. The Airport recently consulted on its draft Master Plan which outlines how the airport will invest £500m over the next 15 years, growing to serve 18m passengers a year, generating £2.1b to the regional economy annually and supporting 34,000 jobs by 2033.