Birmingham airport History

Birmingham Airport was first opened in 1939 under the control of Birmingham City Council for the use of local residents and business. During the Second World War the airport was requisitioned by the RAF and civilian flights ceased during this period. In July 1946 the Birmingham Airport was handed back for civilian use but still under control of the government.

Between 1946 and 1960 Birmingham Airport was used for a variety of applications such as leisure and civilian flights until control was handed back to the City of Birmingham in 1960. In 1974 control of Birmingham Airport passed to the newly-formed West Midlands County Council, and due to the increase in air traffic over the next ten years various upgrades and modifications took place.

However, despite these improvements this did not provide an adequate solution to the increase in traffic at Birmingham Airport and the decision was made to create a new terminal building, which opened in 1984. The new terminal had the capacity to process three million passengers every year, and remained the only terminal at Birmingham Airport until the completion of the second terminal named 'Eurohub' in 1991.

The opening of the 'Eurohub' was celebrated with the attendance of the most iconic passenger aircraft of the time, Concorde. It effectively doubled Birmingham Airport's passenger capacity, as well as being the first terminal in the world to combine domestic and international passengers.

In order to continue the development and growth of Birmingham Airport a decision was made in 1993 to privatise it. To this day it still runs as a public limited company with the local authorities owning a 49% share.