Birmingham Airport passenger numbers bounce back

Birmingham Airport passenger numbers have surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time

The number of passengers flying from Birmingham Airport has exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time.

Bosses said customer volumes for the month of October were higher than the same month in 2019.

Some 1,106,000 customers travelled through the Midlands transport hub compared to 1,101,000 in October four years ago.

The airport is currently undergoing a major security hall revamp to increase its capacity.

Tom Screen, aviation director, said bosses were delighted to surpass pre-pandemic numbers after hovering just below the figure for a while.

“It’s good to hit this milestone as we continue to recover from Covid," Mr Screen said.

"We’re on our way to becoming a bigger, better, greener airport for our customers.”

'Milestone' during Covid recovery

Construction of a new security hall is due to be complete by June 2024 at a cost of £50m, as part of £300m in upgrades over the next decade.

Scores of staff were made redundant when the pandemic hit, but a recruitment drive was launched during the airport's recovery.

It is hoped the new area will deliver a speedier and simpler pre-flight screening process, serving more customers per hour at peak times.

This year, bosses expect to draw level or exceed numbers seen between 2019 and 2020, when more than 12 million passengers passed through.

That number plunged to around one million in 2020-21 due to the pandemic, before rebounding to 10.5 million in the following 12 months

The airport wants to serve 18 million passengers a year by 2033.