Birmingham Airport critical of air connectivity fund announcement

BIRMINGHAM Airport has expressed disappointment that plans to boost new routes via a new £10m fund will only apply to smaller regional airports.

It was initially thought that the plan – announced by the Chancellor in yesterday’s Budget – would apply to all regional airports but a spokeswoman at the Treasury said only smaller regional airports – which carry less than three million passengers a year – would be able to apply for the £10m fund which is available for two years.

Birmingham Airport’s annual passenger numbers are more than three times that figure.

Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport, said:  “Whilst the Regional Air Connectivity Fund that the Chancellor enhanced in the Budget is good news for our smaller, more peripheral, regional airports, it does not help make best use of capacity at airports like Birmingham because airports in our great regional cities are not included.”

The idea of the fund is to encourage operators to launch new flight routes from smaller provincial airports – a measure which the Chancellor suggests will make it easier to move between the UK and new markets and thus potentially boost exports.