Spot On

The past few weeks have been marked by a flurry of positive announcements about strengthening the future viability of Birmingham International Airport.

It was clear from the moment that major shareholders Aer Rianta and Macquarie announced they intended to dispose of their interest in BIA that Birmingham’s political and business establishment would have to act quickly to shore up plans for a pounds 120 million extension to the main runway. Anything less than unequivocal support for a project that has been talked about for years and is of crucial importance to the regional economy would have raised serious doubts about the chances of the extension ever being built.

West Midlands councils, the airport company and the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce played their part by re-emphasising the urgency of giving BIA the ability to handle direct flights to China and India – something that is not possible at the moment. But the biggest fillip to BIA came today, when regional development agency Advantage West Midlands announced it was prepared to commit pounds 25 million to the runway project.

There are, rightly, strings to AWM’s offer. The money will only be handed over if the airport promises to address public transport, environmental and sustainability issues. From AWM’s point of view, its investment will be more than returned by the impact the improved airport will have on the M42 corridor, with the creation of more than 70,000 new jobs and an additional pounds 9 billion of economic output.

These are huge figures, and the added value across the rest of the West Midlands in terms of attracting inward investment from emerging world economies will be even greater.

AWM has been criticised in the past for being ineffectual, but its strategy for the airport is spot on.

(c) 2007 Birmingham Post; Birmingham (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.