Birmingham: General Airport Discussion & Updates

[GliderPilot]

Welcome to the BHX forums @Ashwo99! (Sorry I'm late...)

I was the person alien to this people forum not so long ago, but they are a lovely bunch on here I assure you (Guessing you can already tell after being flooded with helpful spotting information )

I'd personally recommend the Elmdon side multi-storey car park like others have stated. You can see a few examples on my media page if you want too (Shamelessly plugging it I know ). Good wide view over the entire airfield and you can get some dramatic shots in damp/wet weather and some stunning shots in good light.

The Midlands Air Museum is a really interesting day out, and there is also a rail museum directly opposite but I think that is closing in the near future unfortunately.

Enjoy the Coventry and Birmingham Airports, and best of luck for Uni!

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Oh and about the football, wouldn’t worry about that as I don’t follow it, other than planes, it’s steam Railways and military history for me

In that case, I highly recommend a trip to (and on) the Severn Valley Railway. It's not the cheapest day out, but the scenery is outstanding (if the weather is good). Along with great locos, the cafe/museum at Kidderminster although small is packed full of interesting items.

Kevin

 

[Ashwo99]

In that case, I highly recommend a trip to (and on) the Severn Valley Railway. It's not the cheapest day out, but the scenery is outstanding (if the weather is good). Along with great locos, the cafe/museum at Kidderminster although small is packed full of interesting items.

Kevin

Indeed, have done the Severn valley once before, it was great, they had double Bulleid Pacific’s taking the trains, 34027 ‘Taw Valley’ and 34053 ‘Sir Keith park’. Was a good day and will probably do it again, just a bit harder to get to from the uni, as I believe BHX is a bus/train direct from Coventry, the X1 bus I think,(let me know if I’m wrong), I’d assume Kidderminster isn’t as easy, as always, thanks for the suggestions.

 

[rollo]

Go on then Ashwo educate me what the heck is a double Bullied Pacific?

Two engines liked together?

 

[Ray Finkle]

As you'll be in the region for a while I'd also highly recommend a trip to the RAF Museum at Cosford. There are some fantastic displays and best of all, it's free.

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/

You should be able to get the train from Coventry direct to Cosford Station with the museum about a 10 min walk along the road.

 

[Ashwo99]

Go on then Ashwo educate me what the heck is a double Bullied Pacific?

Two engines liked together?

Ok, will do, the Bulleid refers to the designer, Oliver Vaughn Snell Bulleid,(try saying that after a few beers) usually abbreviated to OVS Bulleid. His Pacific’s were an interesting design, the original was fairly outlandish and many were conventionally rebuilt. ‘Pacific’ refers to the wheel arrangement 4-6-2 meaning 4 leading wheels,6 driving wheels and 2 rear pony truck wheels. In the case of double on this day they had two of them in service, one towards Kidderminster, the other towards Bridgnorth.

If you want to see pictures, google Bulleid light pacific, there are modern and archive photographs of both the original design, known as air smoothed, and the rebuilds, Bulleid did design 3 classes, but light Pacific only covers his ‘Battle of Britain’ and ‘West country’ classes, the ‘Merchant navy’ class were heavier and larger, the reason Bullied made the later 2 lighter and ‘mixed traffic’ (pulling both freight and passengers) is also interesting but is best for an off topic board and not a thread about BHX, apologies mods if this post is off topic, but I am answering a question, and won’t ‘derail’ the thread any more. Hope this helps you rollo

 

[rollo]

Thanks for that I think I got a bit more than I was expecting there but very interesting I'll try and look it up later, as an ex production engineering manager ( motorbikes and aviation) I have a long standing interest in all things mechanical.

Regards rollo

 

[smithy108]

Survey just published, BHX scored highest of the larger airports which is positive news
MAG performance poor at Manchester and Stansted
The top five UK airports according to Which?
1. Doncaster Sheffield (87%)
2. London Southend (84%)
3. Newcastle (74%)
4. Southampton (73%)
5. Exeter (72%)

The five worst UK airports according to Which?
1. London Luton (35%)
2. London Stansted (44%)
2. Manchester Terminal 3 (44%)
4. Manchester Terminal 1 (46%)
5. Aberdeen (49%)

Regional airports take-off With new routes launching from airports around the UK, passengers no longer necessarily have to head to London for long-haul flights. Birmingham has expanded significantly in recent years but despite this it still gained the best overall score of the larger airports (61%) beating Manchester’s T2 (51%) to be crowned the best second city airport.

Read more: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2018/08/luton-named-worst-uk-airport-for-the-third-year-running/ - Which?

 

[smithy108]

A bit more info, BHX just missed out on No 1 in the larger airport category, pipped by LHR T5 by 2%

View attachment 9649

 

[BHXsupporter]

I've been moaning about baggage reclaim for years to them. Suggested having the London Underground magic yellow line about 1.5 m back from each carousel allowing easy step-in, step-out collection from a relatively free belt, plus soothing background music. Neither implemented.

 

[Coathanger16]

I've been moaning about baggage reclaim for years to them. Suggested having the London Underground magic yellow line about 1.5 m back from each carousel allowing easy step-in, step-out collection from a relatively free belt, plus soothing background music. Neither implemented.

In theory those yellow lines are great and make things much easier. In reality most people ignore them and chaos ensues.

Certainly during my last 2 visits to BHX baggage reclaim has been by far the worst aspect. The whole room needs stripping out and replacing IMO.

 

[oriona300]

Did anyone else listen to WM this morning around 8ish they had a few minutes talking about BHX and the Which survey .

 

[Ray Finkle]

There is a Red Arrows fly past over Central Birmingham planned for Sunday (weather permitting).

I believe it's due around 15:00ish if anyone can confirm the time?

 

[JENNYJET]

According to RAF RED ARROWS SCHEDULE web page it is due 15:07.. Hoping this helps!

 

[58terminus]

to be crowned the best second city airport.

Don't understand that line.Birmingham has only one airport so it has to be the best or worst or anything in between.

 

[Coathanger16]

Don't understand that line.Birmingham has only one airport so it has to be the best or worst or anything in between.

I think the comment was more meant to be saying that Birmingham & Manchester are second cities and BHX scored better than MAN.

 

[58terminus]

I think the comment was more meant to be saying that Birmingham & Manchester are second cities and BHX scored better than MAN.

I know what it meant to say and i stand by my original post.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The Hilton Garden Inn opens on September 6th

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm not sure if anyone is interested but below is the timeline for S19 slot allocations.



10SEP2018 Historic slots distributed by coordinators (SHL deadline)

27SEP2018 Agreed Historics Deadline

04OCT2018 Initial Submission Deadline

01NOV2018 Initial Slot Allocation distributed to airlines (SAL deadline)

13NOV2018 IATA Slot Conference 143 Madrid, Spain (until 16 November)

15JAN2019 Slot Return Deadline

16JAN2019 Reallocation of slots (until 31 January)

31JAN2019 Historics Baseline Date (start of "80/20 usage" calculation)

 

[Ray Finkle]

EDGBASTON AND BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT RENEW PARTNERSHIP AHEAD OF MARQUEE 2019 PROGRAMME

Edgbaston Stadium and Birmingham Airport have extended their commercial partnership for a further 12 months following a highly successful first term.

After establishing the partnership in August 2017 with branding on the back of Birmingham Bears playing shirts and within the stadium bowl, Birmingham Airport worked closely with Edgbaston last month on a bespoke commercial activation to celebrate Air India’s fifth anniversary of flying from the West Midlands.

This activity saw Edgbaston’s 3,700-capacity West Stand jointly branded for Air India and Birmingham Airport during England’s 1,000th Specsavers Test match, which took place at the Birmingham venue in early August. The package also included hospitality during the fixture, which England won famously by 31 runs.

Gareth Roberts, Commercial Director at Edgbaston, said:

“The team at Birmingham Airport recognise and have been very proactive in maximising the opportunities presented by Edgbaston who host some of the biggest fixtures in world cricket.

“With the ICC Cricket World Cup and Specsavers Ashes series coming to Birmingham next year, these opportunities are only heightened.

“We’re thrilled to secure this one-year extension to our partnership. Birmingham Airport is one of the most recognisable brands in the West Midlands and has been an outstanding partner to work with."

Edgbaston hosts five games in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, including the marquee fixture between England and India on 30 June and a semi-final on 11 July. It also hosts the first Test of next summer’s Specsavers Ashes series between England and Australia from 1 August, and stages Vitality Blast Finals Day on 21 September.

Tom Screen, Aviation Director at Birmingham Airport commented:

“After two years of a successful partnership, we are pleased to announce Birmingham Airport will be working alongside Edgbaston Stadium for another year. The first term of the partnership was truly exciting, creating several opportunities for both Birmingham Airport and Edgbaston stadium. The activity around England’s 1,000th Specsavers Test match is testament to how well both businesses can work together and next year set to be just as, if not more thrilling.

“Birmingham Airport is the gateway to the region and with such large events coming to Edgbaston Stadium in 2019, we look forward to continuing to work together.

“As we move into the next term of the partnership, we hope to see our relationship with Edgbaston Stadium only strengthen further.”

https://www.birminghamairport.co.uk...-partnership-ahead-of-marquee-2019-programme/