Birmingham Airport can deliver massive boost for West Midlands
Birmingham Airport says it can bring thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of pounds to the West Midlands in the next few years thanks to HS2 and the growth of long-haul flights.
But it argues it could create even more jobs if the Government would get rid of Air Passenger Duty, the tax on every traveller that rakes in more than £3 billion a year for HM Treasury.
The airport called in expert analysts York Aviation to look at the different ways it could boost jobs and growth for both the West Midlands and the wider UK.
It says cutting Air Passenger Duty by 100 per cent would attract 2.9 million additional passengers to Birmingham Airport, bringing £521m and 12,000 jobs to the UK by 2025, with £331m injected into the West Midlands economy along 7,650 of the jobs.
HS2 could help attract 750,000 extra passengers to the airport, delivering £52 million a year and 1,300 jobs for the UK economy. The West Midlands's share of that would be £34 million and around 950 jobs.
Airport boss Paul Kehoe said: "This report clearly demonstrates the vast potential of Birmingham Airport as an economic driver, not only to the West Midlands, but to the UK as a whole. The impact of the airport is in the same bracket as the positive impact HS2 will have on our region and, as a region, we need to do everything we can to make as many of these scenarios become a reality."
Paul Faulkner, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce added: "Now is the time to work together to make the most of HS2, reform Air Passenger Duty and support the continued growth of new routes to destinations around the world, to plug our region into new markets and enable us to play our full part in rebalancing the economy."
The report found that Birmingham Airport contributed £1.7 billion and 39,850 jobs to the UK economy in 2014. Across the West Midlands, its contribution was around £1.1 billion and 25,300 jobs. Just under 600 are directly employed by the airport itself, which now handles 10 million passengers a year.
Expanding long haul connnections to Birmingham would deliver £248 million in the West Midlands and 5,100 jobs, according to the York Aviation report, while securing a hub for a Middle Eastern or Asian airline at Birmingham would generate around £173m and 3,550 jobs.
