Another record-breaking month for Birmingham Airport in May

Boosted by two bank holidays and a school half-term, the airport saw nearly 200,000 additional passengers flood through its terminal to jet off in search of the sun.

In a record breaking performance the airport handled more than 1.2 million travellers in May, up 19.5 per cent on the same month a year ago.

Airport bosses will be hoping that, with its busiest ever summer under way, they will have put recent problems with baggage handling and car parking behind them.

Jo Lloyd, commercial director at Birmingham Airport, said: “We are now celebrating our 27th consecutive month of record breaking growth and this is our second million passenger month this year.

“Summer is fast approaching and we expect this one to be our busiest yet. We are investing heavily into the airport infrastructure to improve operational efficiency as the volume of passengers increase.

"Recent works have included the opening of a new premium set down car park just outside the terminal and the creation of new self-serve check in facilities.”

In total 1,202,493 passengers flew through Birmingham last month – over 196,000 more than in May 2016.

The most significant rate of growth was on short haul services with an increase of 21.5 per cent year on year. Long haul services saw a smaller 2.2 per cent increase. Airport bosses point out that May's brace of bank holidays and half term week led to a rise in holiday bookings for city breaks and family holidays.

Regular scheduled traffic accounted for 90 per cent of the total, with holiday charter passengers making up the remaining 10 per cent.

Scheduled traffic overall grew by 20.9 per cent, with significant year-on-year growth to Nantes, Sofia in Bulgaria, Rhodes, Bucharest in Romania, Ibiza and Paphos, with traffic more than doubling or even tripling compared to last year.

Charter traffic saw 8.2 per cent growth with significant expansion on services to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Gerona, Kos, Menorca and Malaga.

Birmingham Airport is the UK's third largest airport outside London, handling 12m passengers a year.

By the end of this year, Birmingham Airport say it will have invested £450m on developing its infrastructure. This includes an extension to its runway, new air traffic control tower, terminal reconfiguration, additional parking and new retail and catering facilities.