Richard Heard's first full year in charge of Britain's fifth biggest airport has hardly been the easy introduction most would wish for. Some of his difficulties were perfectly predictable. However, one problem with perhaps the biggest potential to cause Birmingham International Airport harm, sitting just nine miles down the A45, probably was not. No sooner had he taken over than it was confirmed the Government wanted BIA to build a second runway to satisfy predicted demand increases for air travel over the next 30 years. There are lots of Midlands passengers disappearing out of the Midlands to Manchester and London to fly, wasted demand which a new runway at BIA could tap. Of course, this means Mr Heard steering the airport through the choppy waters that hostile local residents and tough business conditions make for. Another problem was Birmingham-based airline duoct collapsing early last year, causing 2004 passenger numbers at BIA to fall back on the previous year for the first time in years. But none of that has caused as much hair-pulling as the appearance of Coventry Airport as a passenger airport demanding to become a two million passenger per year operation, at least. That's an airport potentially about one-fifth your size suddenly appearing just nine miles away. Todaytues sees the start of a 32-day public inquiry to decide whether a temporary terminal at CA is legal. If it wins, it will establish a vital foothold in growing the business. But Mr Heard and the BIA company will be crossing everything that the opposite occurs. "When it gets to two million passengers, we believe that compromises our long term future," he said. "I have to say we are starting to hear some of the stuff coming out of Coventry, that maybe this interim facility will cater for more passengers than the 800,000 or so originally talked about. "We are not quite clear exactly what they are talking about. "We will be keeping a watching brief on it and if they do start talking about larger throughputs from that temporary facility we will have to get involved." He added: "Inevitably, because of the unique location of the two airports, you can't occupy the same airspace at the same time. "It isn't a safety issue, we are absolutely confident that safety will be managed. But there is a long term capacity issue where our two runways could be blocked at certain times because of aircraft using CA." Mr Heard is also not impressed with claims made by Bill Savage, his opposite number at CA, suggesting the smaller Baginton hub would be prepared to cap its business at two million passengers per year in perpetuity, if it was granted planning permission for a permanent terminal. However, CA's latest planning application has increased the dimensions of the terminal by 300 per cent. Mr Heard said: "The most effective cap is not developing the facilities. If the facilities are there and have a greater capacity, I think there's a risk they will be utilised. "It could go beyond two million passengers. Tui (CA's owners) have said openly, certainly in the aviation press, that they are considering growth beyond that in the longer term. They have also suggested they may not be the long term owner of the airport. "If the ownership changes, and these facilities are there, then who knows?" Mr Heard was speaking prior to today'stue publication of BIA's "High level Statement of Intent" regarding the second runway. While a full draft masterplan will be available by the end of the summer, the Statement was at least able to reveal that 2016 is no longer a realistic target for opening the second runway. "This document is not a new masterplan for the airport," said Mr Heard. "That will be a much more extensive, fully detailed document that will come out later in the summer for public consultation. "This is a sort of progress report on where we are to date that we have issued to be as open and transparent as we can on the process." The delay in building the second runway, to perhaps 2020 or maybe later depending on how big CA has grown by then, is "positive news" according to Mr Heard. "The Government produced forecasts in the White Paper that reflected the picture in 2000 and 2001. "We have had a good look at those forecasts and looked at how much of the new traffic is likely to come to Birmingham. "What we are saying is we can better utilise our facilities for longer." Mr Heard's difficult year continued last summer when the airport released details of its compensation schemes for residents affected by a new runway. But they were almost universally rejected by consultees. "It is fair to say most feedback we have taken suggests we haven't met people's expectations with the packages we consulted on last year. "What I would highlight is these are voluntary schemes over and above statutory minimums. The schemes we offered we felt were in line with industry standards. "But there are perhaps some special circumstances at Birmingham which we will take back and look at again." Again, he hinted that the spectre of CA may undermine these plans. "We are concerned that a lot of activity at Coventry could compromise our ability to minimise that noise footprint. But there is a lot of detailed work to be done on that." Finally, although a full 'Surface Access' strategy detailing how BIA will meet a stiff Government target for having a quarter of all passengers travel to the airport by public transport has not yet been completed, the airport knows the nearby road network will need to be upgraded. "What has become evident is, irrespective of the airport, the general growth in background traffic will almost certainly see junction 6 of the M42 reach capacity close around the end of this decade," added Mr Heard. "Our view is there will need to be some major improvements or a new junction altogether to meet the area's needs going forward." | 
Article
