Sector Focus
Business Travel Sector Focus The latest news from the sectors that matter to business Airport flying high after 80 years
Birmingham Airport has marked 80 years since it was officially opened by HRH The Duchess of Kent. In that time, the airport has
handled around 275 million passengers and grown to serve 13 million people each year. Just two months after the
opening in 1939, the Second World
War broke out, the Air Ministry requisitioned the airport and all civil flying ended. However in 1946, exactly seven
years to the day, the airport reopened for civil flying. By the early 70s it was handling
one million passengers a year and in 1981 development started for a new terminal on the opposite side
of the runway, where it operates still today. In 1984, Her Majesty the Queen
opened the new facilities which had capacity for three million passengers and in the first year of the new operation saw record numbers of passengers. Today, Birmingham Airport serves 150 direct flights and a further 340
onward connections world-wide, supporting 8,000 on-site jobs. Chief executive, Nick Barton,
said: “We are proud to have been able to play a very important role in the region for eight decades, connecting people and business, reuniting friends and family and allowing people to visit and explore new places.”
More passengers make use of assisted travel
Record numbers of passengers are taking advantage of assisted travel across the West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway networks, new figures have revealed. The data, published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), shows
that last year more than 52,000 people received assistance on their train journey, a rise of more than a third on 2017/18. The assisted travel schemes run by the operators allow passengers
Airline will Wizz you to two new destinations in Poland
Wizz Air has announced two new routes from Birmingham Airport to Poland. The first route, launching on 16
September is to Poznan, Poland’s fifth largest city, with the second route to Krakow launching the following day. Tom Screen, aviation director at Birmingham Airport, said: “Wizz Air currently operates to Cluj-Napoca, Budapest, Bucharest, Warsaw, and Wroclaw – adding routes to both
70 CHAMBERLINK September 2019
Poznan and Krakow in September. “The new routes are a fantastic addition and we’re really looking forward to growing our offering with Wizz Air over the next few years here at Birmingham Airport.” Tamara Vallois, head of
marketing and communications at Wizz Air, said: “We launched our very first Wizz flight to Birmingham in 2015 and today, we offer seven low-fare routes to Poland, Romania and Hungary.”
with visual, hearing, mobility or other impairments to book free assistance at the station. Jon Harris, integration and accessibility manager at WMR/LNR, said:
“Our railway is open for everyone and we are committed to offer help where it is needed, particularly to those with hidden disabilities and those who need more confidence when travelling. “While these figures are very pleasing we know there is more to do
and we have a number of schemes up and running or in progress across our network to do even more to open up our services for every single passenger.” Projects West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway
have invested in include a dedicated Stakeholder Equality Group to advise on improvements, developing a disability training package for front line staff, carrying out an accessibility assessment at every station, working with Network Rail on accessibility projects at Lichfield Trent Valley, Tring, Stechford, Smethwick Rolfe Street and Worcester Shrub Hill and the joint-funded the creation of a ‘Calm Corner’ at Crewe station.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
