Birmingham Airport expected to announce second runway

Birmingham Airport is expected to announce on Monday that it is considering building a second runway.

It is in response to the Airports Commission which is looking at how Britain can meet demands for air travel in the future.

It is a question which has triggered the suggestion of Boris Island, or the expansion of Heathrow.

Now Birmingham Airport will join in the debate saying it could build a second runway.

As long ago as 2007, Birmingham Airport said it wanted to expand the current runway and have a second.

It has got the extension, but the second runway plan went on the back-burner.

And then High Speed 2 came along. With the proposed line running to the east of the airport - the most likely place for a station would be in a brown field site along the M42 corridor.

If the HS2 station is built there it would make sense for Birmingham Airport to put its new terminal and runway near there too.

Birmingham Airport has always said it wants to considered as a major part of Britain's aviation plans for the future.

It is also said in the past that it wants a second runway but that idea was shelved.

On Monday it is expected to make that concrete with an announcement that a second runway is a viable option, admittedly not for several years, perhaps even decades.

Its plans are being supported by the West Midlands Economic Forum which will release a report expected to say that there is plenty more potential growth for Birmingham Airport as the world economy grows, but if the airport itself is not allowed to grow it could get left behind.