You’d think that everyone would be staying in England for their holidays, seeing as it’s not only cheaper, but has better weather than heading abroad these days. But Birmingham Airport is still expecting its busiest summer ever—with a massive 10% increase in passengers compared to last year.
Over 2.5 million of us will travel through BHX over the summer break, with Dublin, Palma and Alicante among the most popular holiday picks, while those looking to stay in the UK are mostly flying to Belfast over the school holidays, with more than 80,000 Midlanders heading to Northern Ireland for work, leisure and family visits.
As one of the UK’s worst airports for flight delays, BHX will be hoping there won’t be a repeat of 2024, which saw passengers missing flights, thanks to a combination of issues with construction work and new rules. Security delays saw queues stretching outside the terminal building, with some waiting up to three hours.
How can I avoid delays?
Chris Wilson, Head of Terminal and Capacity Planning, wants to remind passengers that: “Birmingham Airport now allows for liquids up to 2 litres and all electricals, such as laptops, mobile phones and tablets, to be kept in hand luggage when going through security; this includes lithium batteries that can only go in hand luggage.”
Birmingham Airport has also recently invested in development expansions, such as the expansion of the South immigration and baggage reclaim area (which increases processing capacity for arriving passengers), a wider selection of new concessionary outlets in the departure lounge, and a brand-new luxury Aspire lounge.
It’s good to know before you travel through security at Birmingham Airport:
- You are allowed to carry liquids, pastes and gels in containers up to 2 litres in hand luggage during the security search. There is no limit on the number of containers that can be carried.
- All electrical items must remain in hand luggage during the security search.
- Any aluminium/metal bottles/flasks must be emptied in advance of security.
- When going through security, please ensure all items are out of pockets, including phones, keys, coins, earphones and tissues etc. Watches can be left on, but please be prepared to remove belts and shoes if requested.
- Passengers who are fitted with external medical devices, internal medical implants and prosthetics are encouraged to make the Security Officer aware of this before stepping into the security scanner.
- Never pack vapes, e-cigarettes or devices containing lithium-ion batteries (such as DSLR cameras) in your hold luggage. Whilst the majority of airlines permit such items to be carried in your cabin baggage (carry-on), some airlines do not.
