Airport bosses say a survey of 3,000 people found one in four do not want the third runway and half of Londoners would fly from Birmingham if the Midlands airport had a stop for a proposed high speed rail link. It did not name the source of the survey.
Birmingham International chiefs are calling for the ‘High Speed 2’ trains – set to go from London to Birmingham city centre in 45 minutes – to stop at the airport.
Chief executive Paul Kehoe said in a press release: “It’s time to take a deep breath and revisit the deeply unpopular plans for a third runway at Heathrow. It has long been said that Heathrow is in the wrong place.”
He said: “We have made a very strong case for HS2 to serve Birmingham airport, and the outlook is favourable.
“A joined-up transport system should incorporate the best elements of road, rail and air, all of which have a part to play.”
The airport is running at 40 per cent capacity, he said, making it ideal to take on an extra 30 million passengers by 2030.
It ditched plans to build a second runway in 2007 but has run into controversy for its plan – now green lighted – to extend the existing runway.
Mr Kehoe said: “Birmingham took this issue on board several years ago when we realised that a second runway here no longer made sense.
“Rather than press on regardless, Birmingham decided to concentrate on incrementally developing the infrastructure that we already have, and making best use of it.”
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