High-flying Midland airports leave the opposition behind

Birmingham International and Coventry Airports are two of the fastest-growing airports in Europe, according to a new report.

The “Airport Property Market” from King Sturge names Coventry as the fastest growing freight airport in the UK and the ninth fastest growing European passenger airport, while Birmingham International is rated the second fastest growing UK freight airport and the fifth fastest growing European freight airport.

“Increased passenger numbers are currently being boosted by the boom in low-cost carriers which continues to be fuelled by the seemingly insatiable demand for cheap flights to holiday destinations,” said Chris Monk, who is partner in charge of King Sturge in the West Midlands.

“As far as the future is concerned, then there is no doubt that climate change policy and regulation will have an increasing impact on aviation activity. However, it will be interesting to see whether security concerns reduce demand for air transport significantly – or whether airport operators increase their demand for space to accommodate more staff, equipment and much larger holding areas for passengers,” he added.

Other changes could also be on the cards – especially where airport design is concerned – because of increasing demands being made on airport facilities in view of rising numbers of passengers of low-cost flights.

“Because low-cost carriers have to drive down costs, they are famously tough when it comes to negotiating the rent of airport facilities. If airports continue to offer the same facilities to low-cost carriers as to all other airlines, there will be inevitably be a mismatch in terms of the cost and quality of service provision to differing airline companies. It will be intriguing to see how airport operators respond to this,” said Mr Monk, who pointed to an “interesting example” at Marseille Provence Airport in France where a new terminal had opened last September to “satisfy the new needs of passengers and airline companies.”

The result is that fitted carpets are replaced by coloured concrete; there is an air-cooling system instead of air-conditioning; instead of gangways there are two staircases per plane – and passengers take their own baggage from the hold to a security checkpoint.

“It is argued that such measures make it possible to reduce the passenger tax for a European flight, which is currently 6 Euros in the traditional terminal, to 1.30 Euros and to reduce the costs of the airline companies that operate there,” added Mr Monk.


The annual “Airport Property Market” report confirms that in the wake of particularly strong performances passenger volumes at UK regional airports have doubled from 47 million in 1995 to 95 million in 2005.

“Coventry has entered the ‘league table’ of Europe’s Top Ten fastest-growing passenger airports for the first time on the back of an impressive 55.6 percent increase, which took its total number of passengers in 2005 to 718,845. But it has shown that it is now also taking off as far as the freight sector is concerned,” said Mr Monk. “Coming from a low base figure in 2004, it handled 6,142 tonnes of freight in 2005 - an 86 percent increase on the previous year.”

Birmingham International’s more modest rise of 31.4 percent, taking its total tonnage to 12,939, was enough, however, to confirm its status as the fifth fastest-growing European freight airport, behind Vatry-Chalons-en-Champagne, Riga, Frankfurt Hahn and Zagreb.

It is at or near airports that provide facilities for dedicated freight aircraft, such as Birmingham International and Coventry, that demand for commercial property is high. “Strong growth forecast in the express parcel sector, which requires a round-the-clock operation so that next-day delivery requirements can be met, will make airports offering this type of service particularly attractive,” said Mr Monk.

Prime industrial/warehouse facilities in the vicinity of Birmingham International can command between £5.75 - £6 per sq ft, while prime office rents are £20 per sq ft.

Generally speaking, the King Sturge report adds that during 2005 a survey of commercial property prime rents for off-airport markets in the UK suggested that rental growth had been in the order of 4 – 5 percent. This had resulted, in part, from a lack of suitable stock being available.