Official Birmingham Airport (BHX) Thread 1

[NeilM]

Interesting story:

Birmingham take-off for Thomson Airways cooking oil plane


Britain's first commercial flight powered by sustainable biofuel is scheduled to take off from Birmingham airport on Thursday.

Thomson Airways said its Boeing 757 would use a 50/50 mix of used cooking oil and traditional aviation fuel.

It said Thursday's flight to Lanzarote would initially be a one-off, to allow a regular supply of oil to be sourced.

The airline said the scheduled flight would use biofuel on a daily basis from 2012.

The flight was originally scheduled to take place in July, but had to be delayed due to fuel delivery problems.

Thomsons said that in every other respect the 14:25 BST flight would be a normal journey and passengers should not notice a difference.

The use of biofuels has already been tested by Boeing and several other airlines around the world have recently trialled similar flights.

In 2008 Virgin Atlantic flew a passenger-less Boeing 747 between London and Amsterdam powered partly by biofuel as a demonstration of the technology.

Biofuels come from many sources and those derived from waste products are considered to be some of the most sustainable.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ngham-15191275

[neon18]

£10 million Birmingham Airport tower latest
by Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail, Oct 6 2011



THE skyline is rapidly changing at Birmingham Airport – with a new £10 million Air Traffic Control Tower developing at a rate of up to 13ft a day.

On completion in 2013, the new £10 million tower will stand 108ft above ground level and will be home to NATS, the Airport’s air traffic control provider.

Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe said: “This iconic tower will be furnished with state of the art radar and navigation equipment and will give the controllers a better view of the airfield, above buildings that have been developed over the last few years.

“It will also allow them to see the end of the extended runway, a development that will be complete in 2014 and will allow airlines to fly to more long haul destinations worldwide.“

Once fully commissioned, the tower will take over from the current 79ft control tower, which is situated at the old Elmdon Airport site and has been in use since 1939 when the original terminal opened.

The project is being delivered by UK construction, infrastructure and design business, Morgan Sindall.

Dave Smith, regional managing director at Morgan Sindall, said: “This is the fifth major project Morgan Sindall has undertaken for Birmingham Airport – a testament to the expertise we’ve developed in the aviation sector and our ability to deliver. We are working with CPMG Architects and Morgan Sindall Professional Services, providing a multi-discipline approach to this high-tech project. We’re delighted to be on board.”

Morgan Sindall’s construction works will be completed by March 2012, following which an extensive fit out of Avionics equipment takes place with the tower expected to be operational during the early part of 2013.

The 115ft tower is being built on a 33ft high hill and will dominate the western side of the hospital, easily visible from the A45.

The airport also recently opened a new £1.3 million hi-tech control centre on the fifth floor of the Diamond House office block.

Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/news/t...#ixzz1a0r9DZtC

[NeilM]

Originally Posted by neon18

Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/news/t...#ixzz1a0r9DZtC

Do the Mail ever check the contents of their stories?

We have:

On completion in 2013, the new £10 million tower will stand 108ft above ground level and will be home to NATS, the Airport’s air traffic control provider.

Then we have:

The 115ft tower is being built on a 33ft high hill

Which is it?

Then we have something which makes no sense:

and will dominate the western side of the hospital, easily visible from the A45.

WTF

Get it sorted Birmingham Mail, it's embarrassing.

[ellbrown]

Originally Posted by NeilM

Interesting story:

I went on a Thomson Airways - Boeing 757 last year (2010) to Verona. Can't recall if it was the 757-200 though.

[SuttonBluenose]

When will people realise Biofuel is pointless????!!!!!!!!

To fuel the UK's vehicles-cars/lorrys etc (not trains or planes or even local buses) we need to cover the whole of Brazil in plants to get the oil from them (i seem to remember in that case they mentioned sunflower oil)

It was Tony Blair's idea to use biofuel, and greenpeace, and a few other organisations all laughed at him. he doesn't understand a thing about the environment.

[Spread]

Presumably in this case they have a source identified for the used cooking oil and thus it could be a resource that would otherwise be wasted?

[Brum X]

Rumour has it that::::

747/MD11

My understanding is there will be increased freighter activity on the cargo apron, involving the above types from/to CHINA . ( linked with MG production).
It will be mainly daytime/daily movements , so great for photogs.
Also, during first two weeks of October an Antonov 124 is due in (rare for BHX) . Don't know the exact date but I'm sure someone will update before I can.

[Brum X]

Jet2 to operate Hajj flights 03/10/11
For the first time, Jet2 are planning to operate a series of Hajj charter flights from Birmingham during October 2011, flights are subject to change. Check out the planned schedules below. Flights will be operated by 757-200's...

[SuttonBluenose]

Originally Posted by Spread

Presumably in this case they have a source identified for the used cooking oil and thus it could be a resource that would otherwise be wasted?

Yes, they use used cooking oil from local chippy's curryhouses and the like, but what I mean is that there is not enough of this oil from all different sources to fuel aircraft on a large market.

It could be used for short haul, and limited locations maybe?

[brummie_jim]

Looks like the new maintenance hanger is well under way and does anyone know when we can expect to see the new ATC tower being cladded I passed the other night and they now have lighting work but it sort of appears like work has slowed down

[SuttonBluenose]

The ATC tower is secretly (or maybe not) a castle. The builders were fed up with the design and have been turning it into a castle. It looks much better IMO.

[bhx1982]

I pass the new tower every night after work (usually in traffic) so will try and get a few sneaky photographs tonight. It does appear that not much has been happening to the tower of late, but what's a few more weeks eh!

[Brum X]

Comtel Air planning more flights from BHX-ATQ (Amritsar) due to popular demand from the Indian community. LOL

Well thats not that difficult is it as there are thousands and thousands of them in the West Midlands.

So where the F-uk is Air India ?????? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[world_rep]

I still don't trust this comtel air.

It had to use an Emb-145 of eastern to get the pax to VIE (via STN for some reason), and then the Privilege B757 from VIE.

As for Air India, they don't know their ass from their tit, so, don't expect them any time soon.

[Brum X]

LOL

[loudrocksurfer]

BMI Sale to BA or Virgin

http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16089102

[daj]

BHX management came in for a lot of stick this morning on local radio after a caller complained about the car parking charges, particularly the pick-up and go charges. BHX did not help themselves by not defending the charges other than through a statement. However, Radio WM did very little research because I found that, for example, MAN has a similar pricing structure with no unauthorised parking within the airport, just like BHX. In fact, almost all the airports I looked at had 15/20 min stop and go charges similar to BHX, so those callers saying that they will fly from MAN in future, would pay similar car parking charges plus a heavy fuel bill. The other issues raised concerned payment for trolleys and fast track through security payments.

[Brum X]

A slight capacity increase from BHX-YYZ next summer as Air Transat will be using the A330 all season from the end of April until the end of October, unlike this year where they have used the A310 from end of April until the end of May and also the A310 from the start of October.

[emiratesdxb]

Originally Posted by daj

BHX management came in for a lot of stick this morning on local radio after a caller complained about the car parking charges, particularly the pick-up and go charges. BHX did not help themselves by not defending the charges other than through a statement. However, Radio WM did very little research because I found that, for example, MAN has a similar pricing structure with no unauthorised parking within the airport, just like BHX. In fact, almost all the airports I looked at had 15/20 min stop and go charges similar to BHX, so those callers saying that they will fly from MAN in future, would pay similar car parking charges plus a heavy fuel bill. The other issues raised concerned payment for trolleys and fast track through security payments.

Yep WM had their great big wooden spoon out as they would do to start a debate.

[BABYCAKES]

Originally Posted by emiratesdxb

Yep WM had their great big wooden spoon out as they would do to start a debate.

So are you saying the car parking charges arent a rip-off?