Birmingham Airport published a draft master plan on 8 October 2026. It would put £2 billion into the airport over 15 years so it could handle about 30 million passengers a year by 2041, on the runway it already has. The first works could start in 2027. Comments close on 4 December.
The airport handled a record of more than 13 million passengers in 2025. Thirty million would be more than double that. The money named for the first phase is for baggage, extra aircraft stands, the terminal, and surface access. There is no second runway in the draft (airport announcement).
How passengers get there now
The Civil Aviation Authority’s 2025 departing-passenger survey puts taxi, minicab and Uber as the last mode to Birmingham for 32.6% of terminating passengers. That is the highest share at the eight English airports in the survey. Heathrow is 31.2% and Manchester 30.1%. Private car is still larger at Birmingham, at 47.3%. Rail is 14.8% and bus or coach 2.7% (2025 surface-mode table).
The same line was 33.0% in 2024. Across the eight airports together, taxi, minicab and Uber were 24% of the last mode in 2025, and public transport rose by one point to 38% (CAA survey).
The figure is passengers, not jobs. A family in one cab counts as several passengers. The survey does not say how many taxi or private-hire movements the airport had.
What the draft does not set
The consultation papers do not set a new rank, a private-hire holding area, a drop-off charge, or a permit. Surface access is named as something the £2 billion would improve. The detail is not there.
The airport’s 2023 surface access strategy is still the written policy on taxis. It says the airport will keep enough space for private-hire pick-ups and drop-offs as that work grows, even while it tries to cut the share of trips made by car and taxi. It also says the airport will keep working with local licensing committees and the on-site taxi operation (2023 surface access strategy).
The charges drivers pay today are a separate matter. The drop-off car park still has 10 minutes free, and Premium Set Down is a paid bay at the terminal. This draft does not replace those prices (Birmingham airport taxi fees).
Jobs, tax and the reply date
The airport says the plan could add £3.6 billion of gross value to the West Midlands and more than 50,000 jobs, of which 3,800 would be on the airport. Those are its forecasts. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander backed the plan in the airport’s announcement and repeated the 50,000 jobs. Chief executive Nick Barton said the scheme may not happen unless the tax and regulatory setting is stable enough for a long investment. The airport says its business-rates bill has already doubled. It did not publish the new bill.
Feedback is due by 4 December 2026, online, by email to masterplan@birminghamairport.co.uk, or by post to MASTER PLAN 2026-2041, Birmingham Airport, Birmingham, B26 3QJ. Twenty meetings start at 11am on Friday 16 October at Fentham Hall, Hampton-in-Arden. Later dates run through Solihull, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Dudley, Walsall and Warwick. The airport expects to finish the master plan in early 2027 (draft master plan).