BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT EXPANSION

Local Residents Attitudes on the Proposed Birmingham Airport Expansion

Local Residents Attitudes on the Proposed Birmingham Airport Expansion

Introduction

In this paper, we will be discussing the expansion proposed plan of the birmingham intrnational airport and the attitude of local residents towards its expansion in a holistic context. It will provide the literature review, findings and recommendations on the basis of results.

Literature Review

The objective of the paper is to discuss the Local residents' attitudes on the proposed Birmingham Airport expansion. The paper will discuss in depth as how the airports help the economies in growing. The paper has also provided with the detail of the proposed plan of the expansion of the airport.

Airports

Airports are the essential part of the transportation system. The airports provide the complete infrastructure which is needed for enabling passenger and freight for transferring from surface to air modes of transport (Graham, 2003). In other words, it consists of air fields and buildings that are used to provide navigation and runways to aircrafts are called airports. The most common airports are the commercial service airports which are publically owned and have approximately 2500 passenger boarding each year. A non-primary commercial airport has no less than 2500 and no more than 10000 passengers boarding annually (Kelly, 2006).

Birmingham International Airport

The airport of Birmingham has started its services in 1928. Birmingham started the construction project of a new airport on the site of when American Airways did not include Birmingham because of their Ford-Tri Motor aircraft that could not land at Roberts Field. On May 31, 1931 the new airport was opened with great ordeal and included a single two story terminal and a single east-west runway (Kraus & Koch, 2006). After World War II, when the airport was returned to the city government in 1948, the services of Southern Airways started and by March 1951, four runways started their operations.

Since there was a continuous growth in the passenger traffic, therefore, they built the second single story passenger terminal and new air traffic control in 1962 on the west of the 1931 terminal. The semi circular terminal was completed in the year1973, which initially had only one aircraft gates and a sixteen hundred space parking deck. The management of the airport also tried hard in brining the best services to their passengers while making sure that the requirements and needs of every single passenger are met. The airport offers a number of services such as; airport parking, transportation, taxis and transfers, car hire, duty free shops, maps and directions, bars and restaurants and the Birmingham Airport Hotels (Meyer & Wit, 2010). Some of the special services involve the ATM facility in the airport as well as Skycap service which helps the passengers in checking bags to their final destination and guiding them to their respective gates, also there are baggage carts available for the convenience of passengers as well as the international medical assistance is provided when there are any emergencies (Mowforth& Munt, ...