Twenty five years ago today saw the start of the "modern era"
at Birmingham Airport - on Wednesday 4 April 1984 the "new"
terminal site opened for business - over the previous night a
major operation had taken place to relocate all the airlines, their
aircraft and equipment from the Elmdon site to the new facility
on the eastern side of the airfield
.
An aerial view of the new terminal
An aerial view of the new terminal .
A view of aircraft parked on the new pier taken on the opening day
A view of aircraft parked on the new pier taken on the opening day - the old "Elmdon" terminal can be seen in the distance
.
.
A team of reporters from BBC "Midlands Today" spent the opening
day at the airport and the programme that evening was broadcast
live from the new terminal - what better way to look back at that
day than to go "live" to 1984 - just "click" the video below!! -
By the mid 1970's Birmingham Airport was handling over a million
passengers and the existing terminal on the Elmdon site was already
passengers and the existing terminal on the Elmdon site was already
bursting at the seems. A long planning and consultation exercise thus
began to build a completely new terminal on a site on the eastern side
of the airfield adjacent to the main Birmingham to London railway
line and the recently completed National Exhibition Centre - NEC
.
began to build a completely new terminal on a site on the eastern side
of the airfield adjacent to the main Birmingham to London railway
line and the recently completed National Exhibition Centre - NEC
.
An artists impression of the "proposed" new terminal
