Birmingham Airport Prepares for Busiest Christmas Ever
Birmingham Airport (BHX) is preparing for its busiest Christmas ever with an 11% increase in customers year-on-year. Over half a million passengers are forecast to travel through the airport over the festive period.
Tenerife, Dubai and Alicante are amongst the top destinations for the holidays with passengers jetting off to spend the season in the sun. Whilst Amsterdam, Paris and Geneva are some of the most popular picks for festive city breaks and onward travel. Krakow has seen the largest increase in popularity compared to last Christmas with a 38% uptick in passenger traffic.
The airport remains on track to experience its busiest year ever for 2025/26 with the start of winter bolstering this and record passenger traffic in November. In celebration of the holidays, Birmingham Airport has announced a programme of festive activities for passengers travelling through over Christmas including arts and crafts workshops, carol services and interactive displays around the terminal.
Al Titterington, Terminal Operations Director of Birmingham Airport said: “We’re delighted to be forecasting our busiest Christmas period this year with over half a million customers opting to fly from Birmingham Airport. This milestone follows a record-breaking year of growth here at BHX with nine record months for passenger traffic and the announcement of our biggest ever capital investment plan totalling £76.5 million. As part of this significant investment into our airport, passengers may notice more hoarding than usual when travelling through, but customers can be assured that there is no impact on operations, and these works are essential for the continuous improvement of our facilities."
“We encourage all our passengers to review our top tips and guidance for travel over the festive period.”
Guidance & Top Tips
Security
For passengers travelling with gifts please do avoid gift-wrapping any gifts as our security team may have to unwrap items to fully screen them.
Whilst replica toy guns or weapons may be on some Christmas lists, they are not permitted through airport security in hand or hold luggage.
Party poppers are not allowed in hold or cabin baggage.
Crackers may be permitted in hold only luggage but check with your airline for conditions of carriage.
You are allowed to carry liquids, pastes and gels in containers up to 2 litres in hand luggage, there is no limit on the number of containers that can be carried out of Birmingham Airport. Liquids do not need to be in plastic bags. However, passengers should always check the liquid restrictions with all airlines and airports that you will be travelling from and through on your outward and return journeys as not all airports permit 2 litres yet.
Any dual skinned and vacuum flasks must be presented empty at security. These can be refilled at the complimentary water stations once customers have processed through security search.
Do not pack vapes, e-cigarettes, power banks or devices containing lithium-ion batteries (such as DSLR cameras) in your hold luggage (checked bags). Whilst the majority of airlines permit such items to be carried in your cabin baggage (carry-on), some airlines do not. Always check the ability to carry e-cigarettes or vapes within their cabins, with your airline. Contact details of all the airlines that operate at Birmingham Airport can be found in the Airport’s Airline Directory.
Airline and Check In
Each airline has its own check in time. Customers are reminded to turn up in line with when their check in opens. This detail can be found on their booking.
Customers travelling with Jet2 or TUI can drop their bags off the day before with the twilight service for flights departing before 1200 hours. Please check with the relevant airline for specific drop off times.
Please ensure all personal belongings including luggage are kept with you at all times in the airport.
Check in Zones in the terminal:
➡Zone A for Jet2 ➡Zone D for Emirates ➡Zones B & C for all other airlines Further Tips
There have been new openings within the Departures Lounge over the past year including Popeyes Louisiana Chicken. Customers can plan ahead and check out menus for all our eateries and information on specific dietary requirements on the BHX website here. Please note that opening hours may differ over the festive period, so check our website for the latest information.
Finally, our website has a Frequently Asked Questions page which is a useful guide for customers to find the answers to common queries. Alternatively, our Customer Communication Agents are on hand to help via our digital live chat service on our website.
Top Christmas Destinations (19th December to 2nd January) Total Top 10 Destinations:
Dublin
Dubai
Amsterdam
Tenerife
Belfast
Geneva
Paris
Alicante
Lanzarote
Krakow