Birmingham Airport confirms the fate of its escalators as construction work nears completion

It’s the question repeatedly asked of Birmingham Airport by BirminghamLive readers; are the escalators coming back? The terminal’s escalators were removed last year amid ongoing work to complete the “state-of-the-art” security hall.

The £60m ‘next generation’ security room will see new scanners that ‘work like a motorway’, checkpoints and new rules for liquids. However, the airport told us that despite investing millions in their new security hall, they are unable to make full use of it due to a UK government directive on liquids and the fact that they have yet to release more floor space.

Currently, customers have to queue during rush hours to get into the elevators that take them to the security area. The biggest question from travelers to the airport and to our reporters is whether the elevators are permanent and whether the escalators to the security area will return.

READ MORE: TUI and Jet2 are offering queuing and baggage storage advice to worried travelers at Birmingham Airport

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Birmingham Airport chief executive Nick Barton took BirminghamLive around the airport on June 11 to update us on the terminal works, where we asked him the escalator question along with other passenger concerns about scenes of chaos in the queue .

Mr Barton revealed the escalators had been removed for health and safety reasons and would not be returning. He explained that the elevators, when they are able to operate at full capacity, will function as the main means of transporting passengers upstairs for departures.

Mr Barton said: “The escalators were really dangerous. I removed them as they were a health and safety issue. These elevators are huge, we only need three of them to work at the top. When the ground space opens up, people have won. don’t stand in line.”

However, the much-needed ground space has yet to be freed up, which is why tourists experience long queues in the terminal at peak times such as early morning.

“More space will be released in three days, which will give us more waiting space. The end game is that people won’t stand in line (to get to the lifts),” Mr Barton said.

He added that passengers are forced to queue outside to reduce panic and crowding inside. “It’s much nicer to queue outside, as we regret the perception this has on passengers.”

The airport has received harsh criticism from tourists over the way they have communicated with passengers due to withdrawals from the terminal. BHX had anticipated that by June 1 the 2-litre rule would come into effect, easing restrictions on liquid and bringing the airports’ new state-of-the-art kit into play.

But government transport chiefs have announced they need to revalidate all the software on every machine (including at other UK airports such as London City, which has already rolled out the 2-litre allowance). As a result, passengers must now stick to 100ml and there is no end in sight for the temporary measure.

Read the latest liquid rules and how to queue in our overview here.