Net economic benefit  

The net economic benefit of Birmingham Airport (BHX) to the West Midlands region is defined as what would happen to the economy in the absence of BHX, as opposed to the gross amount of resources it uses for its operations in its economic footprint. This approach to assessing economic impact is consistent with the approach mandated by HM Treasury’s Green Book and the Department for Transport’s transport appraisal guidance (WebTAG). The logic of this is that if the resources used by the BHX and its supply chain were not employed in providing the services of BHX, they would be doing something else. The economic impact of BHX is therefore the difference between what those resources produce as they are employed and what they would produce if they were not involved in producing goods and services at/for BHX. On this basis, in 2018 BHX's net economic impact was £1,509 billion GVA (gross value added) and a total of 30,900 jobs, which is projected to rise to £2,139 billion GVA and 34,400 jobs by 2033 (see economic impact table below). If account is taken of BHX’s contribution to the manufacturing sector then BHX’s contribution to the West Midlands economy rises as shown in the second table below. The estimates of BHX’s impact on the manufacturing sector are less certain than those for the service sector alone, but they provide a good indication of BHX’s importance to the region as a whole.  

Economic impact