Birmingham Airport – Spotting at Car Park 5

I remember visiting Birmingham Airport with my Dad to go spotting a few times during my childhood, and then during my teenage years making the trip by bus and train alone as my fascination of aviation developed. Back then, Birmingham had an indoor visitor centre on the second floor of the terminal building that provided okay views out over the main apron, slightly obscured by the triangular roof of the lower part of the terminal building in front. Unfortunately, as with my youth, this visitor centre is long gone, swallowed up by various airport expansions and developments over the years, however unlike many other UK airports Birmingham Airport does retain an official ‘plane spotting’ area.

Located next to the perimeter fence in a corner of Car Park 5 close to the threshold of runway 33, this viewing area consists of a few benches, a bus shelter and a couple of bins, certainly nothing like the ‘good old days’. The advantage this location in Car Park 5 is excellent parking facilities, however these cost a small fortune, at £9.50 for an hour, £19 for two hours or £38 for four hours, certainly not prices I’m willing to pay to go spotting. Alternatively, the viewing area is a 10-minute walk from the terminal and a 15–20-minute walk from Birmingham International railway station (or a ride on the monorail to the terminal and then the 10-minute walk), allowing you to arrive by bus or train and save a bit of money. You could also park at a nearby station and then get the train to the airport, or park at the railway station itself where absurdly car parking is just £12.50 for the day.

With its location next to the perimeter fence, the viewing area provides excellent views of the threshold of runway 33 and part of the parallel ‘Sirrea’ taxiway, although photographs are through a chain-link fence which can cause an obstruction to some shots. Unfortunately views of most of the rest of the runway, taxiways and aprons are obscured from the viewing area by the airport’s fuel farm, however you can get some photos of the ‘Delta’ and ‘Yankee’ taxiways and stands 1-7 and 20-25 from the fence line as you walk to/from the terminal.

Whilst only the UK’s seventh busiest airport in terms of aircraft movements (with more than 94,000 movements in 2024), traffic at Birmingham does seem to be quite well spread out, with there being a steady flow of arrivals and departures during the two-and-a-half-hour window that I was spotting. As I arrived, I was immediately treated to a flurry of activity as TUI’s G-FZDE departed to Zakynthos, followed shortly after by Jet2’s G-DRTF to Heraklion and Turkish Airlines’ TC-LTD to Istanbul, before Jet2’s G-SUNF and easyJet’s G-EZWP arrived from Alicante and Palma respectively.

A total of 26 different airlines serve Birmingham, offering flights to more than 130 destinations and whilst the bulk of these are provided by the resident low cost and charter airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2 and TUI, there is a good representation from other airlines as well. European flag carriers Air France, Aer Lingus, Brussels Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, SAS and Swiss all provide flights to their hubs, whilst the Middle Eastern airlines are also represented by Emirates (Dubai), Saudia (Jeddah) and Qatar Airlines (Doha). Turkey is served by Corendon, Pegasus, SunExpress and Turkish Airlines whilst airlines such as Air India, Aurigny, Eurowings, Loganair and Vueling also provide flights from the West Midlands airport.

Whilst during my visit the vast majority of aircraft were either Airbus A320 family or Boeing B737 variants, there was the odd smattering of other aircraft types used. The largest of these were the Airbus A380 of Emirates and the Boeing B787-9 of Saudia, however there were also a handful of smaller types such as the Embraer E190 of Hop (operating for Air France), De Havilland Canada Dash-8-400 of AvantiAir (operating for Aurigny) and the ATR 72-600s of Emerald Airlines (operating for Aer Lingus Regional). I was also able to see across to the Elmdon apron on the western side of the airport and could see another ATR belonging to Zimex, a Boeing Business Jet and a smattering of private jets. However, the rarest aircraft type I saw was the Royal Air Force’s Boeing E7 Wedgetail that was also parked up on the Elmdon side of the airfield.

Unfortunately, other than the benches, bins and bus shelter, there are no facilities at the viewing area, so you do need to take any refreshments with you and head to the terminal to use the toilets. Having waited to see Emirates’ huge A6-EUZ depart to Dubai and Loganair’s tiny G-SAJK arrive from Aberdeen, it was time for me to head to back to the terminal building. In total during the two and a half hours I was at the viewing area I logged 44 aircraft and took plenty of photos, a selection of which are included in this blog. I did discover that photos of landing aircraft weren’t as good as they required more zoom, however I was pretty happy with most of the taxiing shots!

Whilst spotting at Birmingham is nothing like how it was during my childhood, the viewing area in Car Park 5 is perfectly adequate on a sunny day when runway 33 is in use. With the number and variety of movements you could easily keep yourself entertained for most of the day, taking a break during a lull to head to the airport to use the facilities. However, do check the runway in use before you head to the airport as if runway 03 is in use, this spot isn’t much use and you’ll want to head to Elmdon Country Park (one for a future blog).

Viewing location                   3*

Charge (free)                       5*

Facilities                          0*

Variety of Traffic                 3*

BHX (Car Park 5) Overall Score     2.75*