Birmingham Airport is 'comfortably' keeping to the number of night time flights allowed in and out at night, Solihull councillors have heard. The update came as the authority's night flying policy sub-committee reviewed performance data covering October 2025 to May this year.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported last year, BHX bosses successfully applied to Solihull Council for an increase after arguing extra night flights were necessary if the airport is to grow and the local economy wasn't to miss out on millions in economic benefits.
Increase in Night Flight Quota
Solihull planners agreed to an increase from five per cent to 7.3 per cent, with an indicative cap of 7.6 per cent, in flights arriving or leaving between 11.30pm and 6am. The restrictions are understood to average around 21 flights a night.
That decision, taken in January 2025, was made despite opposition from residents who said peaceful nights were “already becoming a distant memory”. In response to concerns, it was proposed a new sub-committee of the authority’s planning committee - described as a 'critical friend' - would monitor the performance of the night flying policy over time.
Performance Data Under Review
The sub-committee's meetings are not held in public, but minutes are reported back to Solihull Council’s planning committee. Minutes from the latest meeting, held last month, showed the performance covering the period October 2025 to May this year was under the spotlight.
Among the findings were that night flying usage against annual limits sat, at that point, between 15 and 30 per cent of usage limits. It was recognised this was before the busiest period of the year in the summer. The majority of usage, 65 per cent, were scheduled flights.
The majority of arrivals and departures through night time hours are between 11.30pm and 2am “but drop off quickly” until around 5.30am, when they increase due to earlier departures.
Airport Response and Complaints
The minutes say: “The airport confirmed numbers are tracked weekly with a constant review of trends and known concerns. Current figures are not in a position of concern and forecasts indicate the maximum threshold won't be breached. The airport also confirmed last year's figures were comfortably below the 7.6 per cent figure. It was acknowledged though that in previous years the airport was very close to breaching the thresholds set in the previous night flying policy.”
The minutes show Councillor David Hoey queried what the consequences would be if BHX ever breached the limit, being told it would be an enforcement issue and Solihull Council would need to take legal advice.
Councillors were also told 23 complaints were made to the airport about noise earlier this year. “The majority of these were received in January which appear to have been driven by poor weather conditions causing planes to divert from a standard flight path around the airport,” the minutes say. “The area for the highest number of complaints were recorded from Marston Green and Sheldon – albeit numbers within these areas were still relatively low.”
The next meeting of the group is scheduled for mid-October.
