Birmingham Airport, previously Birmingham International Airport and at its concept simply Elmdon Airport, was first opened on 8 July 1939, with its initial conception in 1928 when Birmingham City Council decided that the future of the city and its future growth would be very much helped by a local municipal airport. Hence Birmingham Airport was born. Due, however, to the virtually worldwide Great Depression during the 1930's, there were delays, with proposals finally submitted in 1933 identifying Elmdon as the most suitable site for the future Birmingham Airport, but as identified previously it was first known as Elmdon Airport.  The first runway at the Airport was a simple grassed strip.
  
It was first owned and managed by Birmingham Council and operated domestic services to the likes of Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Southampton, Croydon, Ryde and Shoreham.

When the Second World War broke out the airport was taken over by the Air Ministry and used by the RAF and Royal Navy as a Flying School and also as a base for the Fleet Air Arm. The grassed runway was replaced by two hard runways with lengths totalling 823 and 1,251 yards.

In 1946 the airport was handed back for civilian flights usage and the growth of Birmingham Airport began. It is interesting to note that Birmingham Airport is actually sited some 6.3 miles from the City Centre but stands in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull and because of this Birmingham City Council has virtually no say or control over expansion plans or planning applications/permission.

The City of Birmingham again took over the responsibility of running the airport on 1 April 1960 and an additional terminal building was opened in 1961 and called the International Building.

The expansion of the main runway in 1966 to 2466.66 yards, led to jet powered aircraft using Birmingham Airport and the requirement of further expansion became obvious as international flights became more available. The opening of the NEC Birmingham a short distance away helped to promote Birmingham Airport worldwide in the late 1970's and the main terminal was opened by Queen Elizabeth in May 1984 providing opportunities for more routes with the obvious increase in passenger numbers using Birmingham Airport.
 
In 1986 the airport ownership transferred to the newly formed West Midlands Joint Airport Committee which comprised the seven West Midlands District Councils and in 1987 transferred to Birmingham International Airport plc, although still owned by the seven district councils.

The current ownership situation is the seven West Midlands District Councils have a 49% ownership; Airport Group Investments have a 48.25% holding, with airport Staff having a 2.75% holding under the employee share save scheme.

Further expansion of the main runway attracted schedule flights to the USA, Mexico, and Dominican Republic etc. In 1991, to accommodate this expansion, a second terminal, "Eurohub", was opened and used by British Airways and its partners becoming the world's first terminal offering  Birmingham flights to both international and domestic customers. Domestic passengers could fly in from other UK airports and connect to a wide range of European destinations.

In March 2000, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the £40 million Birmingham Airport redevelopment which introduced a new customs and immigration hall, sixteen new check- ins, a new baggage reclaim area and the linking of Terminal One and Terminal Two, originally EuroHub, for the first time.

In October 2003, Concord made her last appearance at Birmingham Airport as part of her farewell tour.
 
Customer numbers rose annually and so did the development of both terminals and their facilities. In 2002 some 8 million passengers passed through Birmingham Airport and numbers increased to 9 million in 2006. However, after handling a record 9.6 million passengers in 2008 there was a decline in numbers to just over 8.5 million in 2010 thus making Birmingham Airport only the seventh busiest UK airport, being overtaken by both Luton and Edinburgh.
 
In June 2008 work began on the construction of the new International Pier which was officially opened in 2009 as part of Birmingham Airports 70th anniversary with the airport welcoming the Airbus A380 as the first user of the pier. This was the first commercial flight to take place in the UK outside London.

In January 2010 Birmingham Airport announced their intention to merge Terminals 1 and 2 together at an estimated cost of £13 million. It is hoped that this merger will improve passenger flows and operational efficiencies as well as providing a larger passenger security search area and a larger meeting and greeting arrivals point.

In September 2010 it was announced that the airport intended to drop the International from its official name and become simply Birmingham Airport following in the lines of most if not all of the other UK airports.

Birmingham Airport has produced a master plan for its future development up to 2030, called "Towards 2030: Planning a Sustainable Future for Air Transport in the Midlands". This sets out details of changes to the terminals, airfield layout and off-site infrastructure.
 
The first major priority is an extension to the runway, Birmingham Airport being the only airport in the country to gain planning consent for such work. The completion of the runway extension was initially targeted for completion in time for the 2012 Olympic Games; however, completion is now expected in 2013. The extension will increase the runway length to 3,281 yards and the work will also incorporate a starter strip to provide a maximum take of run of 3,445 yards. The airport believes that there is likely to be sufficient demand for long range direct services operated by aircraft whose operations are constrained by the current length of runway. The construction of the airport runway extension began in March 2011.

Airlines using the airport include British Airways, Cyprus Airways, bmibaby, Air Malta, Air France, Aer Lingus, flybe, Emirates, easyjet, Monarch, Thomas Cook, Thompson,  Ryanair, Swiss, Saga Airline and Sky Airline with some offering very competitive and cheap flight deals to and from Birmingham.
 
Access to Birmingham Airport is relatively simple as it stands adjacent to the A45 main highway and in close proximity to Junction 6 of the M42 motorway. It is also connected by the elevated Air Rail link to Birmingham International Railway Station. As part of the Birmingham to London rail link a new railway station called Birmingham Interchange is planned to serve both the NEC and Birmingham Airport with adequate airport transfers obviously playing an important role.

Flights to the airport, including times of departures and arrivals, can be quickly obtained by direct airport or internet contact.

National Express operates the main bus routes calling at Birmingham Airport and these are the number 900 to Birmingham City Centre and Coventry and the number 966 to Erdington and Solihull. There are also buses by smaller operators which call at the airport. Bus stops can be found outside Terminal 1.

For drivers, like Luton, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, sometimes spelt Stanstead, East Midlands etc., there are more than adequate airport car park, parks and parking facilities, plus local accommodation in hotels or perhaps a favourite airport or Birmingham hotel, for those passengers wishing to stay overnight prior to or following their various flights to and from Birmingham.
 
Taxis are also available from the Taxi Rank outside the arrivals area.