Revival in air travel gives airport construction work a lift

Airports across the UK embark on expansion and renovation projects, providing good opportunities for new airport construction contracts.

Significant projects are set to get underway at Leeds Bradford, Manchester, and Belfast airports whilst major expansions are in the pipeline at London Stansted and London Luton airports.

The growth in airport-related construction work comes against a positive outlook for the sector. Last year 224 million passengers travelled to and from UK airports - three-quarters of 2019 levels – and up from 65.4 million in 2021, according to UK Civil Aviation Authority figures. The latest data from IATA (the International Air Transport Association) showed that in May this year, international air traffic was up 41% on the month a year earlier and globally: 96% of pre-pandemic levels.

Increasing capacity

Growing passenger numbers are behind an expansion at Leeds Bradford Airport where work on two schemes worth a total of £55.9 million is due to start later this summer. The project, designed to take the airport’s capacity to 6.8 million passengers annually and due to be built in two phases, involves a new £28.5 million arrivals terminal and a £27.4 million remodelling of an existing terminal. The work, which also involves £8 million of fit-out works, is set to run over 35 months (Project ID: 18324724).

Meanwhile, at Manchester Airport, construction work is due to start this autumn on a new £22 million terminal pier which is a key part of the second and final £440 million phase of a £1.3 billion transformation programme at what is the UK’s busiest regional airport.

The new pier will provide 12 new boarding gates and flexible stands for next-generation aircraft, including the giant Airbus A380. Mace is the management contractor on the scheme which will be built over a 23-month period (Project ID: 223085).

Meanwhile, the second phase of Manchester’s transformation programme will also see the airport’s Terminal 2 building upgraded with a second security hall and a new departure lounge along with reconfigurations of the airfield. When completed in 2025, around 80% of all passengers will use the expanded terminal.

Elsewhere, invitations to tender are currently being invited for a £16.9 million airport terminal extension at Belfast International Airport to house a new security area. Construction work on the scheme, involving almost 6,800 sq m of floor space, is due to start towards the end of this year and run for 18 months (Project ID: 04039518).

A busy summer at London Stansted Airport - where passenger numbers rose by 64% to 26.5 million in the year to the end of June over the previous 12 months - has strengthened the case for a major construction programme which is in the pipeline.

Transformative experience

Plans for a spectacular new £150 million arrivals building at London Stansted first unveiled in 2017 have been on hold since the pandemic (Project ID: 16448791). But now the airport is pressing ahead with an alternative but significant project which it says, ‘is designed to transform the airport experience.’

Last month London Stansted submitted a planning application for a major expansion to its existing terminal building – also budgeted at £150 million - involving a three-bay extension to the back of the facility. This will provide a more spacious departure lounge and an enlarged security hall. Work on the scheme, which includes infrastructure, enabling and landscaping works, is set to start in the summer of 2025 and run for 20 months (Project ID: 23213774).

There are also opportunities for civil engineering contracts on airport expansion schemes. At London Luton Airport, work on the £22 million South East Apron scheme to create new aircraft stands has been taken off hold and is due to start early in 2024 (Project ID: 19262970).

Longer term, there is a potentially huge airport construction project at Luton Airport where detailed plans have been submitted for a £1.4 billion expansion involving a new passenger terminal and extra aircraft stands to take capacity to 32 million passengers pa. A development consent order has been accepted for examination on the scheme, where work could start in 2025 (Project ID: 21110220).