Birmingham Airport — Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom

Birmingham Airport serves England's second-largest city and the wider West Midlands region, perched 327 feet above sea level, its lone runway handling one of the busiest passenger volumes outside London. The airport sits near the National Exhibition Centre, one of the UK's largest event venues, and the two facilities together draw substantial business travel tied to trade shows and conferences. Birmingham's central location within England makes the airport a convenient option for travelers across much of the Midlands who would otherwise face a longer trip to Heathrow or Gatwick. The runway here was extended some years back specifically to accommodate long-haul aircraft on routes to destinations in North America and the Middle East, aircraft that previously had to route through London instead. Travelers occasionally mix this airport up with Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International in Alabama, a naming coincidence tracing back to English settlers who named the American city after their own industrial hometown.