I headed to Car Park 5 back during December 2016 at Birmingham Airport. During a period of bad weather that caused several British Airways planes to land and take off from Birmingham Airport instead of Heathrow. So a rare sighting of BA's world famous Boeing 747-400! Wish that BA would start regular flights from Birmingham again, we mostly just have the budget carriers such as Flybe.

View feature View community

British Airways diverts at Birmingham Airport (December 2016)


British Airways diverts at Birmingham Airport (December 2016)


I headed to Car Park 5 back during December 2016 at Birmingham Airport. During a period of bad weather that caused several British Airways planes to land and take off from Birmingham Airport instead of Heathrow. So a rare sighting of BA's world famous Boeing 747-400! Wish that BA would start regular flights from Birmingham again, we mostly just have the budget carriers such as Flybe.


There are several plane spotting points around Birmingham Airport. One of them is in Car Park 5. I got a X1 National Express West Midlands Platinum bus to the bus stop outside of the car park. I've got a bus here a couple of times (but not recently).

On the 17th December 2016, there it was day of bad weather over London, which resulted in British Airways being forced to divert their famous planes to Birmingham!

My first glimpse of a British Airways Boeing 747-400.

dndimg alt="British Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/British Airways at Birmingham Airport (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

A zoom in of this BA Boeing 747-400. The distinctive Union Jack tail fin at the back.

dndimg alt="British Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/British Airways at Birmingham Airport (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The side view of this British Airways Boeing 747-400 next to a Birmingham Airport sign. A rare sighting these days.

dndimg alt="British Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/British Airways at Birmingham Airport (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Seen taking off was this British Airways Embraer ERJ-190SR.

dndimg alt="British Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/British Airways at Birmingham Airport (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Another angle of this BA Embraer ERJ-190SR.

dndimg alt="British Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/British Airways at Birmingham Airport (5).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Bonus photos taken at Malaga Airport in Spain during June 2014. This was before I flew back to Birmingham with Monarch (not with BA). At the time there was a French Air Traffic Control strike so we were waiting at this airport for hours.

dndimg alt="British Airways Malaga Airport" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/British Airways Malaga Airport Spain (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

This photo of another British Airways plane taken from the Monarch plane I was on. Was stuck on the plane for hours before it was given permission to take off. Has been several occasions in the past being at airports when Air Traffic Control strikes have been on in France (usually resulting in not being able to fly over French airspace).

dndimg alt="British Airways Malaga Airport" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/British Airways Malaga Airport Spain (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

Photos taken by Elliott Brown.

Follow me on Twitter here ellrbrown.