Imperial Tobacco opens airside smoking balcony at Birmingham Airport

The UK’s leading tobacco company, Imperial Tobacco, is delighted to announce the opening of a state of the art airside smoking area at Birmingham Airport.

Travellers can now enjoy their chosen tobacco product free from the wind and rain in a dedicated area, accessible from the airport’s new departure lounge bar. This purpose built and unique facility provides lighting, shelter, hand gel and litter solutions. There is also a departures board to ensure travellers can keep track of their flights.

The new smoking area has been developed as part of Imperial Tobacco’s ‘Smoking Allowed’ initiative, a high-profile campaign to support adult smokers in the UK.

Amal Pramanik, General Manager at Imperial Tobacco, commented: “Imperial Tobacco is hugely committed to supporting those 12 million UK adults who choose to smoke tobacco and we actively engage with consumers across the country to ascertain the levels of support they require.

“In November last year we launched ‘Smoking Allowed’, a long-term programme of projects and activities to support smokers when they are travelling, working and enjoying their leisure time. Over the past few months we have been working with organisations across the country to improve smoking area facilities for adult consumers and the new smoking area at Birmingham Airport is our latest success story.

“Around 9 million passengers fly from Birmingham Airport each year and we have collaborated with the Airport on its terminal extension plans to ensure that we could secure the Airside Smoking Balcony for adult smokers. Early feedback has been fantastic from passengers and the new smoking area is a fantastic addition to our ‘Smoking Allowed’ campaign. The campaign is really gathering momentum and we are in talks with a number of high profile locations across the UK as we continue to deliver high-class support for those UK adults who choose to smoke.”

Birmingham Airport’s Head of Commercial, Richard Gill, commented: “We’re committed to providing quality facilities for all our passengers and we’re pleased to be able to open this facility for those who chose to smoke in response to research we carried out to find out what facilities our customers would like to see at Birmingham Airport.”