Exclusive: Birmingham Airport Loses Out to Manchester on China Flights

Birmingham Airport has lost out to Manchester Airport in securing direct scheduled flights to China, ITV News Central has learned.

The Chinese President will announce the deal today.

Birmingham Airport has been talking to Hainan Airlines for some time about starting a scheduled service but the airline has decided to go to Manchester.

The news comes after the Chancellor George Osborne told ITV News Central in February that it was important to "back the skills" in the Midlands as a key driver of economic growth in the UK.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Birmingham Airport said:

"We have had two successful summers running a programme of charter flights to Beijing and we do not believe that this news will impact on next year's charter service due to an established programme and strong relationship with the operator involved.

We will continue to engage with a number of Chinese carriers to secure a direct scheduled link to China from Birmingham in the future."