•    Download an image of the design here

On approach to the airport, passengers will see the five giant Olympic Rings on the airport’s new air traffic control tower, which can also be seen from the main road into Birmingham.  The airport will also feature the London 2012 pictograms along the taxiway, and will use London 2012 branding to cover Diamond House opposite the terminal.

Seb Coe, LOCOG Chair, said: 'The Olympic Rings are an iconic symbol, inspiring athletes and uniting people around the world. To athletes they represent the culmination of thousands of hours of training and reaching the highest level in sport. To visitors travelling from around the world and arriving in Birmingham they will excite and inspire them about the Olympic Games taking place in the UK.'

Paul Kehoe, Birmingham Airport’s CEO said: ‘Birmingham is the UK’s second city, in the centre of country, and is just over an hour from London. With both the American and Jamaican track and field teams training in Birmingham prior to the games, plus the City of Coventry Stadium hosting a number of football games, the region will play a major part in this amazing occasion.’

The Olympic Rings are one of the world's most recognisable symbols. The five Rings – coloured blue, yellow, black, green and red – express the activity of the Olympic Movement and represent the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games.

In addition to the plans for the giant Olympic Rings, the airport will also feature further bespoke items to dress the site and give a high-impact welcome for the Games.

The airport plans to have the Olympic Rings in place by the 26th March to coincide with the completion of the first phase of the new air traffic control tower build.

Ends.

Notes to editors: 

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at www.london2012.com. Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog http://www.london2012.com/blog or follow us on Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/london2012
 
Birmingham Airport:
Birmingham Airport is a public/private partnership. The current shareholders include the seven West Midlands district councils (49%), Airport Group Investments Ltd. (AGIL), a limited company owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Teachers') and Australia’s Victorian Funds Management Corp. (VFMC)(48.25%) and the Employee Share Trust (2.75%).

Birmingham Airport is the UK’s third largest airport outside London, and the UK’s seventh largest overall. It handles around nine million passengers a year and is home to some 50 airlines. Birmingham currently serves 143 direct scheduled & charter routes and offers an additional 279 possible connections worldwide. This gives passengers a choice of 422 direct or one-stop flights.

Find out more about Birmingham Airport at www.birminghamairport.co.uk or on Twitter at bhx_official

London 2012 Pictograms
Olympic Games pictograms were first used at the 1948 Games in London and have become a regular feature of the Olympic movement since the Tokyo Games in 1964.

The London 2012 pictograms were developed in consultation with each International Sporting Federation and have been designed to be vibrant and accurate depictions of each sporting discipline. They will come in two different formats – a silhouette version for standard use and a dynamic version inspired by the connectivity of the London Underground map, which will be used on merchandise, posters, sign posts and wayfinding materials.

London 2012 Games partners:
The Worldwide Olympic Partners who support the London 2012 Olympic Games and the National Olympic Committees around the world are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow Chemical Company, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.

LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.

There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games-only Partner, Sainsbury’s and one domestic Tier Three Paralympic Games-only Supplier, Otto Bock. The London 2012 Paralympic Games also acknowledges the support of the National Lottery.