Nigel.
I am not going to enter into a slanging match over things that you, quite rightly say, I am not in possession of the full fact on, however:-
I feel sure that the airport has robust penalty clauses in place
I don't KNOW - as someone who has spent many years in business, I merely "feel sure" that there will be penalty clauses in place. Some profess to "know" I am merely conjecting!
We had 3 months of heavy rain and floods but also over 2 months of dry weather.
Again, I'm no expert, however, without this starting to read like Gardeners Question Time, my soil is still extremely wet - it depends not on what the topsoil is like, but how much water is retained in the subsoil. I don't think the two months of slightly below average rainfall will make up for the December to February deluge!
but the day after BHX had to admit to airlines they now have no idea when the runway extension will open
Did BHX make such an "admission" to airlines? Were you, or was anybody actually at a meeting in which these assertions were made? My information, albeit second hand, is that the new date, in the most recent NOTAMs - 14.5.14, may well be improved upon - but we'll see.
The delay in the commissioning of the the runway extension and associated works is frustrating, I am sure to the contractors, who will want to get paid and move on, to the airport and it's operators - but seemingly, most of all to enthusiasts?! Whatever, BHX has a long way to go to reach the levels of apparent incompetence before it even starts to compete with Berlin!