Bristol International Airport (IATA: BRS, ICAO: EGGD) is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol in England, and the surrounding area.
Bristol International Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P432) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers and for flying instruction.
History
In 1927 a group of local businessmen raised £6,000 through public subscription to inaugurate a flying club at Filton Aerodrome. By 1929 the club had become a success and it was decided that a farm located in Whitchurch near Bristol would be developed into an airport. In 1930, The Prince George, son of King George V opened Bristol Airport — becoming the third such airport in Britain. Passenger numbers grew from 935 in 1930 to over 4,000 in 1939.
During World War II, Bristol Airport was the only civil airport still in operation in the UK, meaning all flights usually bound for London were terminated in Bristol. The newly formed British Overseas Airways Corporation were dispersed to Whitchurch from Croydon and Gatwick Airports. They operated on routes to Lisbon, Portugal and to some other neutral nations. Whitchurch continued to be used after WW2, but the introduction of heavier post-war airliners made a runway extension highly desirable. However, this was very difficult, because of the proximity of the surrounding housing estates.
Consequently, a decision was taken in 1955 to develop a new airport at Lulsgate Bottom Airfield near [[Redhill, Somerset|Redhill], from a former wartime RAF station, which had been operating in peacetime as a glider station. The new airport was called Bristol Lulsgate Airport and was opened in 1957 by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. In its first year 33,000 people used the airport. In 1963 the runway was lengthened and in 1965 extensions were made to the terminal — all due to rapid expansion. In 1968 a new 5,000 square foot (460 m²) building was constructed — again as the airport expanded. In 1974 the airline "Court Line" collapsed, causing a fall in passenger numbers.
By 1980 17 charter airlines were operating from the airport. Additions in 1984 included an international departure lounge, duty free shops, a 24-hour airside bar, an arrivals concourse, and a short-term car park. On the 1 April 1987 all employees were transferred from Bristol City Council to Bristol Airport plc. The operation and net assets of Bristol Airport were transferred from the City of Bristol and the company commenced trading. Over the next few years business boomed with over 100,000 passengers each month in the summer of 1988.
In 1996 Bristol Airport was sold by Bristol City Council. In March 1997 its name was changed from Bristol Airport to Bristol International Airport. In December 1997 51% of the airport was sold to FirstGroup plc, while the remaining 49% stayed with Bristol City Council. A new terminal building was built in April 1999 and opened in March 2000. In 2000, passenger numbers exceeded two million for the first time.
An easyJet Boeing 737 and an Air Southwest Dash 8 at Bristol Airport. The runways are 622 feet above sea level, giving fine views over the surrounding countryside
An easyJet Boeing 737 and an Air Southwest Dash 8 at Bristol Airport. The runways are 622 feet above sea level, giving fine views over the surrounding countryside
2001 onwards
The airport was bought by Macquarie Bank and Cintra in January 2001 for £198m. Passenger numbers passed through three million in 2002, largely due to the arrival of the low-cost carrier Go Fly. Continued expansion by Easyjet led to another increase in passengers — to 3.8 million. In May 2005, Continental Airlines introduced direct flights from Bristol to Newark, New York, with Boeing 757-200 aircraft.
Bristol Airport is a general aviation (GA) centre. In 2006 the GA terminal was relocated from the north side next to the control tower, to a purpose-built facility on the south east corner of the field. All GA handling at Bristol, including training, is managed by Bristol Flying Centre.
Panorama over Bristol
2007 resurfacing controversy
On the 5 January 2007 many flights were cancelled or diverted (all EasyJet and XL Airways flights). This was due to, according to some pilots, braking action on the runway not being the required standard for safe stopping in wet conditions.
The problems arose from a new £17 million asphalt runway surface not being sufficently grooved to allow water runoff. Although the new runway was given Civil Aviation Authority clearance on 4 January, 2007, there had been a number of incidents over the previous four weeks, with aircraft unable to stop without running over the operating limits of the runway. The number of incidents caused the operations department of Easyjet to stop aircraft arriving or departing in wet conditions.
Further discussion with other airlines later led to further cancellations. A British Airways spokeswoman said it would not operate flights if the runway moisture levels were above a certain level, and subsequently the airline cancelled several of their flights.
EasyJet issued the following statement on its website: "As rain is forecast for Saturday 6 January, easyJet will operate a large proportion of its services in and out of Cardiff International Airport. Passengers will be required to check in at Bristol International Airport as normal and will be transferred across to Cardiff. A list of the flights the airline plans to operate tomorrow will be posted on the website later this afternoon."
On Saturday 6 January, 98 flights were diverted to Cardiff or Birmingham, while 28 flights were been cancelled. The affected airlines are: Easyjet, BA Connect, XL, Thomsonfly, Thomas Cook, Balkan Airlines, First Choice, Air Malta, KLM and SN Brussels. Passengers on nearly 40 Easyjet flights were transferred to Cardiff, while all the other services by the firm have been cancelled. All First Choice and some Thomas Cook flightswere moved to Birmingham Airport. Other Thomas Cook flights were being diverted to Gatwick Airport. Easyjet said a decision on Monday's flights has not yet been made.
On Sunday 7 January, following further flight cancellations, Bristol Airport management made the decision to close the runway from 14:30 in order that work to resolve the situation could be expedited. The runway is expected to remain closed during Monday 8 January.
Proposed expansion
In 2005 the airport handled more than 84000 aircraft movements and 5.25 million passengers[5]. Controversy surrounds the proposed expansion of the airport to allow it to handle even more. A coalition to fight the expansion, known as Stop Bristol Airport Expansion has been formed by Bristol Friends of the Earth, Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and other groups and individuals in North Somerset, Bristol and BANES.
Airlines and destinations
* Aer Arann (Cork, Nantes [Starts 19 May])
* Aer Lingus (Dublin [Ends 24 March])
* Air Malta (Luqa, Malaga, Arrecife, Corfu)
* Air Southwest (Jersey, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Newquay, Plymouth)
* Aurigny Air Services (Guernsey)
* British Airways
o BA Connect (Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Zürich)
o British Airways operated by GB Airways (Tenerife-South)
* Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
* Continental Airlines (Newark)
* Eastern Airways (Aberdeen, Isle of Man)
* easyJet (Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bordeaux [Starts 3 April], Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow, Grenoble, Ibiza, Inverness, Kraków, Madrid, Mahon, Marseille, Malaga, Murcia, Newcastle, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Pisa, Prague, Rijeka, Rome-Ciampino, Toulouse, Venice)
* Excel Airways (Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Turkey)
* First Choice Airways (Agadir, Banjul, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Grenoble, Lanzarote, Malaga, Salzburg, Sharm El Sheikh, Sofia, Tenerife, Toulose, Turin)
* Flybe (Jersey)
* Fly Gibraltar (Gibraltar [Starts April])
* KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
o KLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam)
* OLT (Ostfriesische Lufttransport) (Bremen, Hamburg)
* MyTravel Airways (Alicante, Antalya, Salzburg, Bodrum, Bourgas, Corfu, Dalaman, Heraklion, Larnarca, Paphos, Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gambia, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Kos, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, Malta, Menorca, Rhodes, Tenerife South)
* Ryanair (Dublin, Girona [Starts 25 March], Shannon)
* Scandinavian Airlines(Stockholm [Starts June])
* Thomsonfly (Alicante, Antalya, Bastia, Corfu, Dalaman, Sharm el Sheikh, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Larnarca, Malaga, Malta, Minorca, Monastir, Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Pula, Rhodes, Tenerife South, Thessaloniki)
Source: Wikipedia
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