Infrastructure, Construction & Developments

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]Meeting to decide on £150m Bristol International Airport expansion plans

A decision on £150-million expansion plans for Bristol International Airport will be made at a special council meeting in March.

North Somerset Council's North Area committee is holding a one-off meeting to decide on the proposals on Wednesday, March 3, at its Weston offices.

The ambitious scheme includes a multi-storey car park, expanded terminal, improved transport links and new administration offices.

The airport claims that 3,500 direct and indirect jobs will be created by its expansion proposals.
Last month, the Post revealed the airport is spending £10m on changes to its plans.

They include a new flyer bus service from Weston and increased funding for the £48m Bristol bendy-bus scheme and the £47m South Bristol Link road.

It is also reducing planned increases to night flights in response to feedback from councillors and public consultation.

The airport originally claimed it needed to expand to cope with annual passenger numbers which will reach 10m by 2015. But the recession has seen Lulsgate change its prediction to 2020 – five years later than forecast.

The airport admitted a 10 per cent drop in passenger numbers in 2009, down from 6.2m to 5.5m.
Anti-expansion campaigners believe the dropping passenger numbers negate the need to expand the airport.

Jeremy Birch, of Stop Bristol Airport Expansion, said: "The passenger total for the last 12 months has dropped by 10 per cent, and is even below the total for 2006. Why does the airport need to expand when it is now attracting a smaller number of passengers?"

Neighbouring Bristol City Council and Bath and North East Somerset Council have both objected to the scheme as consulted parties.

Both authorities claim that concerns over climate change are behind the objections.[/textarea]

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Mee ... ticle.html


The tenor of the Evening Post article is, as usual, hostile towards the airport.

Everything the airport puts forward are 'claims' whereas the spokesman for the antis is quoted as if it's the gospel truth.

I've tackled this apology for a local newspaper (it's not even printed in Bristol any more and has long since abandoned any pretence of local ownership) several times this year on its gleeful insistence of carrying a headlined article each month to point out the latest fall in passenger figures.

It never did this when passenger figures were rising month after month and year after year. Neither does it, in its one-sided and biased 'reports', attempt to put matters in context by pointing out how much better Bristol has done in the recession than many UK airports.

You have to laugh when you read that local councils are worried that an expansion of Bristol Airport will affect climate change. Do these muppets believe that people won't travel from other airports which will also involve extra journeys by road or rail to get to the more distant airports? And what about the expansion of giant airports such as Frankfurt and the many new airports planned for China? Bristol is so tiny in comparison that an extra four million passengers would be as nothing.

Bristol has a bit of breathing space. Apart from the diminishing passenger numbers, which it is anticipated will begin to climb this year, the £7 million western walkway, due for completion in late spring, will give much-needed extra space within the terminal area though it is not supposed to because it is general permitted development.

The airport reckons its current facilities could, at a pinch, handle about 8 mppa. It would be very busy in the terminal building at times and not a great experience but it is apparently feasible.

Whatever the North Somerset Council decides almost certainly won't be the end of the matter as appeals or legal challenges seem certain. The whole thing could yet be called in for a public enquiry.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

As you have rightfully said before unless the council have a specific objection to the plans then they should not get involved with in SBAE debate. What they have previously claimed is more to do with national aviation policy. This time SBAE claim that the development isn't needed because of the drop in passenger numbers. The airport is a private business and if they want to spend money on what SBAE think is a 'white elephant' then let them. But we all know that the development will be a success which is the main concern for this vociferous group.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

I agree with you about the look of the walkway - very boxlike in shape and not a thing of beauty, and it cost £7 Million.

It should be completed by the end of April.

Don't know of any recent pics of it on the web.

This link is probably what you have seen but I'll post it in case not. The structure has come on a lot since these pics though.

http://www.bristol-airfield.co.uk/western_walkway.php

 

[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

Some good points about the terminal design there. Looking at various 'new builds' at airports throughout the UK there seems to be a general lack of thought about how terminals should look. It seems silly given the amount of inward investment that airports generally create. Other airports in Europe and throughout the world seem to take airport terminal design far more seriously than we do here in the UK.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

If Bristol gets the eventual planning go-ahead for its £150 million expansion the western walkway will be part of a much bigger terminal infrastructure.

Assuming permission is given for the expansion (and this is by no means certain) it will be completed in stages with finalisation around 2018-2020, depending on how passenger numbers grow.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

Interesting alternative viewpoint from BBC West's business correspondent.

[textarea]Could a bigger airport actually make a greener Bristol?

Bristol is the capital of organic food. Of sustainable travel. It's a cycling city, with a funky digital, creative, graffiti zeitgeist.

We are so, like, now.

So the city wants to be officially Britain's Green Capital. And into this chilled out party hurtles a jet-powered neighbour, intent on drowning the party with its noisy planes. At least, that's how many in the city view Bristol International Airport's expansion plans.

The big council meeting is Wednesday evening, in Weston-super-Mare. I'll be there, and if you come back to this blog I'll be tweeting from the meeting so you can find out what happens first. So here's the airport's big vision:

Their plans are massive, but here's the basics of them:

£150m buys the airport a new terminal twice the size of today's building and a five storey car-park. Passenger numbers sky-rocket from 6m a year now to 10m a year by 2016.

Already Bristol's councillors have lodged their "noisy neighbour" complaint. Full council passed a motion opposing the expansion, asking how this high octane growth would help the city cut its carbon footprint. They are not alone. 5,417 people have officially objected on North Somerset's planning portal, and the "Stop Bristol Airport Expansion" campaign is flying. As it were.

But what if the airport is the real green deal here?

Before you choke on your muesli, consider this.

First, BIA is not the only place to fly from. You may have noticed Britain has other airports, and Heathrow and Birmingham are not exactly a long haul from here. So if people can't fly from Bristol, they won't fly less, they will simply drive more.

Heathrow's traffic jams are already legendary, but have you seen the ones in the air? Stacked high above the runway, planes are held by air traffic control in organised aerial gridlock.

"Regional airports are so obviously the green choice," says Richard Roller, a local businessman. Mr Roller makes ground power units for the aviation industry in Weston-super-Mare, exporting to the US, to Kazakstan, to the world. "Flying into Bristol is so easy, it's the only reason we're still here. But when you see how much fuel planes use waiting to land at Heathrow, it's obviously much greener too."

Second, jet engines are more efficient than car engines. Yes, that's right. The famously green Toyota Prius uses 4.3 litres of fuel to go 100km. Go the same distance on a new Airbus A380 with its Filton-designed wings, and each passenger uses just 2.9 litres. There is an obvious flaw in this, of course; planes go way further than we drive cars. But it's worth considering next time you decide to drive to that Spanish campsite, rather than flying and "wrecking the planet". The BBC's "Ethical Man" has been doing loads more sums on this, if it interests you.

The final argument for a bigger airport is slighty different. It's honesty. You see, as I revealed six months ago, passenger numbers can - and will - grow anyway. There is no new runway in these plans. They just want to make the growing crowds at the check-in more comfortable, sort out the parking and the approach roads.

So maybe the airports opponents don't hold all the green cards. And when the airport's website ran an online petition on their plans some 1,913 supported them.

Now I'm being deliberately provocative here, of course. If Bristol gets more comfortable and convenient, more of us will fly from there. That cheap weekend in Barcelona will be even more tempting about now, when the Spanish sun is up and Dundry is still frosty. If all airports were crushed, noisy cattle markets we would only fly the vital trips. And yes, because planes fly at high altitude, their emissions do more damage to our carbon calculations than earthbound cars.

Environmentalists have a one word response to the suggestion that new transport infrastructure eases congestion: M25. Remember the promises that a new orbital motorway would clear the jams from the south east's roads? Exactly.

Recently I met the aviation minister, Ian Lucas MP. I asked him how his industry helped the government meet its targets for cutting CO2 and climate change. His answer is relevant to this debate too, I think. "You're not going to stop people flying," he said, "and they will want to fly more. The challenge is how to meet that aspiration in as low carbon a way as possible."

He was talking about modern fuel-efficient aircraft, but he might also have meant local airports like BIA.

Right - over to you now for the next 24 hours, then councillors will have the last word in Weston.[/textarea]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/daveharvey/2 ... tuall.html

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

The North Somerset South Area Planning Committee considered BRS's major expansion planning expansion this evening.

After listening to submissions from both sides and planning advice the nine councillors on the committee decided not to make a decision themselves, as was widely expected, but to defer the decision to the councils's Planning and Regulatory Committee at a future date.

The good thing is that the councillors voted by six to three to recommend approval of the airport's application.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

Second, jet engines are more efficient than car engines. Yes, that's right. The famously green Toyota Prius uses 4.3 litres of fuel to go 100km. Go the same distance on a new Airbus A380 with its Filton-designed wings, and each passenger uses just 2.9 litres. There is an obvious flaw in this, of course; planes go way further than we drive cars. But it's worth considering next time you decide to drive to that Spanish campsite, rather than flying and "wrecking the planet". The BBC's "Ethical Man" has been doing loads more sums on this, if it interests you.

I love that paragraph. I've seen something similar before but that time it was working out the cost of fuel per passenger to various destinations.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

Reading a post on another board on forums4airports led me to think how much the owners have spent on Bristol Airport in the past decade.

In 2000 the new terminal was opened at a cost of £27 million. A few years later an extension was built - probably cost £2-5 million though I can't find actual figures.

Whilst that was going on the A 38 road was diverted to enable Cat III ILS on runway 27 and a new control tower was built - total of around £8 million.

Another million was spent on rudimentary covered walkways to some stands on the eastern apron.

Three or four years ago about £7 million was expended in turning some landside into airside and fundamentally altering and increasing the security zone.

In the past year over £10 million has gone on the western walkway and other infrastructure improvements.

Including the terminal itself that's a total of £50-60 million spent in the past decade. I've included other more minor works in this total.

The owners of the airport have varied in the past decade.

Initially it was First Group and Bristol City Council; then the Australian Macquarie and the Spanish Ferrovial jointly owned the airport; Ferrovial pulled out when it gained ownership of BAA fearing competition issues and the airport became largely owned by different entities of the Macquarie empire; it is now jointly owned by a Macquarie Fund and a Canadian Pension Fund.

With this amount of cash already spent - at one point the airport was certainly a cash cow for Macquarie's Funds and Ferrovial publicly admitted the renegotiation of the airport's debt was one of the most successful pieces of financial business it had ever done - will the £150 million the current owners want to spend on expansion really add value to their investment?

This is really a rhetorical question but given the 'into the unknown' that the aviation industry now faces it must be one that has seriously exercised the minds of the owners.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

The Terminal

There is a growing chorus of complaints about overcrowding at Bristol Airport departure areas with calls that the terminal is now too small and is in urgent need of expansion.

A brief look at the history of the terminal might explain its current shortcomings in that no-one could have forecast, or could have been expected to forecast, how the airport would have massively exceeded the passenger estimates that were the basis of planning the terminal in the 1990s.


* Bristol Airport News Issue No 1 of early 1993, is an impressive newspaper format of 16 pages. The planned new terminal is discussed at length. It had been approved by the local authority but was to go to public enquiry later in 1993. The terminal was designed for up to 2 mppa which total was expected to be reached at BRS in 2003 (a doubling of the 1992 figure).


* Following the public enquiry permission was given for the terminal to be built but because the then local authority-owned airport could not afford to build it the matter was deferred until First Group took a controlling share in the airport's ownership later in the decade.


* Airborne issue 3/winter 1999 (the successor to Bristol Airport News) carried an article and drawings of the new terminal that was then under construction and which it was said would have a capacity of 3 mppa.


* The 3 mppa capacity terminal was opened in spring 2000 by which time the airport was handling 2 mppa. Apart from the Ryanair Dublin service there was no low-cost airline seemingly in prospect, let alone a major lo-co route network.


* Go arrived in May 2001 and with it and its later absorption into easyJet the huge growth in passenger numbers and flights began.


* By 2008 annual passenger numbers had risen beyond 6 mppa but the only real increase in terminal size since its opening is a relatively small extension at the eastern end built on the ground floor which has added room for extra check-in desks and a catering outlet.


* Despite in excess of £20 million subsequently spent on amelioration schemes such as turning much of the existing landside above ground floor level into airside, significantly increasing/altering the size and layout of the security area, revamping retail/catering outlets and building the western walkway, the fact remains that the terminal was designed for a throughput of 3 mppa.


* The much-needed major expansion of the main terminal and other infrastructure was first put into the public domain in autumn 2005 through the draft master plan. After public consultations the master plan was published in early 2006 with a stated time scale of of submitting the planning application in the spring of that year.


* Because of the well-orchestrated campaign of opposition to expansion the master plan has been revised more than once since then following yet more public consultations and studies into various aspects of it, with the result that the planning process is now four years behind the original schedule.


* Passenger numbers continue to burgeon with the exception of the 2009 hiatus and congestion grows, though the airport in evidence to a Competition Commission investigation into neighbouring regional airports under separate ownership reckons the current airport could handle 8 mppa 'with some tweaking of facilities'.


* BRS will always be physically constrained in expanding much beyond the current boundary unless it spreads onto Felton Common at its eastern end, and this will have immense environmental ramifications as the airport recognises in its master plan which, in part, is why it believes an extended runway is not thought viable or even necessary. The airport is bordered mainly by downward sloping ground on its other three sides.


* Its major expansion plans do include provision for air bridges to some stands.

From this it can be seen that the airport is aware of the need to expand, wants to expand, presumably is confident about access to funds to expand but is being slowed down, some might even say obstructed, by the democratic planning process with all that entails, including the peripheral barrier of well-funded, well-connected and well-briefed opponents standing on the sidelines whilst figuratively waving red cards.

I acknowledge that the airport may have to compromise when it negotiates contracts with airlines, especially aggressive low-cost ones, and therefore has to try to recoup some of this money through other revenue streams such as car parking and retail/catering outlets.

It's a balancing act but I'm not sure the airport has got it quite right yet, at least from its passengers' viewpoint.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]New World Duty Free store opens for business at Bristol Airport

Music and makeovers mark the start of a new shopping experience for South West passengers

Bristol Airport’s new World Duty Free store was officially launched today (29 April), providing a state-of-the-art shopping experience to passengers.

Since being selected to operate the store last August, tax and duty free specialist, WDF, has worked in close partnership with Bristol Airport to redesign the existing facility creating a new ‘walk through’ format and increasing its retail space to 10,000 sq ft. The new store also offers a more extensive range of products across all categories including liquor, beauty, accessories and confectionery.

To mark the official launch of the new store, Bristol Airport’s Chief Executive Officer, Robert Sinclair, made the first purchase – some locally sourced chocolates from the ‘Best of the West’ range which features products from around the South West region.

Singer-songwriter and University of Bristol alumnus, Ben Montague, provided the soundtrack, performing live in the store throughout the morning to demonstrate WDF’s ‘Contentainment’ concept – a combination of live performance and the latest in audio-visual digital technology to give a unique in-store experience. Customers also enjoyed samples of Brugal Rum, Mars Celebrations and demonstrations of ghd hair styling products.

Many new brands have also been introduced, including Biotherm, Lanvin and Van Clefs & Arpels in the beauty and fragrance categories. Luxury is also a key category for the store and a number of new brands have been introduced including Super Dry watches, TOY Watch and Pandora bracelets. In sunglasses, more extensive ranges from Rayban, Oakley and Radley are also available.

Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive of Bristol Airport, said:
“This exciting development gives people flying from Bristol Airport access to great products at attractive prices, all in an exciting retail environment. Whether stocking up for the family holiday or picking up presents after a business trip, the new World Duty Free store has something for all our passengers.”

Mark Riches, CEO at WDF added, “Within our organisation, the customer is at the heart of everything we do and Bristol Airport very much share this focus as well. We really enjoyed working in close partnership with such an entrepreneurial airport as Bristol, to help them achieve their vision of giving customers a fantastic retail experience. As well as creating a superb new main store, we also introduced a stand-alone accessories store; COLLECTION, which began trading in December 2009. We are extremely proud to be able to bring the World Duty Free brand to the airport, as well as our specialist store expertise and deliver a first class shopping experience to customers”.[/textarea]

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/news-an ... ening.aspx

 

[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

Largely speaking this sounds like airport spin because World Duty Free have taken over the Alpha Retail brand. The company is now rolling out it's main brand 'World Duty Free' across it's network of stores throughout the UK. At Leeds the company is currently trading under both names presumably until the terminal is extended there.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

As we've said before, airlines and airports are almost up there with the politicians when it comes to spin.

The only thing that can be said is that this will be a much larger outlet than before but it will take more valuable floor space in the departure areas.

Complaints about overcrowding are coming thick and fast on forums such as Skytrax.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]Approval recommended for Bristol Airport's £150million expansion plan
?
North Somerset Council officers are recommending approval for Bristol Airport’s £150-million expansion plan. 

On Monday the authority’s planning and regulatory committee is set to debate a 
260-page report that backs expansion, subject to some 69 planning conditions and millions of pounds of contributions to improving local transport links.

The plans to increase passenger numbers at the airport to 10 million a year were supported by the council’s south area planning committee in March.

Councillors passed a recommendation for the expansion to go ahead at a packed meeting in Weston Town Hall.

But due to the controversial nature of the plans, the council’s main planning and regulatory committee said it would have the final local authority say on the proposals. The scale of the development within the green belt means that any approval would still  have to be be referred to the Secretary of State.

The plans include a five-storey car park, expanded terminal and improved transport links.

Airport operators claim an expanded airport would create a further 3,000 jobs and inject £200m a year into the area’s economy.

And passenger numbers,  which currently stand at around six million a year, would rise to 10 million annually by 2020.

Officers recommend Bristol Airport should make significant financial contributions to secure planning approval.

In particular, if their report is accepted, it would have to pay:

£4.108m towards the cost of a new link road between the A370 and the A38;

£1.25m towards phase one of the Bristol rapid transit route from Long Ashton Park and Ride into the city centre;
 
£200,000 towards traffic calming measures in Barrow Gurney; and

 £100,000 on an Environmental Improvement Fund to reduce the effect of noise on local properties.

The report also restricts the number of night flights between 11.30pm and 
6am, limits passenger use to 10 million a year and numerous specific local highway improvements.

More than 5,000 objections have been received by the council and the campaign group Stop Bristol Airport Expansion have labelled the move “irresponsible”, arguing there should be a cap of eight million passengers a year at the airport.

The planning committee meeting is due to take place at Weston Town Hall at 2pm.[/textarea]
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/App ... ticle.html

The financial outlay has already been agreed by the airport.

The airport is already night restricted but it remains to see what the detailed recommendations are.

The airport is looking at in excess of 12 mppa in the long term so it remains to see how it would regard a cap of 10 mppa.

These are only recommendations and the councillors are not obliged to follow them. Indeed, this local authority has recent a history of its planning councillors going against the advice of its officers.

This is just one more step in a long route and there will be many more to come before a final decision is arrived at.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

"Approval recommended for Bristol Airport's £150million expansion plan"

Similar was said about the proposed expansion from Leeds Bradford Airport and then the council turned down the planning committee recommendation at a later date, so I think this recommendation for approval should be met with caution. Of course, the Leeds development did get full planning approval in the end but not without a fight.

Do you think Bristol will ever require permission to handle more than 12 million passengers?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

Do you think Bristol will ever require permission to handle more than 12 million passengers?

I really don't know.

With government and public opinion starting to swing against what they regard as unnecessary air travel (though those who take this view often ignore it when they want to fly themselves) the current betting would be that all regional airports won't see the progress they have seen in the past ten years. Although if the main London airports are not allowed to grow there may be a migration of some travellers to the regions.

As for North Somerset Council, their councillors went against their officers' advice last year to permit the airport's application to build the western walkway as general permitted development without the need for formal planning permission. Eventually, the councillors had to reverse their judgement because their initial decision was unsustainable in law.

Then a few weeks later they again defied their officers' advice when they rejected Bristol City Football Club's application to build a link road to their new stadium - the stadium is in Bristol but this particular link road starts in North Somerset. Currently this application is being re-assessed.

Re the airport's major planning application, the local MP, defence minister Liam Fox, has written to the transport minister this week objecting to the expansion.

If the councillors do approve the application it still has to go to another secretary of state (someone called Pickles I believe, not Wilfred) to make the final decision.

And there could still be legal challenges or even a public enquiry.

As I said on a previous occasion, plenty of money still to be earned by lawyers and planning experts in this one.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]Bristol Airport expansion given go-ahead

Multi-million pound plans to expand Bristol Airport have been passed by North Somerset councillors.

The £150m scheme was recommended for approval by 10 votes to two.

An airport spokesman said 4,000 jobs could be created and £340m injected into the local economy if plans were given the go-ahead.

Campaigners have argued that a 60% increase in passenger numbers was too high. More than 5,500 comments were submitted during a consultation.

Some 5,180 of them objected to the plans.

North Somerset MP Dr Liam Fox had written to North Somerset Council stating he cannot support the expansion before the "increasingly unsatisfactory traffic problems are dealt with".

The 260-page planning report has more than 60 conditions including a restriction on night flights and a contribution of more than £5.5m for local transport improvements.

The approval will have to be referred to the secretary of state for communities and local government because there is an element of development on green belt land.

The project includes an extended airport terminal, more car parking and new aircraft stands.[/textarea]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8700056.stm

The size of the majority surprised me. I had expected it to be closer.

The secretary of state could still call it in for a public enquiry though the near complete consensus views of the local councillors ought to be given a lot of weight.

It's also open to the objectors to ask for a judicial review if the secretary of state confirms the councillors' decision.

It's not a 'done deal' but today is a major step.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

That's fantastic news and a major hurdle crossed. Fingers crossed that the secretary of state doesn't call it in. Any time scale?

On another note.

North Somerset MP Dr Liam Fox had written to North Somerset Council stating he cannot support the expansion before the "increasingly unsatisfactory traffic problems are dealt with".

The 260-page planning report has more than 60 conditions including a restriction on night flights and a contribution of more than £5.5m for local transport improvements.

Has the council being exchanging notes with Leeds City Council?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

Any timescale?.............................Has the council being exchanging notes with Leeds City Council?

I think he's been brainwashed by the anti lobby.

They seem to highight perceived poor road (and rail) links as a major plank in their objection strategy at a number of airports.

BRS is a bit isolated but the traffic congestion is nothing like as bad as the objectors would have people believe, and the worst times are early morning and tea time when the commuters travel in their thousands between local villages and the city.

Here speaks one who has known the area intimately for over sixty years.

I don't know what the time scale is re the sec of state.

If the airport finally does get the go-ahead its management has said that it is a ten-year plan and expansion will be done incrementally as traffic builds up.

I hope though that the expanded terminal would be given priority (to be doubled in size) because the current one is frequently overwhelmed at busy times.

It was opend in 2000 with a design to accommodate 3 mppa. It now sees nearly double that and in 2008 saw well over 6 mppa.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]New walkway will enhance passenger experience

Bristol Airport’s new walkway was officially opened today (Friday 28 May), concluding 12 months’ work on the £8 million project. Following several weeks of tests to familiarise airlines and ground handlers with the new facility, Councillor Nigel Ashton, the Leader of North Somerset Council, declared the walkway ‘open for business’ – just in time for what is forecast to be the Airport’s busiest weekend of the year so far.

The new 450m walkway connects the terminal building to eight new pre-boarding zones, enabling passengers to walk to and from aircraft instead of being driven by bus. Not only does this improve customer service and enable airlines to better implement priority boarding, it will also reduce emissions from airport vehicles.

As well as improving the departure experience, arriving passengers will be given a positive first impression of the airport and the region, walking undercover from their aircraft to the terminal building. Eye-catching artwork has been commissioned to highlight the attractions of the South West to visitors, and this will adorn a 50 metre stretch of wall-space en route to passport control.

A VIP audience representing airlines, businesses, local communities and tourism organisations were on hand to celebrate the occasion, which comes just days before Bristol Airport’s 80th anniversary (31 May).

Over 81,000 passengers are expected to travel through the terminal over the Bank Holiday weekend (28-31 May), nearly 10 per cent up on last year’s figures. Popular destinations include Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia.

Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer at Bristol Airport, said:
“The new walkway delivers an improved service to our airline customers and their passengers. It is the most visible example to date of our new brand promise – ‘Amazing Journeys Start Here’.

“The walkway will make the airport journey more convenient, easy and enjoyable, removing the hassle of bus transfers for the majority of passengers. It is a statement of our ambition to be a world class airport in North Somerset.”

Councillor Nigel Ashton, Leader of North Somerset Council, said:
“As well as improving the experience of all passengers, it is a symbol of the airport’s commitment to North Somerset and the South West region and I wish them every success.”

The walkway was constructed by Bristol-based building contractor, Kier Western. The structure incorporates 700 tonnes of steel and contains 73,000 floor tiles.

In March, Bristol Airport marked the tenth anniversary of its terminal building by unveiling a new brand identity to guide its business over the next decade. The new brand represents ‘people’, ‘place’ and ‘region’ – the three pillars on which the airport’s success rests – and promises ‘Amazing Journeys Start Here’.

The terminal is expected to handle its 50 millionth passenger towards the end of the year.

A state-of-the-art ‘walk through’ tax and duty free store opened in April, with regional products showcased in a ‘Best of the West’ range.

Transport improvements have also been announced, including a new code of conduct for taxi-drivers, a new fleet of vehicles, and improvements to the Flyer bus service at a cost of £2 million.[/textarea]

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/news-an ... ening.aspx

The walkway has been in use by the public for a couple of weeks.

Fascinating to see the leader of North Somerset Unitary Authority performing the opening ceremony and wishing the airport every success for the future bearing in mind his council tried to stop the walkway being built and for a long time were against any expansion of the airport.

How things change as do politicians' views when it suits them.