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Bristol Airport eyes new carriers
Bristol Airport wants to attract new airlines, its chief executive has told Insider. Robert Sinclair said he would be targeting potential carriers at an air conference next month. He said: "We are looking to attract new airlines. We are focusing on a few key markets, which are Germany, Scandinavia and the Middle East."
The airport currently has 13 airlines flying in and out of Bristol, which includes a mixture of budget, chartered and full service carriers.
Sinclair said: "We spend a lot of time making sure that we offer a full range of airlines and we work with existing carriers so they can expand their portfolios. But we are also looking to attract new airlines."
According to Sinclair, Bristol Airport is targeting full service airlines – that offer international as well as domestic flights – to move into the airport. And Bristol plans to approach carriers at the World Routes Conference, which is being held between 2 and 4 October in Berlin.
"We are attending the two day conference which is an event where airports and airlines get together. We will be promoting the South West and Bristol and we have a very full diary of meetings," he said.
"We will be meeting with a whole range of people and there will be an emphasis on presenting to full service carriers. Germany, Scandinavia and the Middle East - including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar – are all a focus."
Sinclair said the airport is performing well, with 5.7 million passengers so far this year and looking ahead he said he was keen to develop the airport. There are plans to expand security – reducing passenger queues – and Sinclair said he was moving ahead with plans to build a £150m 250-bedroom hotel.
"The hotel will be 100m away from the hotel terminal," he said. "We going through the final planning stages and we are hopeful that construction will start in the next few months. We are in talks with hotel operators and we are working to have the hotel open by spring 2013."
The hotel development follows an £8m investment in the Western Walkway – which links two terminal buildings and £4m duty free store.[/textarea]
http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/south-west/58810-/
I'm not sure how much credence to put on this report. Any article that starts with a sentence that an airport wants to attract new airlines is somewhat stating the ble*ding obvious. It's made to sound like a 'scoop'. Incidentally I make it 16 airlines currently using BRS, not 13.
It seems to knock some of the shine off the airport's assertion in May that they were confident of being able to make 'several significant announcements' in the coming months following the Routes Conference in Sardinia at that time - see below.
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Airport confident of new routes following Sardina conference
Bristol Airport is confident that new destinations are in the pipeline following its successful attendance at Routes Europe (8-10 May), the annual conference which brings together airports and airlines to discuss new flight opportunities.
Over the course of the three day event held in Cagliari, Sardinia, Bristol Airport met with 20 airlines. As part of a campaign to market Bristol and the South West to European airlines, an iPad presentation (developed with locally based creative agencies, SBW and Noisy Little Monkey) was used to present the business case for services to and from the region. Feedback was positive, and several new route announcements are expected in the coming months as a result.
Shaun Browne, Aviation Director at Bristol Airport, said:
“Our presentation was very well received by the airlines, who were impressed by the strength of the South West market. The diverse range of businesses based in the region, combined with a wealth of tourist attractions, makes a compelling case for a network development managers assessing new route opportunities.”
“But we did not only get strong signals from airlines. It is also clear that Bristol is fast becoming a destination which other airports want to see on their departure boards. As a result, early indications for 2012 are very encouraging and we anticipate being in a position to make several significant announcements over the coming months.”[/textarea]
http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/news-an ... -2011.aspx
Furthermore, at the airport consultative committee meeting in April this year the CEO Robert Sinclair told members that 'positive enquiries' had been received from full-service airlines to fly from BRS next year and he envisaged an announcement in the next 3-6 months.
I wonder if things that were thought by the airport to be in the bag earlier this year have escaped. The tenor of the latest media report doesn't suggest anything imminent though the article seems to be the product of someone on work experience.
