Major UK airport to get 'biggest ever transformation' with perks for passengers
The eighth busiest airport in the country is set to undergo a 'transformational' £60m project.
Bristol Airport is to have a 'public transport interchange hub' built outside its terminal as well as a multi-storey car park. Coaches, buses and other forms of public transport will use the hub, which will be based on the top level of the multi-storey car park.
It is set to increase the number of bus and coach bays from six to 16, meaning getting to the airport for those who opt to go via public transport as opposed to car should be much easier. The top level of the car park will also provide a dedicated drop-off and pick-up location for family, friends or taxis. There will be more than 2,000 spaces available in the new multi-storey car park.
A glazed pedestrian bridge will link up the parking area with the terminal, replacing the current pedestrian route of using steps and slopes between the car parks and the terminal. The project forms part of Bristol Airport’s overall multi-million-pound transformational development plan, which the airport's bosses hope will enable 12 million passengers a year to use the airport, an increase of 10 million, Bristol Post reports.
The airport will undergo a £60million upgrade (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)This will create thousands of new jobs, new direct air links and support inbound tourism, they have claimed. There will also be new waiting rooms and rest facilities for passengers, airport bosses added. Campaigners who argued against the expansion because of the climate crisis and the high-carbon nature of air travel lost their appeal against the decision in May.
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Dave Lees, CEO, Bristol Airport, said: “This project is transformational for our customers. It is the largest single capital investment project since the terminal opened in 2000 and will take 18 months to complete. As with all large-scale projects, they are complex and the development work will need to be phased to accommodate the normal day to day Airport operations.
"During the project, customers will see several temporary changes taking place, including temporary relocation of some car parks and changes to internal roads layouts. We will continue to keep customers informed of the changes via directional signage, customer messaging on car park bookings, the website and on social media.”
In 2022 Bristol was the eighth busiest airport in the UK, with 65,909 planes ferrying 7,948,941 passengers. While no airport has been free from disruption in the post-Covid-lockdown years, Bristol's travel hub has found itself in the headlines more than some.
On a number of occasions passengers have expressed frustration at the amount of time they've had to queue to get through to the departure lounge. Last year Bristol Airport apologised after passengers faced "unacceptable" security queues - with one family claiming to have been left £1,600 out of pocket after they missed their flight due to the delays.
Customers described arriving at the airport on a Friday morning last October to find people queueing out of the building, with further "chaos" inside. Some missed their flights, while others were able to travel only due to airlines taking off later.
A new public transport hub will be added (Bristol Airport)Kieron Sheridan claimed his family faced "absolute carnage" after arriving for their Ryanair flight to Valencia. They joined the queue outside the terminal at 4.45am, with their flight due to take off at 6.35am. At the time he tweeted: "Absolute carnage at Bristol airport due to poor security organisation and lack of personnel.
"Queued for nearly two hours and only got half way through the queue when advised our flight had gone without us. The queue started outside of the building, we joined it at 4.45am. We were still at least 45 mins away from getting through security when we had to give up."
Max Walsh, a reporter for ITV News West Country, described the scenes at the airport as "absolute carnage". He tweeted: "Trying to catch a flight to Belfast. I've been queueing for 90 mins and still nowhere near security. Queueing system has completely broken down as barriers are pushed over and hundreds of people face missing flights."
It is hoped that the £60million upgrade works, along with a general return to post-pandemic normality, will see such flareups become a thing of the past.
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