Bristol Airport

Bristol Airport
Characteristics
ICAO code	EGGD
IATA code	BRS
Coordinates	51 ° 22 '58 "  N , 2 ° 43' 9"  W Coordinates: 51 ° 22 '58 "  N , 2 ° 43' 9"  W.
Height above MSL	190 m (623  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	11 km southwest of Bristol
Street
Basic data
opening	1957
operator	South West Airports Limited
Terminals	1
Passengers	7,610,780 (2016)
Air freight	0 (2016)
Flight movements	73,536 (2016)
Start-and runway
09/27	2011 m × 45 m asphalt

The Bristol Airport ( IATA : BRS ; ICAO : EGGD ) is the international passenger airport from Bristol in southwest England . With 7.6 million passengers in 2016, it is the UK's ninth busiest airport .

history

A Vickers Viscount of Cambrian Airways in 1963 in Bristol

In 1929 a flying club from Filton Airfield decided to buy a farm in Whitechurch, near Bristol, to build an airfield there. Bristol Airport was inaugurated by Prince George in 1930 and was the third airport in England at the time. In the first year of operation, over 900 passengers used the airfield and by 1940 over 4000 passengers.

During the Second World War , Bristol was the only civil airport in the United Kingdom in operation and started all passenger flights.

Since the airfield needed a longer runway for the new aircraft, but was surrounded by residential areas, it was decided to expand a military facility of the Royal Air Force near Redhill, the current location, to the military airfield RAF Lulsgate Bottom . Even after Princess Marina opened the new airfield in 1957 , the old airfield in Whitechurch was still in use.

In 1963 the runway was extended and in 1965 the passenger handling building was extended due to the strong growth in passengers . Three years later a new 460 m² passenger building was put into operation.

In 1974 the most important local airline, the Court Line , disbanded and the airport suffered from the resulting drop in passengers.

In 1996 the Bristol City Council sold the airport and in 1997 FirstGroup plc owned a 51% stake . while the City of Bristol holds the remaining 49%. In March 2000, a new terminal building was opened again. In the same year over two million passengers were handled for the first time. In January 2001, Macquarie Bank and Cintra bought the airport for £ 198 million .

In May 2005, Continental Airlines offered direct flights from Bristol to Newark near New York for the first time , but these have since been discontinued.

On January 5, 2007, the airport had problems with the only runway because the new asphalt pavement was too damp and there were several incidents in which aircraft landing very late or came to a standstill next to the runway. The runway was closed for more than twelve hours the following weekend. British Airways temporarily canceled its flights to and from Bristol due to safety concerns. Bristol has been one of Ryanair's bases since November 2007 .

Location and transport links

The airport is about 11 km southwest of downtown Bristol on the A38 expressway and can also be reached via the nearby M5 motorway . From the airport there is a direct connection to the city center of Bristol with the A1 and A2 bus routes operated by First, which stop at Bristol Temple Meads station .

Terminal building

The check-in area at Bristol Airport

Bristol Airport has a terminal with 50 check-in counters and a total of 18 gates ( 1-4 , 6-16 and 23-25 ) that have not yet been equipped with passenger boarding bridges . There are also the usual service and retail facilities.

Airlines and Destinations

Bristol has connections to several national and European city and holiday destinations, including Belfast , Dublin , Glasgow , Amsterdam , Brussels , Lisbon , Madrid , Paris , Prague , Rome , Lanzarote and Palma . The largest local companies are easyJet and Ryanair . German-speaking destinations are Cologne / Bonn with Ryanair and Berlin-Schönefeld , Innsbruck , Basel and Salzburg with easyJet. Long-haul routes are currently not offered.

Lufthansa has been flying to Bristol direct from Frankfurt am Main three times a day since March 30, 2008 ; this connection was abandoned at the beginning of 2009 for economic reasons.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Passenger numbers at all airports in the United Kingdom. (PDF; 79 KB) In: caa.co.uk. Civil Aviation Authority , accessed May 13, 2017 .  
2. ↑ Freight figures from all UK airports. (PDF; 12 KB) In: caa.co.uk. Civil Aviation Authority , accessed May 13, 2017 .  
3. ↑ Aircraft movements at all UK airports. (PDF; 157 KB) In: caa.co.uk. Civil Aviation Authority , accessed May 13, 2017 .  
4. ↑ BBC News v. January 5, 2007: Flights canceled in safety row
5. ^ Flights from Bristol

Web links

Commons : Bristol Airport  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of Bristol Airport (english)
• Airport data on World Aero Data ( 2006 )