For the third year in a row, passenger traffic at Bristol airport in the UK is on a high, with the number of people passing through the terminal up by 2.8 percent in 2012, compared to the preceding year.
A total of 5.9 million passengers used Bristol Airport in 2012, and the rising passenger traffic makes the airport the only one of the UK’s top ten airports to report continuous passenger growth every year since 2009.
Robert Sinclair, the chief executive officer at Bristol Airport, said, ‘These figures are a very positive signal that the South West economy is moving in the right direction. The resurgence in business travel has been particularly strong with several airlines, including KLM and Brussels Airlines, adding capacity on routes to major European hub airports. We expect this growth to continue throughout 2013, with further route announcements in the pipeline.’
The airport is reporting a rise in passenger numbers despite having handled 7.3 percent fewer flights than in 2011, as a result of airlines operating larger aircraft with increased load factors.
In October 2012, the airport became a hub for the newly launched Bmi Regional airline, which will be offering five times weekly flights to Hamburg from February 11, and a six times a week service to Frankfurt from late March.
easyJet is also offering new routes from the airport, including services to Copenhagen and Naples, while Ryanir is offering a new three-times-weekly flight to Warsaw Modlin.
The airport has completed the first phase of its development to convert into a hub capable of handling 10 million passengers, with three new aircraft stands inaugurated by the then Transport Secretary, Justine Greening. The development will also include construction of a supplementary immigration facility, and an extended security search area.
