Bristol airport unveils £150m expansion plans

Bristol International Airport unveiled its £150-million expansion plans yesterday.

Those behind the plans say expansion will create up to 4,000 new jobs in and around Lulsgate. The plans are designed to increase the number of passengers using the airport annually from six million in 2009 to 10 million by 2016, which the planners say will bring in £343m to the region.

News of the largest single investment in the airport's history comes at the start of a six-week public consultation before a planning application is submitted to North Somerset Council.

If given permission, work would start on the expansion in the autumn and be completed by 2016.

Flights by commercial aircraft would increase from about 60,000 in 2008 to about 86,000 a year – an additional five or six flights per hour during the peak operational hours of 6am to 11pm.

The scheme is key to the airport's desire to attract long-haul flights by major airlines to international cities including Dubai, Atlanta, Cape Town, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The expansion includes a hotel and a multi-storey car park with a covered walkway to the terminal, boosting car park capacity from about 13,000 to 18,000. There are also plans to demolish the old terminal building, which currently houses offices, and replace it with new offices to the west of the terminal, which would be expanded to cope with increased passenger numbers.

New transport links to the airport will take place alongside the development, including improvements to the A38, a new fleet of buses on the Flyer service from Temple Meads, an extension to the Rapid Transit route from Ashton Vale, new bus services to Weston-super-Mare and Bath and a link route around south Bristol.

The expansion plans will be on display at the airport from Thursday, January 22 until March 6.

Airport bosses are keen to pacify the green lobby, who claim the additional planes will have a detrimental effect on the immediate environment. The airport says reducing car reliance is central to its plans and expects a fourfold increase in the number of passengers using public transport by 2016.

There are currently 27 aircraft stands, including five contact stands (those passengers can walk to from the terminal). These will be increased to 33 stands, including 25 contact stands, significantly reducing the use of buses to transport passengers between aircraft and the terminal. There will be no change to the current night-noise quota system which restricts night flying.

The airport's plans also promise that at least 20 per cent of the predicted additional energy requirements will come from on-site renewable sources, including wind power and biomass heat generation.

Bristol International Airport chief executive Robert Sinclair said: "This development will enable the airport to meet the growing demand for air travel to and from the South West. The new facilities will make the airport better for our passengers, allowing us to improve the service and range of flights available to local business and leisure travellers.

"It will also help us attract tourists directly into the region, supporting the local economy.

"Airports remain vital to economic prosperity and quality of life in the regions they serve. Environmental effects need to be balanced against these benefits – that's why we have carefully assessed the impacts of our proposals and brought forward a range of mitigation measures to be considered along with our development proposals. We look forward to discussing these plans with local people and working with them to find a sustainable solution... Our planning application is not yet finalised, but we see this as an extremely important development for the region."

The airport is adamant the current economic slump will not affect the long-term plans, despite it emerging last week passenger numbers had dropped 12 per cent.

Alan Davies, the airport's planning and environment director, said: "Aviation has come a long way since the Sixties and aircraft are about 70 per cent quieter now.

"Despite the current economic conditions we are confident that aviation will be one of the first things to rebound, as it did after 9/11, after the Gulf War in 1991 and after the oil crisis in the Seventies.

"There have always been drops, but the global economy requires air travel and we are sure that this will continue to be the case."

Business groups have welcomed the news.

Sarah Morris, the assistant director of the Confederation of British Industry in the South West, said: "International connectivity is often a factor when global companies decide on where to locate investment... If South West business travellers are able to make even greater use of their regional airport it will contribute to improving the region's productivity and business efficiency."

But Hilary Burn, spokeswoman for Stop Bristol Airport Expansion, said the economic arguments were ''extremely weak".

She said: "Their figures for inbound tourism revenue do not stand up. There is also no proof that expansion will provide any further benefit for local businesses who are increasingly exchanging travel for video-conferencing and other green solutions."

She said ""Expansion at any airport, whether it be Heathrow or Bristol, makes a mockery of the Government's green credentials" and global efforts to reduce carbon emissions as supposed leaders on climate change.

"We cannot keep growing airports and expect to make the massive cuts in carbon emissions that we need to safeguard our future".

Staffed exhibitions will be taking place in the airport's administration building on January 22, 23 and 24.