Passenger numbers at Bristol Airport continue to soar, with nearly three quarters of a million (723,000) journeys made during August – the highest total for any month in the Airport’s history. August also included another milestone, with the busiest ever day recorded on Thursday the 14th, when a total of 25,390 passengers passed through the terminal in 24 hours.
This followed record-breaking figures for June and July, with growth of 3.2 per cent continuing the Airport’s return to pre-recession passenger numbers. With September’s total swelled by VIP arrivals for last week’s NATO Summit in South Wales, the annual total is expected to exceed the previous high of 6.2m in 2008.
Growth has been driven by the introduction of larger aircraft on existing services, high load factors during the holiday season, and the launch of routes to new destinations. For example, KLM increased capacity on its four-times daily Amsterdam service by 20 per cent, easyJet operated an eleventh Bristol-based aircraft throughout summer, and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) commenced a seasonal service to Stockholm.