This week Bristol Airport Spotting is celebrating its 5th birthday, started back in May 2013 by one of the current admins, Simon Fewkes, the group was originally setup to share photos, information about the airport and build an online community around Bristol Airport but rapidly grew and continued to evolve into the online presence BAS has today.
Five years on BAS has seen fantastic growth with a very busy and active Facebook group currently totaling over 1600 active members, frequently updated Flickr group with more than 9000 photos uploaded, active Twitter page with over 300 followers as well as the dedicated website seeing hundreds of hits per day.
As well as the online group we have ventured into real life events including 3 very successful aviation fairs raising nearly £2000 for the various airport charities of the year. In total the events saw more than 1700 visitors enjoy great views and interesting stands. Additional to the aviation fairs there have been regular “get togethers” for the first 787 Dreamliner flight, the Football charters and Rugby World cup flights which bring the BAS members together, the initial idea and goal for the group.
Working closely with Bristol Airport we have been able to provide information and news when available, access to the Bristol Room and old ATC tower during events and take over the display of the airport mayfly each week on the BAS website.
What does the future hold? We will continue to grow as a group in terms of member numbers, our online presence and further improve our website and features available to spotters. We are also planning some further events for next year that will be announced once more details are formalised.
We look forward to another 5 years and thank Bristol Airport for their help and co-operation with this group, the events and plans for the future. We continue to strive to be the spotting group of choice for Bristol Airport.