Your airport www.bristolairport.co.uk Issue 12 > Summer 2016 Passengers thanked for In it for the patience while improvement work is underway Demand for flights to and journey to the departure from Bristol Airport continues lounge, as well as creating long-haul to rise with airlines offering an enlarged baggage seats to 117 destinations at reclaim area, customs the last count, and over seven facilities and meet and Long-haul flights will return to Bristol Airport next year million passengers passing greet zone. through the terminal in a following Thomson Airways’ announcement of new But, while work is underway, rolling 12 month period for congestion is possible - routes to Cancun in Mexico and Sanford in Florida. the first time earlier this year particularly at the busiest The airline will use one of its fleet of Boeing 787s to (see back page). peak times during the operate the Bristol flights. That is why we are investing summer holiday season. heavily in expanding and All passengers are therefore updating our facilities, with asked to allow sufficient work underway on a £24 time to complete essential million terminal extension processes – from dropping (pictured) focused on off vehicles in the car transforming the security park, through check-in and search process for passengers. security, to boarding the aircraft. Those on scheduled This is the biggest flights can check in two construction project hours before departure, and undertaken at the Airport up to three hours should be since the current terminal allowed for charter flights. building opened 16 years ago. The first phase opens Thank you for your patience The introduction of the aircraft, known as the Dreamliner, is part in mid-July, and when fully while we work to improve of Thomson’s move to ensure customers in the South West can fly completed in December it will the Airport experience. to the most exciting destinations from their local airport. Since its deliver a faster, more efficient introduction, the aircraft has reduced flight times by an average of 22 minutes and revolutionised air travel with its advanced comfort and well-being features reducing the effects of jet-lag. It is the first time passengers have been able to fly direct to long-haul destinations from Bristol since 2013. The Dreamliner’s debut also creates exciting possibilities for the future, with its ability to reach destinations across North America, the Caribbean, Mexico, the Middle East and even parts of the Far East. Alongside the headline-grabbing long-haul routes, Thomson also announced three new destinations from Bristol for summer 2017 – Catania in Sicily, Chania in Greece, and the Catalonian city of Girona in Spain. Next year’s programme also includes additional flights to Gran Canaria, Pula in Croatia, and Paphos in Cyprus, which enable holidaymakers to choose 10 or 11 night breaks as alternatives to the traditional seven or 14 night stays. Transatlantic links were also strengthened in a separate development when WOW air commenced flights to North America via Reykjavik (see inside for more details). 1 Sustainability Keeping on track Environment Manager joins industry group Ryanair has topped the table in Bristol Airport’s Environment Manager, Bristol Airport’s annual Tracker Melanie King (pictured), has become Awards. Based on flight records a member of the Airports Council for 2015, the scheme measures International (ACI) Europe Environmental compliance with departure Strategy Committee. As part of this group, routes set up to minimise noise Melanie will be sharing expertise and best disturbance for local residents practice on aviation environmental matters and also encourages airlines to with her counterparts at airports across Europe. use procedures which reduce their noise impact. As a truly international business, aviation benefits from this collaborative approach and Melanie is looking forward to having a direct input to this important process. Catching some rays Sustainability Snapshot goes digital Last year the first Sustainability Snapshot was published (copies were included with issue 10 of Your Airport), featuring facts and figures on Bristol Airport’s Ryanair, which serves 30 destinations from performance and impacts the Airport and operated over 3,500 flights during the 12 month period, was the only on the local community and airline scoring over 99 percent for departure environment. track compliance and over 95 percent for continuous descent approaches (CDAs). This year’s Sustainability Snapshot is Craig Hope, Ryanair’s Base Captain at Work to install 420 solar panels paperless, and comes in the form of a Bristol Airport, was presented with a short video which can be viewed online on the western walkway which certificate to mark the achievement, along at www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/ with a large cake to share with his fellow connects departure gates environment/sustainability. 8-16 with the terminal has flight crew! In a close-run race, Thomson For those who prefer more detail, a full Airways and Thomas Cook Airlines were commenced and is due to be annual monitoring report is also available also recognised for their outstanding completed in early summer. at the same location, providing data on performance, both achieving over 99 per passenger and flight numbers, as well the cent for departure track compliance and Once completed, the new solar panels will Airport’s environmental performance, noise over 90 per cent for CDAs. provide the Airport with 101,505 kWh of monitoring and flight track-keeping. The Tracker Awards were introduced in electricity per year. This is in addition to 2013 to recognise outstanding operational the power produced by the solar panels performance by airlines at Bristol Airport, that were installed on the east terminal based on monitoring of compliance with extension last year (approximately 35,000 noise preferential routings (NPRs). CDAs kWh a year). - which see aircraft stay higher for longer To put this in context, rough calculations when approaching the Airport, reducing show that last year’s project produced noise and emissions for some local enough electricity to make around 1.5 communities – are also actively encouraged. million cups of tea, while the latest solar The Tracker Awards’ league table format is installation will produce enough additional an effective way of encouraging continuous electricity to make around 600,000 slices improvement and ensuring any deviations of toast! from track are taken seriously by airlines. 2 Sustainability Passenger experience New look and location for popular coffee shop Winter opening The popular Café Ritazza has been given a makeover as part of work for Airport hotel to create a west terminal extension. Customers can still find Ritazza on the terminal ground floor in the arrivals concourse, but with a new look and location. Ritazza is open 24 hours a day and makes a great place to meet friends and family or grab a bite to eat before starting the journey home. The café style coffee shop offers a range of refreshments and pastries, as well as quality coffee and draught beer. Bristol is currently the only top ten UK airport which does not offer passengers hotel accommodation, but this anomaly will soon be a thing of the past. The Airport’s first on-site hotel is taking shape as construction continues ahead of a scheduled opening in December. The modular build sees component parts assembled off-site before being transported to the Airport for Car park changes made clear assembly, speeding up the process. When completed, the Hampton by Changes to arrangements for drivers dropping off and picking up Hilton hotel will have 201 rooms, passengers at Bristol Airport came into force at the end of April. Contrary flexible meeting spaces for business visitors, and a 24-hour fitness room. to some reports, this did not represent an increase in charges but was The hotel is expected to be a popular prompted by increased congestion in the car park closest to the terminal. option with the increasing number of passengers travelling from more Under the new arrangements, pick up The tariff for 20 minutes remains £1, but than an hour away, particularly and drop off have been separated. This this is now available in the Short Stay/ when departing early in the morning recognises that the time required by drivers Pick Up car park opposite the terminal. or arriving late in the evening. meeting passengers may vary depending This is cheaper than equivalent stays Developed and owned by CIMC, it on factors such as the arrival of flights at many other UK airports. Prominent will be operated by Hilton Worldwide, off schedule, and the time taken to clear signage is now in place to make it clearer drawing on the latter’s experience passport control and reclaim bags. By to drivers which car park they should use of operating hotels at many of the contrast, the drop off area is designed to when picking up and when dropping off world’s top transport hubs. enable drivers to ‘drop and go’, with tariff passengers. bands reflecting this speedier process. Bristol tops punctuality table again Top 10 UK Airports ranked by OTP Rank Coverage Airline Name/Code Average OTP Bristol has been named the best performing worldwide. For the purposes of the report, 2015 1 93.3% Bristol/BRS 88.64% UK airport for the second year running in ‘on-time performance’ (OTP) is defined 2 97.3% London City/LCY 85.57% a league table measuring punctuality of as arriving or departing within 15 minutes 3 93% Birmingham/BHX 84.42% flights across the globe. As well as topping of the scheduled time. Bristol achieved a 4 97.6% Edinburgh/EDI 76.52% the domestic table, Bristol ranked sixth in performance rating of 88.64 per cent. 5 97.6% London Heathrow/LHR 74.63% the European, Middle East and Asia region, A big factor contributing to this success is 6 96.7% Glasgow/GLA 72.09% and tenth overall in the world.