There is a post today in another airport forum on PPRuNe where a poster expressed the view that BRS is mainly a sun routes airport. Like most small regional airports it has its fair share but there is also a decent spread of non-sun routes, some to important business centres. BRS serves 15 European capital cities plus Edinburgh and Belfast in the UK. A press release issued last year asserted that over two million of easyJet's customers at BRS are business travellers.
BRS relies heavily on easyJet (especially) and Ryanair for its scheduled service programme and between them they account for nearly three-quarters of the airport's eight million annual passenger total. Some of the short-haul business-type routes could do with increased frequency from a passenger's perspective. The airport said recently that it is speaking with airlines with a view to 'increasing flexibility for business passengers'. easyJet has been increasing frequency on some routes in recent years including operating more and more year-round.
The airport lacks long-haul direct scheduled connectivity but does feed into hubs at Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Dublin and Brussels. Given its limited runway, lack of freight facilities and the presence of LHR not a million miles away the absence of scheduled long-haul might not be rectified for quite a while.
Recently my alter ego on another aviation website compiled the BRS summer programme for 2018 which I have copied below.
Austria
Vienna: easyJet (2 x weekly);
Innsbruck: Flybe (1 x weekly)
Balearic Islands
Ibiza: easyJet (4 x weekly); TUI Air (4 x weekly); Ryanair (3 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly); British Airways CityFlyer (1 x weekly)
Mahon: easyJet (4 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (2 x weekly)
Palma: easyJet (17 x weekly, up to 3 x daily); Ryanair (10 x weekly, up to 2 x daily); TUI Air (5 x weekly, up to 2 x daily); Thomas Cook Air (3 x weekly); British Airways CityFlyer (1 x weekly)
Belgium
Brussels: bmi regional (17 x weekly, up to 3 x daily)
Bulgaria
Burgas: TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly); BH Air (1 x weekly)
Canary Islands
Fuerteventura: easyJet (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (2 x weekly); TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Gran Canaria: Ryanair (2 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Lanzarote: Ryanair (3 x weekly); easyJet (2 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (2 x weekly)
Tenerife: easyJet (4 x weekly); Ryanair (3 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (2 x weekly)
Cape Verde
Sal: TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Croatia
Dubrovnik: easyJet (2 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly)
Pula: easyJet (2 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly)
Split: easyJet (5 x weekly)
Cyprus
Larnaca: TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (2 x weekly)
Paphos: easyJet (3 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Czech Republic
Prague: easyJet (6 x weekly)
Denmark
Copenhagen: easyJet (4 x weekly)
Dominican Republic
Punta Cana: TUI (1 x weekly)
Egypt
Hurghada: TUI Air (1 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
France
Bergerac: Ryanair (2 x weekly)
Beziers: Ryanair (3 x weekly)
Bordeaux: easyJet (5 x weekly)
La Rochelle: easyJet (2x weekly)
Limoges: Ryanair (2 x weekly)
Marseille: easyJet (3 x weekly)
Nantes: easyJet (3 x weekly)
Nice: easyJet (10 x weekly, up to 2 x daily)
Paris CDG: bmi regional (14 x weekly, up to 3 x daily); easyJet (7 x weekly)
Toulouse: easyJet (7 x weekly)
Germany
Berlin Schoenfeld: easyJet (7 x weekly)
Cologne: Ryanair (4 x weekly)
Dusseldorf: bmi regional (6 x weekly)
Frankfurt: bmi regional (18 x weekly, up to 3 x daily)
Hamburg: bmi regional (6 x weekly)
Munich: bmi regional (13 x weekly, up to 2 x daily)
Greece
Athens: easyJet (2 x weekly)
Corfu: easyJet (3 x weekly); TUI Air (3 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (2 x weekly)
Crete-Heraklion: easyJet (2 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Crete-Chania: Ryanair (2 x weekly); TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Kefalonia: easyJet (2 x weekly); TUI Air (1 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Kos: TUI Air (2 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Preveza: Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Rhodes: TUI Air (3 x weekly, up to 2 x daily); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Santorini: TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Skiathos: TUI Air (1 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Zakynthos: Thomas Cook Air (4 x weekly); TUI Air (3 x weekly); easyJet (1 x weekly)
Gibraltar
Gibraltar: easyJet (3 x weekly)
Hungary
Budapest: Ryanair (3 x weekly)
Italy
Bologna: Ryanair (2 x weekly)
Catania: easyJet (2 x weekly)
Florence: British Airways CityFlyer (1 x weekly)
Genoa: easyJet (2 x weekly)
Milan Bergamo: Ryanair (3 x weekly)
Milan Malpensa: bmi regional (2 x weekly)
Naples: easyJet (3 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly)
Pisa: easyJet (7 x weekly)
Rome Fiumicino: easyJet (7 x weekly)
Venice Marco Polo: easyJet (7 x weekly); Ryanair (4 x weekly)
Verona: TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Lithuania
Kaunas: Ryanair (3 x weekly)
Madeira
Funchal: easyJet (2 x weekly)
Malta
Malta: Ryanair (3 x weekly); Air Malta (1 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Mexico
Cancun: TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Netherlands
Amsterdam: KLM Cityhopper (28 x weekly, 4 x daily); easyJet (12 x weekly, up to 2 x daily)
Poland
Gdansk: Ryanair (3 x weekly)
Katowice: Wizz Air (3 x weekly)
Krakow: easyJet (4 x weekly); Ryanair (3x weekly)
Poznan: Ryanair (2 x weekly)
Rzeszow: Ryanair (2 x weekly)
Warsaw Modlin: Ryanair (4 x weekly)
Wroclaw: Ryanair (2 x weekly)
Portugal
Faro: easyJet (16 weekly, up to 3 x daily); Ryanair (7 x weekly); TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Lisbon: easyJet (5 x weekly)
Porto: easyJet (3 x weekly)
Romania
Bucharest: Ryanair (2 x weekly)
Sardinia
Olbia: easyJet (3 x weekly); bmi regional (1 x weekly)
Spain Mainland
Alicante: easyJet (14 x weekly, 2 x daily); Ryanair (10 x weekly, up to 2 x daily); TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Almeria: Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Barcelona: easyJet (14 x weekly, 2 x daily)
Bilbao: easyJet (3 x weekly)
Girona: Ryanair (5 x weekly); TUI Air (1 x weekly); Thomas Cook Air (1 x weekly)
Madrid: easyJet (7 x weekly)
Malaga: easyJet (16 x weekly, up to 3 x daily); Ryanair (8 x weekly, up to 2 x daily); TUI Air (2 x weekly); British Airways CityFlyer (2 x weekly)
Murcia: easyJet (7 x weekly)
Reus: Ryanair (1 x weekly); TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Seville: easyJet (2 x weekly)
Valencia: Ryanair (2 x weekly)
Sweden
Gothenburg: bmi regional (2 x weekly)
Stockholm Arlanda: easyJet (2 x weekly)
Switzerland
Geneva: easyJet (10 x weekly, up to 2 x daily)
Basel: easyJet (4 x weekly)
Tunisia
Enfidha: TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Turkey
Antalya: Thomas Cook Air (5 x weekly); TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Bodrum: easyJet (3 x weekly); TUI Air (1 x weekly)
Dalaman: Thomas Cook Air (6 x weekly); easyJet (3 x weekly); TUI Air (2 x weekly)
USA
Orlando Sanford: TUI Air (1 x weekly)
UK and Republic of Ireland
Newcastle: easyJet (14 x weekly, up to 3 x daily)
Isle of Man: easyJet (2 x weekly)
Guernsey: Aurigny (7 x weekly)
Jersey: Blue Islands, as Flybe franchise partner (9 x weekly, up to 2 x daily)
Belfast International: easyJet (17 x weekly, up to 3 x daily)
Aberdeen: bmi regional (5 x weekly)
Edinburgh: easyJet (25 x weekly, up to 5 x daily)
Glasgow: easyJet (22 x weekly, up to 4 x daily)
Inverness: easyJet (7 x weekly)
Cork: Aer Lingus Regional (7 x weekly)
Dublin: Aer Lingus Regional (21 x weekly, up to 4 x daily); Ryanair (20 x weekly, up to 3 x daily)
Knock: Ryanair (3 x weekly)
Shannon: Ryanair (2 x weekly)