We used the new easyJet service to Inverness this week. We went up on Sunday and came back yesterday. I was interested to see how many people would use it and was pleased to see the aircraft were comfortably filled. I overheard a cabin staff member say 114 plus 1 on the outbound, and on the inbound yesterday there were only about twenty empty seats.
In fact on the inbound we had an A 319. The Airbus captain told us that the scheduled Boeing 737-700 went tech and that the A 319 and crew were brought in from STN to fly BRS-INV-BRS. Well done easyJet because we arrived back at BRS only seventy minutes late. However, I noted that the morning Pisa was showing a delay of over twelve hours. I believe the INV a/c normally does the PSA rotation before flying to Scotland, so it appears we were very lucky.
One moan about Bristol Airport though. Our delayed flight coincided with the arrival of several other flights and the airport taxi service was overwhelmed. There was clearly an insufficient number of taxis available for such a peak period. The airport taxi service is a monopoly and should be able to cope better than this if it wishes to continue to enjoy such a status. When we eventually got a taxi the driver told us the situation had been thus for most of the afternoon. The remarks of some visitors to the area were less than complimentary towards the airport.
This was compounded by an enormous queue for the ‘Flyer’ coach. Bristol traffic alone will make the ‘every twenty minutes’ schedule difficult, so why at peak times is it left to the driver first to load all the bags then get back on the coach and start taking fares? This can take fifteen minutes at busy periods. It is a regular occurrence. I speak from personal observation. There should be an additional bus company employee at the bus stop to assist at such times.
BRS is poorly served by public transport. What it does have must be worked far more efficiently.