terrier,
I think this is largely down to party politics. Penrose is a Conservative and another local Tory, the higher-profile Liam Fox, has also set himself publicly against the airport expanding, although he does hint he might change his mind a bit if road access was greatly improved.
Because it’s Labour’s idea to expand airports the Tory MPs instinctively seem against it, at least in this part of the world.
Of course those Tories on the local council committee cannot be so cavalier in their public pronouncements as they have a duty to strictly follow the law when it comes to arriving at decisions. I think the North Somerset Council has no overall political majority anyway although the Tories are the largest group. Could be wrong, but I don't live in that area.
Many years ago when old Labour was in power (probably the late 60s) central government put forward a suggestion that Bristol should become a local airport with Cardiff becoming the regional airport for the West and South Wales. That time the local Conservatives went into overdrive against those plans. As I said, it’s politics.
The provisional programme for summer 2007 (sched and charter) is available to download from the BRS website in .pdf form.
On the charter front Olbia doesn't appear, although Chania is back and Innsbruck re-appears after many years’ absence in summer (as opposed to winter). Agadir is also continuing through next summer but one or two destinations seem to have fewer rotations than last summer.
I realise that much can change between now and when the programme commences.
No surprises on the scheduled front but again things could still happen of course.
The airport has taken an interesting approach re the current BA flights.
For CDG, EDI and GLA it lists the easyJet flights only, but adds a note, “Additional flights will be confirmed shortly” adding that the airport website should be visited for up-to-date information when available.
For MUC, FRA, DUS, MXP, ZRH it appends a note, “Flights are expected to operate during summer 2007” adding that the airport website should be visited for up-to-date information when available. It also has the same note for the proposed sched service to Gibraltar.
Doubtless these are ‘holding’ announcements and it may be that the airport itself has no concrete information at this time.
Last edited by MerchantVenturer; 15th Dec 2006 at 21:05.