The master plan contains a forecast that a Dubai route (one of only four long-haul scheduled routes for which it is thought there would be demand from the Bristol catchment) would be carrying 120,000 pax per annum by 2015.
I suppose BRS would prove a problem at the moment as Emirates seem to be using A330 equipment which I assume could not make Dubai non-stop with a full payload (with any payload?) off the rolling hills of Broadfield Down.
It seems that before 2015 there will be flights to Dubai from many regional airports if its hedonistic outlets continue to spring up at the current rate of knots, let alone onward transfers from there with Emirates.
I’ve been reading with interest the debate on the CWL thread re rail connections.
Given that any rail link to BRS would be prohibitively expensive to build and would be a shuttle that required a change of train at Temple Meads, I wonder whether the Flyer service is not a better option anyway for a ‘rail-locked’ airport like BRS.
The Flyer service, operated by 50-seat First Coaches on behalf of the airport, runs every fifteen minutes from/to Temple Meads Station from early to late (although frequency drops to a 30-minute one from mid evening) and it is possible to book through-rail journeys direct to/from the airport using the coach for the last/first bit, a 25-minute journey.
As Temple Meads is on a main-line railway ‘crossroads’ with regular services in all directions it means access can be gained from many areas. Any arriving rail passengers at TM can be sure of an ongoing connection to the airport within a few minutes.
Bristol Airport is shown as a station in First Great Western’s list of stations on its web site and the Flyer appears on TM station’s arrival and departure screens.
It seems increasingly popular and frequency was increased a few months ago, with the next step being a ten-minute frequency for much of the day and evening.
The Flyer accounts for 5% of passengers (currently around 285,000) using the airport each year, and the airport’s stated aim is to get public transport use up to 13% by the time 9 million annual pax are reached, with the Flyer carrying the bulk.