Qatar
Not according to the Bristol Evening Post. That organ of journalistic non-excellence (it's not even printed in the city any more), that seems to make an almost daily ritual of reporting airport activities in a negative light, carries a headline today stating that, Bristol Airport expansion could be grounded by lack of business class passengers.
It's only when you read the article that you see they are reporting the conclusions of the Commons Transport Select Committee that long-haul travel from UK regional airports is unlikely to see expansion, which they base on the fact that BA and bmi have axed transatlantic flights from Manchester because of fewer business passengers.
BRS has already stated in its master plan that potential long haul scheduled routes from the airport are limited in number and that New York, Washington, Dubai and Atlanta are the most likely to succeed in the future. That was written over four years ago but I doubt that their views on this have changed in the interim.
As for Qatar, possible I suppose at some point in the future but the thought remains that they would be looking for bigger fish in the first instance.
easyJet
Valencia also seems to have gone for summer 2010 and that too has been picked up by Ryanair.
Bristol City Council
The city council is one of a number of local authorities in the area to have formally objected to airport expansion. It is 'run' (in the loosest sense judging from their track record and I'm not a party political animal) by the Liberal Democrats whose leader is Barbara Janke.
Now Leader Janke and some acolytes are off to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in order to 'network' with people of like mind - Bristol is supposedly a Green city and was one of the eight finalists for European Green City of the Year earlier this year - the only UK city shortlisted.
So our Leader has a good excuse for a jolly at public expense.
When asked on local radio this morning if she was travelling by ferry and train she told the interviewer that she couldn't possibly spend more than two days there and would have to fly.
Perhaps she might like to consider that business people's time is also valuable, probably more so than hers in most cases, and they would appreciate the opportunity to travel from their local airport and not just to those places currently flown from Bristol. Support rather than hostility from local councils might also encourage airlines to increase services. easyJet might even restore the Copenhagen route and she could then have flown from Bristol herself to see what a very useful facility the airport has become and how it might become even more useful in the future.
Or is she already one of those 'antis' who use the airport covertly to creep away on their summer holidays to the Alicantes, Malagas, Palmas etc?