Where to begin..................
I'll start with the closure from a work perspective, it's been a pleasure working alongside the Filton guys during my time at Bristol and I agree with all here that the closure is a travesty.
I fail to see why the airfield couldn't have just been mothballed if they were bothered about the costs
'Mothballing' isn't cheap as the on site equipment costs money in upkeep regardless of whether it's being used or not. Anyhoo, if it was to re-open in say three years, would the spares be available for the radar, ILS, NDB etc and who would carry out maintainence meanwhile. Equipment can become obsolete in this game in not too short a timeframe. Where would the engineers come from, certainly not employed by Bae. What about the ATC staff? Yes, you'll always get guys at the very start or very end of their career to work for you (if the T&Cs are right) but that carries great cost in getting the unit up and running again. Where would the 'customers' come from? Couple of trainers from Oxford a day and a LARS contract? Give me strength!
Filton should have been developed in order to replace Cardiff and Lulsgate.......an almost ideal transport interchange with road and rail connections adjacent?
Then that would require a co-ordinated transport policy.......last mentioned by Prescott in 1997
And pigs might fly. While it's a nice sentiment, the owners of Bristol would have had to be convinced to scrap their plans (not really feasible given what they are managing to do with their current site) and the Welsh Assembly would have to be incapacitated long enough to steal away their new dream
Welsh Government | Welsh Government to consider purchase of Cardiff Airport
Two motorways M4 and M5 the rail connections to Plymouth, Paddington, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow right on the doorstep.
Which could have been somewhat addressed if the rest of the transport infrastructure around the south side of Bristol had been dragged into the 20th century. BANES, BCC and the DfT have been slack in this regard, shame on them. These people think the road through Barrow Gurney is an acceptable route to Bristol Airport!
What international carrier would want to operate out a field with cows f*****g downwind!!
Not noticed the fornicating bovines from the office window myself, maybe I should pay more attention! On a serious note, have you asked any 'international carriers' if they give a flying f**k whether the fileds round the airport are full of livestock or not? I suspect they couldn't give a fiddlers as long as their pax want to fly there and the onward transport links are available. No doubt on-site facilities would be more of a factor too. Oh, and just one more thing on this point, why do the 'international carriers' not fly into Cardiff now, if it's got a long runway................or is it the 'cows f*****g' downwind again?
I agree that the airport isn't in the optimal postion (except for those of us who choose to live south of the Mendips), but other than that, it is absolutely fine. People who squawk about the wx need to look at the airlines and their reluctance to train crews and equip their aircraft to CATIII capability. Bad wx can happen anywhere, just ask the pax who were meant to spend Crimbo in Funchal but ended up at the Holiday Inn on the A38!
As I said at the beginning, it is a shame to see such an historic airfield and potentially fantastic international airport site close, but once the late 80s came along, it was never going to happen for a multitude of reasons. However, let's not have the passing of Filton become a reason just to bash Bristol again, it's getting tiresome guys.