Many thanks for that, CV. I appreciate your opinion as an airline pilot who I believe has considerable experience of operating in and out of BRS.
The airport, from its planning application amendment, was apparently going to use stand 5 for the 787 until the eastern walkway is extended as part of the overall infrastructure expansion, which will involve demolishing the old terminal first to make space available. The first link below shows a picture of the expansion proposals - the eastern walkway is at the bottom right of the picture for those unfamiliar with BRS.
http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/abou...t/image-3.ashx
There seems little doubt that Thomson originally intended using the 787 at BRS as illustrated by the comment of their MD, Chris Browne, in 2010 - see second link below. Furthermore, it can be assumed that the BRS management still believed its airport would host the type or it would not have sought a planning approval amendment as recently as last winter to facilitate the aircraft's use.
Thomson will use 787 to offer new destinations - www.travelweekly.co.uk
BRS has been realistic in its master plan about the limited scope for long-haul from its catchment. Whilst recognising opportunities for charter routes it believes that only four scheduled routes are likely to be viable in the future, ie in the period up to 2030 (three in the USA plus Dubai), and disagrees with a York Aviation report for North Somerset Council that discussed the prospects for a number of other long-haul routes, mainly in North America and Asia.
So in terms of overall passenger numbers the lack of long-haul would have a negligible effect and would, in itself, be unlikely to prevent the airport continuing its passenger growth in the years ahead up to the 10 mppa limit currently set by its planning consents. Probably the major drawback would be the inability to access the likes of Dubai with its huge provision for onward travel.
Of course, it's entirely possible that Thomson's decision to remove the routes to Mexico and Florida is influenced by commercial considerations rather than operational ones and the 787 may yet be seen at BRS at some point.
Out of interest, can anyone confirm a post elsewhere in this thread that the BRS runway is 45 metres wide? A number of websites I've checked show it as 2011 metres long by the (more usual) 46 metres wide.