August was the best ever month for passenger numbers at BRS with over 700,000 passing through the terminal in a calendar month for the first time.*
June, July and August together also represent the best ever main summer period.
Robert Sinclair, the airport CEO, sees consumer confidence returning and hopes the airport will achieve 7 mppa within the next two to three years. He's normally quite conservative with these sort of public pronouncements so he presumably believes there is a realistic chance of another million passengers a year within this timescale.
No doubt he's factored in the likely loss of some 'Welsh' passengers if CWL (as seems likely) begins to get its act together, and there's always a chance of some further unpleasant shocks within the economy going forward.
Rolling 12-month total at the end of July was 6,013,520 which is 2.6% up on the same period a year ago (CAA stats). 2013 would be the second ever calendar year when 6 mppa was surpassed (2008 being the other).
This suggests the need for terminal expansion is becoming ever more pressing.
* BRS collects its passenger data differently from the CAA, the main difference being that BRS does not include under 2s according to an email I received from the airport recently. Consequently the BRS monthly and annual figures are invariably slightly lower than the CAA's and in CAA terms 700,000 was also exceeded in August 2008.
Bristol Airport enjoys best ever month ? Bristol Airport