I remember those times in the 70s and early 80s CJ when there was a serious lobby in the Bristol City Council in favour of closing their loss-making airport at Lulsgate which was a drain on rate payers' contributions.
In 1978 a government white paper divided UK airports into one of four categories: Gateway, Regional, Local and General Aviation. Cardiff was classified as the regional airport for South Wales and the West Country with Bristol listed as a local airport.
The appointment of the late Les Wilson as Bristol Airport MD in 1980 sowed the seeds for the turn-around that grew steadily, as the airport's potential began to be recognised under his stewardship, until he was tragically killed in a car accident in 1995. Since then BRS has grown to probably beyond Les's wildest dreams.
In terms of passenger numbers the two airports were actually never that far apart in Bristol's darkest days. In the 'noughties' the gap widened spectacularly mainly due of course to Go/easyJet later augmented by Ryanair whilst CWL, after a spurt in 2003 the first full year of bmi baby, struggled to keep in sight.
As the world financial woes ease CWL will recover from its dreadful five years - the first green shoots are already in evidence - but the relative sizes and make-ups of the respective catchments will always make it difficult for CWL to match BRS in overall passenger numbers, but it has its own particular strengths that can be realised. Furthermore, BRS is currently restricted to 10 mppa by its planning consents and if they cannot be overturned then CWL would benefit, but that's for the future.
The following table shows annual passenger numbers in millions per annum at both airports since 1968 (courtesy of the CAA), although until 1992 (when BRS breached 1 mppa for the first time) both airports were below the one million barrier. I've put an asterisk against the CWL figures in the years it was the busier of the two. The last time was in 1986.
CWL BRS
1968 0.130 0.130
1969 0.116 0.120
1970 0.171* 0.152
1971 0.213* 0.201
1972 0.239 0.262
1973 0.284 0.289
1974 0.230* 0.184
1975 0.209* 0.195
1976 0.192 0.205
1977 0.196 0.211
1978 0.234* 0.233
1979 0.254* 0.238
1980 0.261* 0.239
1981 0.294* 0.246
1982 0.360* 0.261
1983 0.383* 0.331
1984 0.429* 0.423
1985 0.387 0.402
1986 0.487* 0.469
1987 0.632 0.645
1988 0.619 0.705
1989 0.696 0.838
1990 0.593 0.774
1991 0.513 0.783
1992 0.653 1.026
1993 0.764 1.112
1994 0.990 1.276
1995 1.025 1.430
1996 1.001 1.394
1997 1.124 1.586
1998 1.230 1.814
1999 1.303 1.966
2000 1.500 2.124
2001 1.524 2.673
2002 1.416 3.415
2003 1.900 3.887
2004 1.873 4.603
2005 1.765 5.199
2006 1.993 5.710
2007 2.094 5.884
2008 1.979 6.229
2009 1.625 5.615
2010 1.398 5.723
2011 1.208 5.768
2012 1.013 5.916
Oct 2013 1.044 6.095
Note. I hope the Mods won't regard this as a CWL versus BRS post. It's certainly not meant to be. I've merely tried to illustrate some of the history of two closely-related airports whose fortunes have impacted on each other in the past and continue to do so.