Hehe. I landed at Weston in a light aircraft a fair old while back; I live very close to it now (lucky me) and the old runway is now a dual carriageway under construction.
MV, I remember the Selwyn Gummer rejection but as I wasn't flying then it didn't seem to be that big a deal. As you say, low cost and all the volume it brings wasn't even contemplated. I still think (with glorious hindsight, of course) that not developing Filton was a bad decision. Belfast with its massive (?) catchment area has two airports, both largely serving different or slightly overlapping customers; Lulsgate and Filton could have complimented each other, perhaps even raising the commercial and industrial viability of the city as a whole had the government at the time had some balls.
I guarantee you there isn't a single pilot operating out of BRS with its ski-jump runway who doesn't fly over Filton and sigh. We all still have a soft-spot for BRS however 'cos, as you say, it's better than nothing and has certain undeniable idiosyncrasies... some of which are apparently worth investing in!
Last edited by JaffaCake; 16th Apr 2014 at 22:32.