Bristol Airport has been something of a building site for most of the past ten years with extensions, walkways and other amelioration at the terminal. Currently the terminal is being extended again at the western end (the eastern extension was completed last summer) and an onsite airport hotel is also taking shape. Three new aircraft stands were built about three years ago.
They've spent over £100 million in infrastructure development in the past few years and the next item in the jigsaw seems to be a multi storey car park with the airport in the process of asking the local authority if they can extend one of the open air car parks in tandem with the multi storey car park development instead of after the multi storey car park is built which was in the original planning application.
After that they may look at the old terminal building, currently used for administration and other matters. The development plan calls for demolition of the old terminal and the construction of an eastern walkway to new stands to be built in the area where the old terminal is situated.
This summer there could be 28-30 aircraft parked during some part of the night at times on the north side (ie the area used by all scheduled and charter aircraft) with easyJet, Ryanair, Thomson and Thomas Cook basing a total of 22 aircraft for starters.
As to any runway extension there would undoubtedly be a furious reaction from environmental groups and others if such a scheme was mooted seriously, the more so if it involved any encroachment onto Felton Common which, anyway, has been declared a Local Nature Reserve under the relevant legislation by the local authority.
The major expansion plans, now part way into construction, were delayed by several years due mainly to an extremely well organised, well supported, well financed and well connected organisation called SBAE (Stop Bristol Airport Expansion). When the expansion plans were being considered the local authority received objections from people and groups from around the world.