Cardiff Airport’s biggest rival hopes expansion plan will take flight
CARDIFF Airport’s biggest rival has unveiled ambitious expansion plans to take passenger capacity to 12 million a year by the mid-2020s.
Thousands of additional car-parking spaces, a new transport interchange and another pedestrian walkway to the terminal have been revealed by Bristol Airport as part of its expansion plans to increase its current passenger capacity of 10 million.
Last year the airport handled just over eight million passengers, of whom more than a million were passengers living in Wales.
And now Bristol Airport Limited (BAL) has submitted a planning application for the proposals to North Somerset Council to increase current capacity by 20%.
Annual traffic through the terminal is currently limited to 10 million passengers under the current planning permission.
The airport has said these new proposals would allow it to take the next step to becoming an international gateway which could serve up to 20 million passengers a year by the mid-2040s.
The latest set of proposals include surface-level car parking, a new canopy at the front of the building, an additional multi-storey car park and improvements to on-site road layout. The proposals can largely be delivered on land already owned by the airport.
One of the main new features of the airport would be an enclosed pedestrian walkway connecting the transport interchange – which stands on top of a new multi-storey car park – to the airport terminal opposite.
And plans for the front of the terminal building would see a canopy extension built over a new pedestrianised forecourt.
According to Bristol Airport, which is owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and New South Wales Treasury Corporation, the new transport interchange would comprise a coach and bus station, together with taxi ranks and a dropoff zone.
Underneath, the multi-storey car park would bring an additional 2,150 spaces to the airport over five levels.
The airport’s chief executive, Dave Lees, said the plans would help “deliver more routes, destinations and jobs”.
He added: “Following consultation with the local community, airline customers, passengers and other stakeholders, these plans set out sustainable development to meet demand for air travel to and from the south west and south Wales over the next decade.
“These plans are a practical step to ensuring we continue to connect our region to the world, providing a gateway for business, investment and tourists. At the same time, we have sought to minimise and mitigate any impacts on the local community and environment, building on our track record of investment in surface access improvements.”
The airport has said more than 1,000 additional jobs will be created by development to handle 12 million passengers a year.
Currently it is the UK’s ninth-busiest airport and flies passengers to 120 destinations
More than £160m has been invested in facilities and infrastructure since 2010.
Cardiff Airport has seen year-onyear passenger growth since it was acquired by the Welsh Government in 2013 from Spanish firm Abertis.
Last year passengers increased by 9% to £1.46m. Based on modest organic growth, the airport is on track to reach three million passengers by 2030, at which stage it will need a new and larger terminal at an estimated cost of £100m.
However, its chairman, Roger Lewis, said the aim, fuelled by securing new airlines and routes, is to achieve that target potentially as early as 2025.
It recently published a proposed 20-year masterplan for the airport and surrounding land.