{"id":283468,"date":"2025-07-22T21:05:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T21:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/283468\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T21:05:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T21:05:31","slug":"first-look-at-bristol-airports-new-60m-facility-after-years-in-the-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/283468\/","title":{"rendered":"First look at Bristol Airport’s new \u00a360m facility after years in the making"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passengers will notice big changes as the summer holidays begin<\/p>\n

16:40, 22 Jul 2025Updated 16:46, 22 Jul 2025<\/p>\n

\"BristolBristol Airport launched its new \u00a360m transport interchange on Tuesday(Image: Grace Burton\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

Bristol Airport has officially opened its new \u00a360m public transport interchange<\/a> after a 19-month construction period. The interchange\u2019s main purpose is to improve the flow of buses and coaches to and from the airport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It accommodates 16 coach and bus stands, up from the five that existed prior to the upgrade, enabling around 250 public transport arrivals and departures each day.<\/p>\n

Airport chief executive Dave Lees, who attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony today (Tuesday) alongside North Somerset<\/a> MP Sadik Al-Hassan and North Somerset Council leader Mike Bell, said the grand opening was perfectly timed to coincide with the start of school holidays<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re delighted to open the public transport interchange ahead of schedule and on budget, transforming our customers\u2019 experience during the busy summer holidays,\u201d Mr Lees said.<\/p>\n

The interchange, on the top of a new multi-storey car park, also features a bigger drop-off and pick-up area for those arriving by car, and a covered walkway to the terminal forecourt. The ‘Drop Off and Pick Up’ area is fully cashless, with prices starting at \u00a37 for a 10-minute stay as before.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"BristolBristol Airport launch of the new transport interchange. L-R airport CEO Dave Lees, Sadik Al-Hassan MP, North Somerset Council leader Mike Bell(Image: Grace Burton\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers will benefit from modernised facilities and easy onwards travel with a simple road layout leading to an enlarged drop-off and pick-up on the top tier of the four-storey car park,\u201d Mr Lees explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe facility offers new waiting areas, rest facilities, flight information, touch points for passenger assistance, live public transport screens and a bigger and better M&S with a bakery and fresh coffee.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TheThe new M&S Food at the airport was popular with customers on Tuesday(Image: Grace Burton\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

The Marks & Spencer was popular with customers on Tuesday, who crowded the store on the way to and from the main terminal, occasionally managing to get a photo with a giant Percy Pig stationed outside.<\/p>\n

Bristol Airport<\/a> makes more money from parking charges<\/a> than any other single stream of income, but airport bosses said they hoped the interchange would encourage more people to get the bus there.<\/p>\n

Over 10 million people use the airport each year, but just 15 per cent travel there by public transport. Graeme Gamble, Bristol Airport’s chief operating officer, said the goal was to increase that figure to 20 per cent of travellers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe facility we opened today will encourage passengers to use it (public transport),\u201d he said. The project was announced almost two years ago in September 2023,<\/a> and was described as the “largest single capital investment project since the terminal opened in 2000”.<\/p>\n

\"AirportAirport executives are aiming to increase the amount of passengers who travel there on the bus from 15 per cent to 20 per cent(Image: Grace Burton\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

Mr Gamble acknowledged that road upgrades would be required in the coming years in order to help the airport achieve its goal of attracting 12m passengers a year, its current limit.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve got a plan to work with North Somerset Council<\/a> and beyond to make sure that the road transport network will improve over time,\u201d Mr Gamble said. \u201cWe’re committed to ensuring that will happen through public funding and we see that as a real enabler for future travel through Bristol.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to encourage as many (people) as possible to use the public transport network. We certainly see the road network as a big, key part of that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transport interchange is part of a \u00a3400m upgrade to the airport, which also includes new amenities in the departure lounge, modernised security screening areas and improved bathroom facilities.<\/p>\n

The long-stay carpark at the airport remains closed as part of the transformation project<\/a>, and is scheduled to reopen in spring 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Passengers will notice big changes as the summer holidays begin 16:40, 22 Jul 2025Updated 16:46, 22 Jul 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,21283,748,14985,393,4884,245,11157,285,9731,183,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-283468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-airport","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-buses","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-marks-spencer","15":"tag-north-somerset-council","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-traffic-travel","18":"tag-travel","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114898922679633717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}