Bristol Airport announces £20 million investment to extend car parks at Silver Zone
Improvements to car parks at Bristol Airport are on the way, following approval of three schemes by North Somerset Council’s Planning & Regulatory Committee
Bristol, England, 2016-Nov-21 — /Travel PR News/ — New reception building at heart of enhanced Silver Zone
A total of £20 million is being invested across the Silver Zone, staff and long-stay car parks, with a new reception building for customers headlining the improvements.
The new facility will be located at the heart of an extended Silver Zone, which will see the addition of more than 3,500 new spaces in order to meet expected demand next summer. On a typical day during the peak summer season, thousands of people will pass through the reception building, which will also host up to 50 staff from the Airport’s ground transportation team. The new two-storey structure will be designed to create a more positive first impression for passengers, helping to make sure trips get off to a stress-free start.
Work has begun to meet landscaping and ecological conditions ahead of construction of the new parking areas. At the same time, preparations are underway for the first phase of a multi-storey car park, to be located opposite the terminal and set to open in May 2018. An extension to the Airport’s staff and visitors car park was also approved by the Council, catering for the growing number of staff and contractors on site. This will ensure flight crew in particular can park close to the administration building, reducing the potential for delays which could adversely impact airline punctuality.
Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer at Bristol Airport, said:
“Taken together, these developments demonstrate our continued drive to enhance passenger and staff facilities at Bristol Airport. By bringing forward improvements to Silver Zone we can meet customer demand for good quality, secure car parking at a competitive price. Once completed, the multi-storey car park will provide a complementary offer for those wanting the added convenience of close proximity to the terminal.”
Public transport options will also be enhanced, with a ‘Weston Flyer’ express bus service between the Airport and Weston-super-Mare scheduled for launch in spring next year. This follows the successful introduction of the Falcon service from Plymouth, Exeter and Taunton earlier this year. Surface access from the north, east and west will also be enhanced by the opening of the South Bristol Link this winter, improving journey time reliability for the Bristol Flyer express bus between the Airport and Bristol city centre, including Bristol Temple Meads railway station.
The investment in car parks follows major extensions to the terminal building, including a £24 million upgrade to the security search, baggage reclaim and arrivals areas. Improvements to the immigration hall totalling £2.3 million are scheduled to take place this winter, and a 201 room Hampton-by-Hilton hotel will open in early 2017.
The route network available from Bristol Airport is also growing, with direct flights to 116 destinations and frequent daily services to major hubs including Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin and Frankfurt. From May 2017, Thomson Airways will operate the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Florida and Mexico, highlighting the scope for more direct long-haul destinations in future.
In the third quarter of 2016, Bristol Airport was ranked number one in the UK by the customer satisfaction benchmarking programme, Airport Service Quality (ASQ), and has been the UK’s most punctual airport for the past two years according to league tables measuring on-time performance published by data specialist OAG.
SOURCE: Bristol Airport
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