Bournemouth Airport releases masterplan
07.07.06
It seems the sky's the limit for Bournemouth Airport. Boosted in recent years by the advent of budget airlines, annual passenger figures are expected to jump from around the one million mark now to three times that number within the next decade, according to plans released this week.
The airport has released a masterplan - a planning document requested by the government, setting out how the airport plans to grow over the next 25 years. Bournemouth airport managing director Peter Duffy and planning director Joe Walsh, who has drawn up the masterplan, are quick to shoot down the nightmare scenario of aircraft circling the runways day and night.
The blue print for the airport does not include building more or longer runways or extending the passenger flying times into the night. And they stress the leap in passenger numbers will not be matched by the increase in the number of flights or level of noise and pollution, with advances in aviation technology creating larger, quieter and more fuel-efficient aircraft.
And even if passenger flights reach the predicted 100 aircraft a day landing and taking off in 2030, it will still be only half the current number of daily private, freight and business air traffic movements, they say.
At the core of the projected growth in passenger numbers is the continuing rise in low fares flights to short haul destinations in Europe, but Mr Duffy says there is also interest from airlines operating services to holiday hot spots further afield and internal UK business travel.
As well as bolstering local businesses, the airport expansion will also create hundreds of new jobs, both at the terminal and indirectly through airlines and their suppliers recruiting extra staff. In order to achieve this the plans include expanding the terminal building to accommodate more passengers and extending the adjoining long-stay car parks with some 3,500 extra spaces.
Mr Walsh argued this was better for the environment than what he termed kiss and fly' trips where passengers were dropped off and picked up by relatives, effectively making four car journeys for one flight. And airport parking next to the terminal avoided the need for shuttle buses.
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