Businesses in the South West believe Bristol Airport plays a critical role in the local economy and expect air travel needs to grow in the coming years, according to an independent report by CBI Economics.
CBI Economics surveyed 230 companies and held in-depth interviews with businesses and visitor economy organisations. The research commissioned by Bristol Airport highlights the importance of connectivity for businesses in the region in enabling them to operate, grow, and compete.
Some 79% of surveyed businesses said that in-person engagement enabled by air travel was important to their organisation’s success. 
Business travel was expected to grow – a third of companies expected international travel to increase in the next three years, while three-quarters of respondents in the visitor economy said Bristol Airport was important for attracting international tourists, business delegates and students.
The study found that 52% of surveyed organisations relied on other airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick due to gaps in route availability or frequency at Bristol Airport. Respondents reported that this harmed productivity and drove up costs. Limited connectivity had also led to missed opportunities for the visitor economy – for example, 26% of respondents reported lost inbound visitor opportunities due to flight availability issues.
Bristol Airport announced proposals in March to increase its capacity to serve 15 million passengers a year. The proposals would enable the airport to provide more destinations, including world cities within Europe and a limited number of new longer-haul flights to North America, Middle East, with connections to Asia and beyond.
Despite predictions during the pandemic, business travel at Bristol Airport quickly rebounded. The number of business passengers is now higher than it was before the Covid-19 travel restrictions, with around 1.6million journeys being made last year.
Dave Lees, CEO of Bristol Airport, said: “This robust and independent assessment makes clear how vital international air connectivity is for our region’s economy. Business travel has changed since the pandemic, but we’ve seen overall growth – there’s still huge value in meeting face-to-face.
“Our plans for growth would provide new connections for our region, improving productivity so that passengers don’t have to travel via London airports, and attracting more visitors into our fantastic region. The study makes clear that stymying growth would mean our region loses competitiveness, with benefits going elsewhere in the UK and Europe.”
Speaking following the report’s publication, Douglas Ure, CEO of Business West, said: “The Airport is vital infrastructure that supports our strong economic position. The proposed plans would create new jobs and further facilitate the flow of services, goods and business connections. We support these proposals and expect many of our members will too.”
Bristol Airport has recently submitted a planning application to North Somerset Council to increase its capacity from 12 million passengers a year to 15 million.
Fewer local people and business travellers would need to rely on travelling to London airports and could instead explore places further afield from their local airport, while also enabling businesses to reach new markets and the tourism sector to benefit from more international visitors exploring our region.
The plans would see an additional 1,000 on-site airport jobs for local people including roles such as engineers, mechanics, airline crew, retail assistants and caterers.
Join Somerset Chamber of Commerce to give your business a stronger voice both locally, regionally and nationally. Combined with local town chambers, we represent over 2,000 businesses across Somerset with a direct line to policy-makers at all levels.
