BRISTOLInternational Airport is talking to Continental Airlines about introducing daily services to New York as part of an ambitious plan to launch transatlantic flights.
Managing director John Parkin said the airport can sustain regular transatlantic flights due to demand from thousands of businesses in the southwest which trade with American firms.
He said: “We will never replicate Heathrow and Gatwick but key services can be provided. The demand, and convenience, for Bristol International is huge, some 6,000 businesses have links with the US.”
Parkin pointed to worsening traffic on roads to southeast airports prompting business travellers to demand new options from Bristol.
The airport has operated long-haul B767s and B757s, the aircraft type Continental would use, for years with charter carriers but has enhanced its runway for larger jets as part of its £43m development work.
Parkin said New York flights would not start this year but Continental has said summer 2001 is possible.
However, he added that four other airports – Stansted, Newcastle, Leeds/Bradford and Cardiff International – are also bidding for Continental to launch services. A decision is expected this year.
The major part of Bristol’s development is the £27m new terminal. This will be officially opened by the Princess Royal on March 3.
The terminal can handle 3.5m passengers each year, almost four times the existing one. It has 31 check-in desks instead of 20 and boasts more shops, restaurants and airline lounges.
This financial year, Bristol will handle 2.1m passengers, up from 1.87m in 1998/1999.
Parkin said he will use the terminal’s opening to push for more European services to enhance the current Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin and Paris network.
“Germany is the key,” said Parkin. “The case for a Frankfurt flight is one of the strongest I have ever seen.”
Brymon Airways, the Bristol-based British Airways subsidiary, is believed to be close to launching the expected Frankfurt service.
Other target cities in Bristol’s and Brymon’s plans include Zurich, Milan and Copenhagen.