Bristol Airport is preparing for its busiest ever summer holiday getaway, with more than 1.6m passengers expected to pass through the terminal between mid-July and early September.
On the busiest days, 40,000 people will fly in and out of the airport, while around 155,000 are expected over the August bank holiday weekend.
Last summer the airport handled around 1.5m passengers. Since then a raft of new routes have been added to its departure board – including popular sunshine holiday destinations - while its busiest airlines, including easyJet and Jet2, have also increased the frequency of some popular routes.
The new milestone will be reached just two months after the airport hit the 10m passengers-a-year mark for the first time in its history.
The airport is now running at full capacity while its biggest capital project for more than two decades takes place.
The work includes a £60m development, due to open next summer, which will significantly enlarge its public transport interchange, improve its internal road system and add an additional multi-storey car park as well as expanding its waiting rooms and rest facilities. 
The most popular destinations this summer are the traditional Mediterranean hotspots of Palma de Mallorca, pictured, and Alicante, while Faro is also proving popular.
Turkish resorts are growing in popularity, with more than 450 flights taking off to Dalaman and Antalya during the season.
Dublin, Edinburgh and Amsterdam remain the top city breaks this summer.
As the airport gears up for the peak period, its bosses are reminding passengers of recent changes to security measures announced by the Department for Transport last month. 
To ensure a smooth transit through security, passengers will need to restrict liquids, gels and pastes to 100ml per item, although these can now stay in their hand luggage along with all electronic devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones while passing through security screening.
Passengers may still be asked to take off shoes and coats, hats and belts will need to be placed in the trays provided with hand luggage on top.
Passengers taking pushchairs, car seats, wheelchairs or walking aids should allow more time as these will be searched at security.
The peak summer period also comes shortly after the airport was criticised in two separate reports for the cost of its passenger drop-off parking charges and its lack of facilities for families.
Research by the RAC revealed that seven UK airports, including Bristol, have increased their drop-off parking tolls since last summer.
Bristol Airport now charges £6 for a 10-minute so-called ‘kiss-and-fly’ period, an increase of £1 since 2023.
Meanwhile, Bristol also topped a table of the most stressful UK airports for parents traveling with kids.
The study by Calmer, an anxiety-reducing app, rated Bristol the worst due to its “crowded conditions and lack of play areas, leaving parents frustrated”.
Adding to this, it said, was the absence of breastfeeding facilities, alongside frequent delays, “creating a chaotic experience for travellers”.
The building work now underway at the airport, which will help increase capacity to 12m passengers a year, is part of a £400m, five-year by its Canadian owner Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
It will include new state-of-the-art security screening equipment, refurbishment of the air traffic control tower and improvements in the terminal building, including two new executive lounges – one of which will open this December – and 38 new or upgraded catering and retail outlets.
The airport officially opened in 1957 as Bristol (Lulsgate) and handled 33,000 passengers in its first year. On its busiest day last year 40,000 people passed through the terminal over a 24-hour period.
