Bristol Airport continued to break its own passenger number records in August by achieving another best-ever monthly total and recording the busiest day in its history.
Some 723,000 people used the airport last month as the holiday getaway season reached its peak. On one day alone – August 14 – 25,390 passed through the terminal in 24 hours, the largest number since it opened in 1957. 
Earlier in the summer the airport achieved record-breaking figures for June and July, with growth of 3.2% over the two months continuing its rapid return to pre-recession passenger numbers.
September has already started strongly, with arrivals boosted by VIP attending last week’s NATO Summit in Newport.
As a result, the annual total for 2014 is expected to exceed the previous high of 6.2m achieved in 2008.
Growth has been driven by the introduction of larger aircraft on existing services, high load factors during the holiday season, and the launch of routes to new destinations. KLM increased capacity on its four-times daily Amsterdam service by 205, easyJet operated an 11th Bristol-based aircraft throughout summer, and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) started a seasonal service to Stockholm.
Bristol Airport aviation director Shaun Browne said: “It is encouraging to see that when we offer the right frequencies and destinations, passengers will choose to fly from their regional airport.
“Reducing the number of passengers from the South West using airports outside the region is key objective for us, and these figures suggest we are heading in the right direction.”
Meanwhile, budget airline Ryanair has said it will increase frequency on its Bristol-Budapest service next summer from two to three times a week. The Irish airline flies to 28 destinations from Bristol and last year handled 1.2m passengers at the airport.
More on this story follows later . . .
