Airspace

The Kingsdown Residents are a bit worried about plans to land a helicopter on top of the BRI; it's a classic stitch up of mock-consultation (ehere a note acknowledging receipt of the warning is used as proof of consultation) and accompanying documentation, all of which is in the planning application.

The business case document is interesting, the rationales for the 'copter being many:

• the helicopter is funded through charitable donations, so not from existing budgets. Hopefully that includes fuel costs.
  
• it avoids the congestion of getting from Frenchay, Filton, or other parts of the city where helicopters can land.
  
• it makes it easier to bring in RTA and other critical casualties into A&E
• it makes it easier to do by-helicopter transfer between other hospitals
• all the other parts of the country have them.

So, either its a status symbol for other health authorities, a valuable part of the health care system, or something to compensate for all the traffic jams in the city.

What is interesting is the noise study, which shows that Kingsdown and nearby areas don't gain from having the air ambulance. Because although ambulances were noisy, they always came in the front of the BRI, along the main road. Now they will go over your house. As long as you sleep with the windows closed, it won't be "significantly" above the BS8233 noise level standards for noise levels that disturb your sleep.

People who live near the hospital come off worst, but according to the study that's OK, as there aren't that many. "It is therefore considered that the overall impact of the proposed Air Ambulance Service is small and therefore that planning permission should be granted."

What is lacking from this assessment (or the business case) is any estimate of the number of flights a day and their times, and whether there will be a change in the estimate number of ambulance journeys. Without which, you can't say how noisy it will be, what impact it will have on the city. That said, given that every Friday and Saturday night the Police helicopter is out and about, it probably won't add to the noise levels of that part of town. It would be interesting to see a noise level study of that vehicle's travels.

Relax before you fly

At BRS airport, there are adverts on the stairs saying "relax before you fly", with a pointer to some site selling access to premium lounges. Which implies that that there may be an executive lounge somewhere in the airport for premium travellers who don't want to experience the tblisi-airport-evacuation experience that most travellers get.

One way to relax before you fly is to avoid using the airport approved checker cars taxi service, at least until they have got their newly-upgraded software working. Because if you book an 05:30 taxi pickup, that means "taxi at my house in Bristol at 05:30", not "taxi driver gets the pickup notification at 0530". Now, dedicated driver that he was, he managed to get from the airport to city and back again by 06:15, but things were still pretty tight. Only the friendly easyjet staff (nothing positive to say about checker cars either) and the vastly expanded security area meant that things worked out. Some discussion with the taxi firm -possibly cc:d to the airport- may be in order. Because when you pay the premium for a taxi over the bus, what you are buying is the option to get there in time. After a near-disaster at a time in the morning when things should be calm, how can you trust the taxi company and their software during peak hours?

Still, it could be worse, I could have been an XL passenger. Which raises an interesting question. How many airlines are serving BRS other than easyjet and ryan air, and what assumptions have they made about fuel costs and passenger demand?

The BRS airport waiting lounge

Even the airport company admits that the departure lounge at Bristol Airport is overcrowded; that is why they tried to sneak in a planning permission request to add extra gantry buildings and waiting areas, so doubling the area where people can sit.

In these mid-August photos, it's pretty much at capacity

With people sitting around or queueing for their flight.

Except here, in this fairly large section of the waiting lounge that has no seating, and instead has three cars to admire and a raffle to enter to maybe win one.

Some people might consider that dedicating a large slice of the waiting area to a few parked cars was an insult to the customers; making a bad situation even worse, and focusing on profit at the expense and happiness of their customers. After all, if there wasn't such pressure for seating, why would the airport have applied for that expansion?

But those criticisms miss the point. Most of the people at the airport came there in a car. They are now stuck waiting for a plane. Why not have other cars to look at during that waiting period? Furthermore, the customers are perfectly free to go to different airports or make alternate holiday/transport arrangements. If they are going to try and fly on low-end airlines, this is how the airports are going to have to make a living. That and parking/bus/taxi fees.

Waiting for a bus at Bristol Airport

A line of people waiting for a bus at Bristol Airport. Clearly the airport's funding of alternate transport arrangements are paying off and these people are taking a fast and easy journey back to Bristol, instead of creating more congestion on the A38 and more pressure for a South Bristol bypass.

And here come the bus - I wonder where it is going?

oops. Its going to the silver parking. These people are creating more congestion on the A38 and more pressure for a South Bristol bypass after all.

And why not? As the advert on the bus says, its 29 quid for a week's parking. The bus charges 6 or 7 pounds one way, 8 return. There is a family return for 20 quid, but that still leaves you with the problem of getting from the bus station to your house, and unless you live in walking-with-luggage distance of one of the halts, that's going to involve another bus or a taxi. Probably a taxi, as that will usually cost less than a bus for a family of four.

Of course people are going to use the airport car parks. And as the airport's business model is based on charging the airlines next to nothing and making money from the added value extras, the money they make from parking, from the bus or from the premium they charge the one permitted taxi company must be a significant profit source to the airline. They like you to drive, they want you to park. It's profitable.