Somerset’s Bristol Airport, the gateway for much of England’s South West, will be seeing several new and exciting routes for holidaymakers and business travellers alike during 2023.
Firstly, the airport’s existing airline partners TUI and easyJet will both be launching new services to Enfidha in Tunisia, which was a firm favourite with British holidaymakers prior to the terrorist attacks on the nation in 2015 – the ensuing downfall from which was blamed for the collapse of Monarch Airlines, for whom Tunisia had been a key destination. Since then, despite an initial slow return, the area has been regaining its original popularity and these routes are a massive vote of confidence in the British public’s rekindled enthusiasm for all that the nation has to offer. easyJet will furthermore be offering increased frequencies on its services to Antalya, Belfast, Dalaman, Paris and Rhodes.
Ryanair, a favourite for many budget-conscious passengers, has announced a total of four new routes – the largest repertoire of any Bristol-based operator – to a vibrant mixture of destinations. The Irish carrier will be operating services to Bydgoszcz, Marseille, Porto, and Venice Marco Polo, with these routes seeing up to four weekly services. Ryanair will also be increasing frequencies on nine existing routes including Dublin and Limoges.
Jet2, and in-house package holiday operator Jet2holidays, has also announced two new routes – Málaga and Crete, with the latter using Chania airport. It has also increased frequencies to the Canary Islands, with up to eighteen weekly flights to its four airports across the archipelago, and put on sale Christmas 2023 breaks to Prague and Vienna alongside a range of Turkish holiday options, though there will be no frequency changes on its routes to Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman and İzmir.
Most notably, however, Bristol will also be seeing a grand total of four new airlines. Greek national carrier Aegean will begin twice-weekly flights to Athens from March. Both Corendon and SunExpress will be launching flights between Bristol and Antalya in April and March respectively, with Swiss beginning an initially weekly service to Zurich in February, with this to grow to three weekly flights by June.
Finally, Lufthansa will be increasing its existing Frankfurt service to 13 weekly flights from mid-April, offering a twice-daily service to the German gateway for the entire working week.
Overall, Bristol has a highly energetic schedule planned for the summer which will now see sixteen airlines on services around the UK and Europe, with global connections just one stop away. The arrival of four new carriers shows the commitment to frequent and reliable services by the airport’s management, which intends to implement a variety of new devices to enhance passenger experience from next year.
Full route information can be found here.
Cianan Kelly entered the sphere of aviation journalism two years ago with his debut publication, Connecting the UK, which was met with acclaim by enthusiasts and industry professionals alike. He joined Fresh Aviation in late 2022 with the aim of contributing to high-quality aviation press and research, with a focus on sustainability and the regional aviation sector.