• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Tuesday January 14 2025
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Record numbers hop on bus before jetting off on plane

A record number of travellers have hopped on a bus before jetting off on a plane, according to Bristol Airport.

For the first time, the A1 bus service to Bristol Airport carried more than 1 million passengers.

Combined with the Weston-super-Mare A3, this saw 1.3 million Flyer journeys in 2024.

The A1 route to Bristol has seen almost a 20 per cent increase on journeys since 2023. The A3 connecting Weston-super-Mare also saw a year-on-year increase in passengers of 32 per cent.

In addition to this, staff commuting to work on the Flyer made nearly a quarter of a million journeys in 2024. Free travel on the Flyer service is available to all Bristol Airport staff.

From May to September passenger numbers were fairly consistent, but the busiest month was August with over 126,000 journeys made.

To help encourage use, customers were offered a series of incentives ranging from 50 per cent to family discounts and special rates for children and students.

Ed Condon, transport development manager for Bristol Airport, said: “This is really great news and we’re thrilled more and more customers are choosing to travel this way.

“It is also good to see we’ve hit 17 per cent of staff choosing to travel to work using the Flyer.

“In the Spring we will be announcing a new timetable that includes a more frequent service overnight, which we feel sure will be hugely beneficial to everyone.”