The regional English airport that used to fly to New York
A new route will start operating from the airport next year
IT HAS been years since flights between Bristol Airport and New York operated, with only short and mid-haul routes flying from the travel hub.
The regional airport is popular with holidaymakers from the southwest of England and South Wales, with 13 airlines flying to
116 destinations.
Continental Airlines, a defunct US airline, used to operate a direct service between Bristol Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport in America.
The route launched in 2005, marking the airport’s first ever non-stop transatlantic service from the southwest of England.
Served by Boeing 757-200s, the 172-seat aircraft made the journey between the two destinations in seven hours and 50 minutes.
Flights were popular with both business and leisure passengers, with more than 400,000 passengers using the route, according to Simple Flying.
Despite its popularity, the transatlantic service was scrapped in April 2010 after Continental Airlines suspended operations at both airports.
The recession and a rise in Air Passenger Duty in the UK were blamed for the route’s demise.
It’s been more than 14 years since a transatlantic route operated from Bristol Airport – and there are no firm plans to launch another service.
The possibility of more long-haul operations, including services to New York, was reported by Business Live back in 2021 – although nothing was actually announced.
Although the airport has yet to announce plans to introduce long-haul routes, a huge £400million expansion project is underway.
The regional airport is set to make huge changes over the next five years, including increasing the terminal size.
More restaurants and larger lounges will be part of the terminal expansion.
A larger baggage reclaim area, an immigration area and a covered walkway will also be fitted.
The news comes after a record number of people travelled through the airport, with the airport welcoming 10million passengers in a 12-month period for the first time ever.
Bristol Airport currently serves a wide range of destinations, including, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland
Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.
Flights also operate from Bristol Airport to both Egypt and Tunisia.
And just last week, Edelweiss, a leading holiday airline in Switzerland, announced that it would be operating flights between Bristol Airport and Zurich from next year.
The new twice-weekly service is slated to launch in June 2025, with flights taking place every Monday and Friday.
UK Airports with direct flights to America
ONLY a handful of UK airports fly direct to America, here they are…
- London Heathrow Airport offers numerous direct flights to major cities across the United States, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and many more.
- London Gatwick Airport provides direct flights to several US destinations, such as Orlando and Las Vegas.
- Manchester Airport offers direct flights to US cities including Houston and New York.
- Birmingham Airport has direct services to Orlando.
- Edinburgh Airport offers direct flights to US destinations such as Boston, and Chicago.
- Glasgow Airport provides direct flights to Orlando.
- Belfast International Airport has direct flights to Orlando.
- Newcastle Airport offers direct flights to Orlando.
Ryanair recently launched a route from Newcastle to Marrakech.
Earlier this year, Jet2 confirmed that a new route will operate between Manchester Airport and Porto.
