Runway repairs disrupt thousands of journeys

Thousands of airline passengers face cancelled flights or disrupted journeys today as Bristol airport remains closed because of safety fears over its new £17m runway.

The airport shut yesterday afternoon to speed the pace of repair work on the runway after 10 airlines cancelled or diverted flights.

They have complained since Friday that braking distances were affected in wet weather, causing their aircraft to skid when they landed.

The reluctance of some operators to use Bristol in wet conditions comes despite assurances from the Civil Aviation Authority that the runway is safe,

Tony Hallwood, the airport's aviation development director, said: "Over the past 24 hours we have been working with our airline partners to find an acceptable way forward.

"We wish to reassure passengers that every effort is being made to ensure that a normal service is resumed as soon as possible. The safety of our passengers is, as always, of paramount concern."

Grooves are being cut into the temporary surface of the runway to try to help improve the drainage of surface water, which is in abundance following the heavy rain over the past few days.

A spokesman for Bristol airport said that it was anticipated that the closure would last for about 24 hours to allow the necessary work. He added that 369 flights had been cancelled or diverted from the airport since Friday.

"We are confident that for those airlines which have suspended their operations at Bristol International airport, this will address their concerns and allow them to resume operations at the airport," the spokesman said.

The airport closure was welcomed by some airlines. A spokeswoman for easyJet, which was the first to raise concerns about the runway, said: " It's excellent news. We've been working closely with the airport to find a solution.

"We've got an excellent relationship and it's clear that both parties want to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.

"Maintenance is being carried out today [Sunday], and we will have the same operation tomorrow, with around 60 per cent of our Bristol operation being run out of Cardiff and the remainder being cancelled."

The spokesman also said that he hoped normal operations would resume from Bristol early next week. "We don't know what is happening on Tuesday because that depends on how the maintenance goes," he added.

On Saturday, 98 flights from easyJet, BA Connect, XL, Thomsonfly, Thomas Cook, Balkan Airlines, First Choice, Air Malta, KLM and SN Brussels were diverted, and 28 were cancelled.

About 7,000 passengers were diverted to Cardiff airport on Saturday while other flights left from Birmingham.

The spokesman for Bristol airport said that of yesterday's total number of inbound and outbound flights, 43 would operate normally, 49 would be cancelled and 75 would be diverted to Birmingham and Cardiff airports.

A spokesman for Cardiff International Airport said that the increased traffic had made it nearly three times busier than it would normally have been at this time of the year.

"Today [Sunday] we had over 10,000 passengers flowing through Cardiff airport whereas we would have had around 3,500 on a normal day at this time of the year," he said. "It equates to a very busy summer's day and we are going to do the same tomorrow."

Andrew Skipp, Bristol airport's managing director, said: "I can only apologise to travellers for the disruption that this is causing to their journeys, and reassure them that we are working hard to rectify the situation as quickly as possible.

"Passengers are advised to contact their travel agent or airlines direct for an update, or check the Bristol airport website, www.bristolairport.co.uk for up-to-date information."