A new £60m transport interchange has been officially opened at Bristol Airport. The facility has an extra 2,000 parking spaces, as well as an increased number of bus and coach spaces. It will also home the airport’s new “drop and go” zone and offer better pedestrian links to the terminal, says the BBC.

Dave Lees, chief executive of the Airport, said:

“[It is] really important as it represents a milestone in terms of improving the facilities for our customers. Gone are the days of passengers having to walk up slopes here. He explained that the number of bays for coaches and buses had been doubled, as well as the addition of new covered access routes, covered seating and toilet facilities.

The project has taken more than two years to complete, and is part of a wider £400m “airport transformation programme” to improve transport links.

North Somerset Council leader Mile Bell said the new facility was a “fantastic new piece of infrastructure” for customers but stressed that there was still work to be done.

“I think we all recognise that we’ve still got more to do to make the access routes easier and introduce mass transit, particularly from Bristol city centre so people can get here easier, faster and cheaper using public transport,” he said.

His comments were echoed by North Somerset MP Sadik Al-Hassan:

“This is allowing more people to come here by sustainable means, so I’m hoping it will help. but it’s part of what needs to be a larger plan to look at how the airport sits within the wider economic area.”

(Pic: Bristol Airport via YouTube)