Bristol is a city in South West England. For years, it has been considered as the ugly sister of other British cities. Compared with London, the commercial and political centre, Bristol appears to be too tranquil; compared with Bath, it lacks historic attractions; even compared with other old industrial cities like Manchester, Bristol loses to it in terms of size. However, the city has revived and transformed during recent year which makes it an attraction to tourists.

Built on the Avon River, the rejuvenated city has attracted a lot of tourists from all over the world to see its Clifton suspension bridge, John Wesley's New Rooms, the Bristol Cathedral, the British Empire and Commonwealth museum and Bristol Industrial museum.

Bristol Airport

The airport which serves Bristol is now called Bristol International Airport which located at Lulsgate Bottom in North Somerset. It is the 9th busiest airport in the United Kingdom with more than 5 million passengers each year.

The history if Bristol Airport is full of ups and downs.

At first, the airport was built in Whitchurch started by a flying club established by a businessman who raised £6,000 through public subscription. With the success of the club they decided to build an airport. In 1930, Prince George, son of King George V opened Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport and it became the third airport of this kind in the UK. The number of passengers had increased by four times during the next decade. Then, in World War II, it was the honor of Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport to be the only civic airport that was still in operation which served people in the war.

After the World War II, the airport was still be used, however due to the development of technology, much heavier airplanes started to be introduced and the airport needed to be expanded. Besides, it seemed impossible to operate this expansion in the area of Whitchurch. As a result, an airport in Lulsgate was built which was the Bristol International Airport now. It only costs £135,000 to build at that time. In 1957, Princess Marina, the Dutchess of Kent, opened the airport. The airport experienced expansions again in 1963 with the runway being lengthened and terminal buildings being enlarged.

Then during 1980s, with the flourish of the business in Bristol, there were 17 tour operators utilizing the base. However later, in 1995, the airports suffered a lot as its managing director, Les Wilson, was killed in a car crash and the airport was sold to others.

In 2000, a new terminal building was opened by the Princess Royal to fulfill the increasing needs.

It seems that the expansion of the airport will never end and the new expansion plan has been submitted, however, the endless expansion has also been against by a group names Stop Bristol Airport Expansion who claimed that it will bring much more pollution and noise to the residents nearby.

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