Bath

Different types of museums, sporting venues, theaters and cultural venues help draw more than 3.8 million visitors each year to the city. It is a major tourism driven city with more than 1 million residents. The city of Bath also has a plethora of schools and two top notch universities in its ranks. Its large service sector contributes the most to Bath's growth along with other I.T and communication technologies. All this helps provide employment to the residents of Bath and nearby areas.

Bath does not have its own airport but is served by the Bristol International Airport, situated in Lulsgate Bottom in the county of North Somerset since it is only a few minutes away. This is the commercial airport of Bristol City. In the year 2008, this airport was ranked the 9th busiest among all airports in the U.K. It handled more than 6 million passengers which was an increase of 5.7% from last year making the Bristol International Airport, the fastest developing airport among the biggest 10 of UK.

In the year 1997, the Bristol International Airport became a public private partnership when "FirstGroup plc" bought a 51% stake in it while the rest of the equity was held by the Bristol City Council. Thanks to this new partnership, in 1999, a new terminal was built greatly decreasing the congestion of passenger traffic. In the year 2000, Bristol International Airport had the distinction of catering to 2 million passengers for the first time. Since there are no aerobridges in the new terminal building, the aircrafts are parked on the apron and travelers can either walk directly to the flights or be taken by bus.

The runway of the Bristol International Airport is one of the smallest in the UK at approximately 2000 meters. Hence, large aircrafts do not operate to and from the airport and the largest aircraft that operates presently is the Boeing 757 series. The largest aircraft that carries an economic load is the 767 series of the Boeing aircraft. This is mainly used for charter flights.

The Bristol International Airport is a convenient distance from Bath. It is situated on the A38 and is eight miles from the city centre of Bristol. There are convenient signs directing you the airport before any intersection so getting there will be very easy. However due to rush hour and other factors, getting to the airport can be a pretty lengthy process. Many plans and strategies to solve this problem are being discussed now, but so far the situation hasn't improved.

There is a highly efficient bus service that operates two and from the airport at convenient locations all over Bristol and Bath. The duration of the journey is 30 minutes and can be booked either online or from the Bristol Temple Meads. First Group is another popular bus service operator that plies to and from the airport.