MEMBERS of an action group said Bristol Airport’s plans to increase the number of expected passengers up to 12 million are “premature”.

The airport is working on an airport masterplan to 2040 will look at expected passenger growth beyond the current allowance of 12 million passengers per annum.

Members of Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN) feel the proposed plans are “premature” as no one yet knows the full extent of the impact on the area at 12 million passengers.

BAAN member, Stephen Clarke, said: “Residents are already anticipating further disruption to their lives with the extra noise, more night flights, increased traffic congestion on the surrounding roads and the impact on the climate from CO2 emissions.

“They don’t yet know the full impact on their lives with a growing airport that caters for 12 million passengers and yet they will soon be asked to accept plans for 15m.

“The airport will say that Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will save us but SAF only fuels way less than one per cent of current aircraft and even then, exactly the same carbon and pollution comes out the back of the engine when it runs on SAF.

“The airport will say that electric and hydrogen planes are the solution.

“All of these techno solutions can never compensate for the huge increases in passenger numbers that the industry has planned.

“The only solution is demand-management; starting with a halt to airport expansions.”

Richard Baxter, another member of BAAN said: “It is irresponsible for Bristol Airport to be planning further growth that will adversely affect our climate through the extra greenhouse gases that will be emitted from the extra flights."

A Bristol Airport spokesperson said: “We’re continuously investing in improvements to meet current demand, with our new multimillion pound public transport interchange currently under construction.

“We are also working towards our net zero operations 2030 target and are committed to working with partners on aviation decarbonisation.

“The masterplan will look at what further development might be required to meet the growing demand for air travel, and we’d welcome input from people when public consultation gets under way.”