Bournemouth International - size isn't everything! (Other airports...)

Member Name: Belgian999

Product:	Other airports...
Date:	19/09/02 (320 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small size means much less chance of delays

Disadvantages: Small, facilities somewhat limited

How best to describe Bournemouth International Airport in one word? Tiny. That just about covers it. This is easily the smallest, most compact airport I have ever used, and probably the quietest as well. The principal advantage of smaller airports is that the likelihood of delays is much lower than at a busy international hub – there are simply less planes in the air and consequently a reduced chance of air traffic control problems. Bournemouth is no exception to this, probably because when I was there (mid-September), the airport only had to deal with a total of 10 flights a day!

I flew to Bournemouth with Ryanair from (Frankfurt) Hahn, and have to admit to being a bit surprised at my first sight of the main terminal building. Seen from the runway, it’s basically an extended bungalow, a single-storey building with a few people milling around outside it. This turns out be a sort of beer garden, a small terrace outside the airport bar which doubles as the arrivals waiting room, and the people you can see are so close that they can pick out your face in the plane windows and wave to you as it taxis to the stand.

You disembark down a set of rickety steps and stroll across the tarmac, and follow the signs to the Customs & Excise area and passport control, housed in some sort of extension to the main building that resembles an old conservatory – wooden-framed doors with large glass panels open out onto a couple of desks with immigration officials behind them, and a Customs officer or two searching bags in the corner. That’s not to say that this is an amateurish operation, it’s just a bit of a culture shock for someone who has rarely flown from airports smaller than Frankfurt or Heathrow in the past couple of years.

In the terminal building itself, you have enough facilities to keep you busy – there is a small canteen serving the usual range of hot and cold food and snacks: All-day breakfasts, lasagne, sandwi
ches, sweets and drinks, that kind of thing. All at slightly inflated airport prices, but then the passengers are a captive market. There is a bureau de change, a travel agency, a small bar with a limited range of beers and spirits, plastic tables and chairs (and of course the ‘beer garden’ where you can sit and nurse your pint whilst trying to make conversation over the roar of freight jets out on the tarmac) and a branch of WH Smiths, stocking the vital range of newspapers, magazines and holiday books.

If you are flying from Bournemouth, you are well advised to leave plenty of time to get through the metal detector and baggage checks. Although the numbers of flights and passengers are low, there is only one line for the baggage checks, and you just have to be patient – when I was there, one man had his luggage emptied out after a knife was found and everyone else simply had to wait. Not that I’m complaining, I’d rather the checks be thorough! There is another bar and a tax-free shop in the airside departure lounge, but once again the size of the airport dictates that the range of stock is a bit limited.

Bournemouth airport is not particularly well served by public transport at the moment – the nearest main station is Bournemouth, and buses to the airport are few and far between, although they are timed to coincide with flights. The journey to the centre of town takes about 30 minutes and costs 2 quid each way, but as we landed early and only had hand luggage, that would have meant an 80-minute wait for a bus! Access to the airport is simple enough by car, just follow the M3 towards Southampton, turn onto the M27 and follow the signs to Bournemouth International, and there is plenty of short and long-term parking available near the terminal building. There is a taxi rank outside the terminal, and the trip to Bournemouth station will set you back about 12 quid.

The number of destinations available from B
ournemouth is gradually increasing – Ryanair introduced the Dublin and Hahn routes this year, while there are also regular flights to Tenerife, Lanzarote, the Channel Islands and (bizarrely) Dubrovnik, while Palmair offer day trips to Helsinki, Krakow and other exotic locations. More routes are planned for 2003, and presumably that will mean more facilities at the airport itself, as I would say that the current terminal building might well struggle to deal with any sizeable increase in passenger numbers. Some of the facilities are currently limited in nature, but that is only to be expected in an airport of this size, and with the appropriate development, Bournemouth has the potential to become and attractive (and cheap) alternative to Gatwick and Southampton.

Summary: