Does Bournemouth Airport need better public transport provision?

[PTR 444]

Bournemouth Airport (BOH) is an airport with a lot of potential since it offers cheap flights to many European destinations, but the biggest issue is that the public transport offering is next to nil. There is the 737 bus service from Bournemouth but the only journeys in the outbound direction are at 05:50 and 06:35 in the morning, making the service useless for most tourists and holidaymakers who would likely be flying from here. What’s more, it’s more than 2 miles to the nearest bus stop on an all-day route (at West Parley on the 13/13a route), making it a long and tiring walk for anyone with luggage who isn’t willing to pay the extortionate parking charges (or anyone else to drop them off). That’s without mentioning the fact that there is no pavement on the access road to the airport itself, meaning you have no choice but to lug your suitcase across the grass verges or put yourself at risk by walking along the road itself.

By the sounds of it, Bournemouth Airport seem to want to make their money by forcing people to arrive and leave by car. This is totally out of spirit of a local airport, which should be acting favourably to encourage locals to fly from their nearest airport rather than travel miles to a bigger one, while making it attractive for incoming visitors

From my perspective, the direct A1 bus service from Bournemouth to the airport via the A338 needs to be reinstated, while there should be an additional all-day service linking the airport with Ferndown, Wimborne and Poole to cater for passengers and airport staff. In the longer term, if Bournemouth ever gets a tram network, it should be extended there.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Bournemouth Airport should be better served by public transport or do you think it is better left as it is?

PS: I’m intrigued that most destinations from BOH are to summer resort destinations, when Bournemouth is one itself. Why fly to another similar place when you have one right on your doorstep?

 

[Western Sunset]

I don't think one is actually even allowed to arrive at the airport on foot. So it's basically car/taxi or nothing, except the limited 737, as mentioned. The local council is very keen on cycle lanes though. Not sure what provision for leaving bikes at the airport is...

 

[The Planner]

PS: I’m intrigued that most destinations from BOH are to summer resort destinations, when Bournemouth is one itself. Why fly to another similar place when you have one right on your doorstep?

Guaranteed sun in most cases, and its probably not that much more, if at all, expensive.

 

[Farigiraf]

Assuming this is correct (as there are a lot of citations needed), in the next two years the airport will begin to see a lot more traffic. I think the easiest option in terms of public transport to the airport would be to run it similarly to Bristol Airport: two bus services, one that runs into Bournemouth and Poole town centres frequently, and a separate shuttle service to Christchurch station to connect with services to Weymouth and the New Forest, particularly for the stations which aren't currently served by the intercity service to Southampton Airport Parkway.

 

[edwin_m]

Almost all these flights are "bucket and spade". likely to be used predominantly by people living nearby or in the wider region, travelling in family groups with plenty of luggage. Many of them are probably also early morning departures or late evening arrivals. All these factors mean that few airport passengers are going to find public transport access suitable. The airport demographics that might do so are incoming visitors (no car available), some business travellers (often travelling alone, less luggage) and those going on shorter "city breaks" (more couples than families, less luggage), but it's hard to see many of those using that set of flights. Also the airport isn't located somewhere a route predominantly serving a more popular destination can call on the way.

So it's going to be difficult to make airport public transport viable, as evidenced by the fact no commercial bus company has apparently managed to do so. East Midlands is an example of a smaller airport with a similar demographic and a reasonable bus service, but this has been subsidised and the airport had about three times more passengers in 2023 as well as probably much more employment clustered around it.

Some may not want to hear this, but a sensible national airport strategy would probably close Bournemouth airport and develop Southampton as the regional gateway, having a rail service and potentially more "critical mass" for public transport if more flights were concentrated there.

 

[Dougal2345]

As someone living under the flight path, I certainly don't want access to the airport to be made any easier. It's a commercial operation that is, as has been pointed out, taking people to foreign climes to spend their money there, at enormous environmental cost, when there is a local beach, local shops etc. where all that money could be better spent.

Having said that, as we're in the Speculative area, we could consider re-opening the railway to Hurn, and its station, a bracing 1.5 mile stroll from the airport. In the past there have been seemingly serious proposals to reopen the Brockenhurst to Ringwood line - that could be extended to Hurn, or linked all the way through to Christchurch

 

[Kite159]

Yes it does. Especially since they got away with the "free 30 minute parking" area so charging from the moment you enter the car park, even if just to drop someone off.

I would also agree with Edwin, maybe it's better to close Bournemouth (or downgrade it to be more private aircraft) and focus on improving Southampton airport.

 

[WibbleWobble]

Bournemouth Airport (BOH) is an airport with a lot of potential since it offers cheap flights to many European destinations, but the biggest issue is that the public transport offering is next to nil. There is the 737 bus service from Bournemouth but the only journeys in the outbound direction are at 05:50 and 06:35 in the morning, making the service useless for most tourists and holidaymakers who would likely be flying from here. What’s more, it’s more than 2 miles to the nearest bus stop on an all-day route (at West Parley on the 13/13a route), making it a long and tiring walk for anyone with luggage who isn’t willing to pay the extortionate parking charges (or anyone else to drop them off). That’s without mentioning the fact that there is no pavement on the access road to the airport itself, meaning you have no choice but to lug your suitcase across the grass verges or put yourself at risk by walking along the road itself.

The 737 is timed predominantly for the airport business park, I believe that's where most of the passenger traffic goes to.

By the sounds of it, Bournemouth Airport seem to want to make their money by forcing people to arrive and leave by car. This is totally out of spirit of a local airport, which should be acting favourably to encourage locals to fly from their nearest airport rather than travel miles to a bigger one, while making it attractive for incoming visitors

Given there's nowhere to drop people off without incurring a charge, making pedestrian access from off-site difficult means arriving by vehicle is the only safe option - charging even for non-parkers means a guaranteed income, especially for a small airport with not so many slot costs to invoice! Such an arrangement applies at Manchester Airport - and guess who introduced the charges at Bournemouth?

Jet2's arrival might change matters going forward.

From my perspective, the direct A1 bus service from Bournemouth to the airport via the A338 needs to be reinstated, while there should be an additional all-day service linking the airport with Ferndown, Wimborne and Poole to cater for passengers and airport staff. In the longer term, if Bournemouth ever gets a tram network, it should be extended there.

The A1 was funded by the Airport, the 737 isn't - hence it catering for commuters and not travellers.

The airport is looking to expand its passenger facilities due to Jet2 and extra Ryanair services - maybe a planning condition would be to fund extra buses. I doubt the other towns would generate sufficient traffic - maybe at peak times, yes, but not otherwise, but a service that calls at Bournemouth Station would generate traffic from further afield.

PS: I’m intrigued that most destinations from BOH are to summer resort destinations, when Bournemouth is one itself. Why fly to another similar place when you have one right on your doorstep?

Regional airports have cheaper take off and landing slot charges, and BOH handles a lot of traffic from Hampshire and beyond. Plus you can never guarantee the weather in Bournemouth, just like the British summer in general!

Some may not want to hear this, but a sensible national airport strategy would probably close Bournemouth airport and develop Southampton as the regional gateway, having a rail service and potentially more "critical mass" for public transport if more flights were concentrated there.

I would also agree with Edwin, maybe it's better to close Bournemouth (or downgrade it to be more private aircraft) and focus on improving Southampton airport.

Bournemouth is a bigger airport with a much longer runway; despite Southampton's being lengthened it is still 400m shorter than BOH's (and cannot be lengthened any further because it has the M27 at one end and Eastleigh works at the other), so handles a lot of large aircraft - it is a freight hub for European Cargo's fleet of jumbos, and regularly takes diverted flights from Heathrow and Gatwick. Most of Southampton's flights are little turboprop things - if anything, Southampton is probably the airport more likely to close or downgrade.

Even if Bournemouth required a bus link, it is only ten minutes up the A338, so similar to airport parking shuttles at a lot of larger airports, or South Parkway to Liverpool Airport. Transfer could even be included in the rail ticket price.

 

[PTR 444]

Bournemouth is a bigger airport with a much longer runway; despite Southampton's being lengthened it is still 400m shorter than BOH's (and cannot be lengthened any further because it has the M27 at one end and Eastleigh works at the other), so handles a lot of large aircraft - it is a freight hub for European Cargo's fleet of jumbos, and regularly takes diverted flights from Heathrow and Gatwick. Most of Southampton's flights are little turboprop things - if anything, Southampton is probably the airport more likely to close or downgrade.

Another consideration to take into account is that as of 2022, Bournemouth has overtaken Southampton in terms of annual passenger numbers. The loss of Flybe from the latter airport has definitely had a significant impact.


Table from Wikipedia comparing 2022 (left) with 2023 (right) passenger numbers, with Bournemouth being the UK’s 19th busiest airport and Southampton the 22nd busiest.

 

[Mike Machin]

Yes it does. Especially since they got away with the "free 30 minute parking" area so charging from the moment you enter the car park, even if just to drop someone off.

I would also agree with Edwin, maybe it's better to close Bournemouth (or downgrade it to be more private aircraft) and focus on improving Southampton airport.

Even though it has been extended recently, the runway at Southampton Airport is still relatively short and cannot be extended further. It can now handle the Airbus A320 aircraft on routes to many holiday destinations and British and European cities. However, hot weather, strong crosswinds and heavy rain can still lead to diversions. The similar size Boeing 737 (the current and future workhorse for Ryanair, TUI and Jet2) aircraft are severely restricted, meaning it's not possible to take-off with a full fuel load or a full passenger load, making Southampton impractical for these operators on all but the shortest of routes. Southampton airport is also on a restricted site in an urban area and can only handle four or five Airbus-size aircraft at any one time. There's precious little space for future terminal expansion.

Bournemouth is blessed with a long, wide runway and can handle pretty much any aircraft - at present very large A340 freight aircraft are based at the airport and fly daily to China and the airport has handled the 747 and even Concorde in the past. There's plenty of space for terminal expansion (which is going ahead at the moment) and the low-cost carriers such as Ryanair, TUI and Jet2 wouldn't even contemplate using Southampton as a base as diversions and load restrictions would render their business model untenable.

The vast majority of passengers prefer to drive to most airports simply because it can be such a faff struggling with luggage and children using public transport, plus the 'first wave' of flights using the based aircraft need to depart between 6 AM and 7 AM as they need to make two or three return rotations a day, meaning that a large number of the departing passengers need to check-in by 4 AM so public transport isn't a viable option. It's the same in the evening, when the based aircraft arrive back between 10 PM and 1 AM resulting in a surge of passengers at the airport during these hours. Bournemouth will undoubtedly introduce a more frequent bus link to the town centre in the course of time, but Bristol airport's impressive figures of around 10 million passengers annually shows that private cars will remain very much the way forward.

By the way, with Jet2 launching their new services in the next couple of months and additional flights from TUI and Ryanair, Bournemouth is expected to handle around 1.5 million passengers in 2025 and over 2 million in 2026.

 

[PTR 444]

On today’s Bournemouth Echo, although can’t seem to find a link to the petition.

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/25188141.poole-man-launches-petition-bus-service-bournemouth-airport/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKifC1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHkDTJyC2FyzdABYxl4wCvXwKmoK9UUAhXDTxm4weRmhwDi557Je7ATQw8Xvc_aem_XxNvQywFhNV8T8p2L0IGKw

A POOLE resident has launched a petition calling for the introduction of a regular and affordable bus service to Bournemouth Airport.

Nikita Smith, who moved to Poole four years ago, is frustrated over the current lack of reliable public transport options.

He says passengers are left with few choices when trying to reach the airport often relying on costly taxis, lifts from friends or family, or paying to park at the airport for the entire duration of their trip.

He said: “I've realized that every time you try to go to the airport, you basically need to get a taxi, which is fine if you kind of want to do that. But it seems bizarre that, an airport with international kind of status, doesn't have any regular bus service whatsoever.”

 

[Howardh]

Even Newquay airport has a bus roughly hourly, it's for that reason I chose Newquay for a short break; totally bizarre why a "major" airport would be short of public transport. If the local council won't provide, it might be in the best interests of the airport if themselves provided a bus link?

As an aside I've considered Bournemouth for a break, but the lengthy journey to and from puts me off, a simple flight there from Manchester and I'd book today if flights were available.

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Far fetched this may sound, a sort of automated monorail system to the station suspended above the A338, I'm thinking of New York's JFK AirTrain thus with lower cost Luton DART like fleet.

No driver to employ, can run at quieter less in demand timings, no getting stuck in traffic, less expense of digging up to lay rail track, quicker to get into service.

More chance this happening with Leeds-Bradford or Doncaster to their larger population size than Bournemouth.

 

[Western Sunset]

This is the entire "service" to Bournemouth Airport, provided by MoreBus; appropriately their 737 route:

Bournemouth Westover Road dep 0550 and 0635

Bournemouth Airport dep 1335, 1620 and 1800

No buses on Saturdays, Sundays or Public Holidays. Speaks for itself, really...

 

[Howardh]

Far fetched this may sound, a sort of automated monorail system to the station suspended above the A338, I'm thinking of New York's JFK AirTrain thus with lower cost Luton DART like fleet.

No driver to employ, can run at quieter less in demand timings, no getting stuck in traffic, less expense of digging up to lay rail track, quicker to get into service.

More chance this happening with Leeds-Bradford or Doncaster to their larger population size than Bournemouth.

hey, at Manchester International Three (or two-and-a-half) Terminals Airport, we can't even get the travelators working!! But I like your idea!!

 

[Bletchleyite]

This is the entire "service" to Bournemouth Airport, provided by MoreBus; appropriately their 737 route:

Bournemouth Westover Road dep 0550 and 0635

Bournemouth Airport dep 1335, 1620 and 1800

No buses on Saturdays, Sundays or Public Holidays. Speaks for itself, really...

Presumably that aligns with the very limited flights available?

 

[Western Sunset]

Presumably that aligns with the very limited flights available?

Not at all. I wouldn't say "limited flights" by any means.

The bus "service" just appears to be for the needs of airport workers, judging by the timings.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not at all. I wouldn't say "limited flights" by any means.

Surprising that a better commercial bus service isn't viable, then. Has one ever been tried?

If demand is so low that even say a half hourly commercial bus service to Bournemouth town centre doesn't work, then it's hard to justify spending a fortune on things like trams unless there was going to be a massive increase in flights to go with it (which could fund such a thing).

 

[PTR 444]

Far fetched this may sound, a sort of automated monorail system to the station suspended above the A338, I'm thinking of New York's JFK AirTrain thus with lower cost Luton DART like fleet.

No driver to employ, can run at quieter less in demand timings, no getting stuck in traffic, less expense of digging up to lay rail track, quicker to get into service.

More chance this happening with Leeds-Bradford or Doncaster to their larger population size than Bournemouth.

What Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch really need is some sort of rapid transit system. Probably most realistically, a tram from Poole to Bournemouth via Ashley Road then onto Bournemouth Hospital direct via Springbourne. From there it can split into two branches, one to Castlepoint and Bournemouth Airport via a new bridge over the Stour, and the other to Christchurch.

 

[Howardh]

There could be a (appx) 5kn rail spur from the current line, there's land available to cut through but a look at the map makes me wonder how much is "protected" even if the link was affordable? Would never happen though unless Bournemouth airport really took off!

 

[dorsetdesiro]

What Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch really need is some sort of rapid transit system. Probably most realistically, a tram from Poole to Bournemouth via Ashley Road then onto Bournemouth Hospital direct via Springbourne. From there it can split into two branches, one to Castlepoint and Bournemouth Airport via a new bridge over the Stour, and the other to Christchurch.

Crikey, trams tranversing through severely congested Ashley & Poole Roads, that I'd like to see!

The traffic would have to be diverted down Bournemouth Rd if banned/restricted from Ashley Road. Not sure about Poole Rd as Lindsay Rd and Surrey/Yarmouth Rd are already suffering.

Only if they had built the Canford Wy-Wessex Wy link road bypassing Ashley Rd & Wallisdown Rd back in the 70s, not blocked by the environmentalists.

 

[Western Sunset]

For a few years post WW2, Bournemouth (Hurn) Airport, was the major BOAC transatlantic base, before Heathrow...

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Sorry I probably misread, you may have referred to Boscombe's Ashley Rd instead of Parkstone's. Sorry ha ha.

 

[Western Sunset]

Just a thought. Now that the #6 between Wimborne and Bournemouth runs half-hourly, could not one of the half-hourly #13 make a detour from Parley to serve the airport?

 

[AlastairFraser]

What Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch really need is some sort of rapid transit system. Probably most realistically, a tram from Poole to Bournemouth via Ashley Road then onto Bournemouth Hospital direct via Springbourne. From there it can split into two branches, one to Castlepoint and Bournemouth Airport via a new bridge over the Stour, and the other to Christchurch.

I agree, but, in the meantime, an express shuttle bus Bournemouth centre - Bournemouth Station - Airport is more viable. Departures hourly in each direction, starting 90 mins before the first flight and ending 90 mins after the last flight would probably suffice.

 

[James H]

In the past, Yellow Buses ran a more regular (2 hourly) A1 bus service to the airport, but not I think on a commercial basis.

I watched a recent BCP consultative committee meeting at which two reps from Morebus participated - they mentioned (without prompting IIRC) that links to the airport were definitely on their radar as something needing addressing, but indicated there wasn't an easy solution

 

[PTR 444]

Sorry I probably misread, you may have referred to Boscombe's Ashley Rd instead of Parkstone's. Sorry ha ha.

I did mean Parktone’s Ashley Road. There isn’t really any vacant space you can put a direct tram corridor between Poole and Bournemouth, otherwise that would be the far superior option.

 

[Western Sunset]

And with all the new housing developments in and around Parley (near the airport), maybe have a new Bournemouth - Parley - Airport route? Like they've just done to serve new housing at Bearwood - route #11.

 

[PTR 444]

Just a thought. Now that the #6 between Wimborne and Bournemouth runs half-hourly, could not one of the half-hourly #13 make a detour from Parley to serve the airport?

It would mean a longer journey for Bournemouth - Ferndown though.

Personally, I’m of the belief that there should be three separate airport services purely for connectivity purposes:

• Bournemouth Town Centre - Station - Hospital - Airport - Aviation Business Park
• Poole - Winton - Aviation Business Park - Airport
• Wimborne - Ferndown - Aviation Business Park - Airport - Christchurch

 

[James H]

And with all the new housing developments in and around Parley (near the airport), maybe have a new Bournemouth - Parley - Airport route? Like they've just done to serve new housing at Bearwood - route #11.

Parley Cross and environs is outside the BCP area, so would require Dorset Council to play ball too.

The new route 11 is funded with BSIP money from BCP's pot.