Bristol Airport has suspended flights and diverted several others tonight (Saturday, January 4) following heavy snowfall. At the time of writing, three flights had to be diverted to Birmingham, two to Manchester, two to East Midlands Airport in Derby, one to Cardiff, and one to Gatwick.
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport told the Bristol Post: “The Bristol Airport team are working hard on snow clearing but challenging weather means that flight operations have been suspended until later tonight. This will mainly impact inbound flights but any concerned customers are advised to contact their airline for more information.”
To put the diversions into perspective, The distance between Bristol Airport and Birmingham airport is 104.7 miles on the M5 and should take around two hours by car. The distance between Bristol Airport and Cardiff airport is 61.7 miles on the M4 and should take around an hour and a half.
Two flights have also been diverted to East Midlands Airport. Located in Derby, it is around 139.4 miles away from Bristol Airport by car. Depending on factors such as traffic and road conditions, it should take a little less than three hours to drive there.
Falcon Buses have stopped serving Bristol Airport due to the snow. Taking to X, a spokesperson for Megabus said: “DUE TO THE WEATHER ALL FALCON SERVICES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE WILL NOT SERVE BRISTOL AIRPORT. WE WILL UPDATE WHEN IT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO SERVE AGAIN [sic]”.
The travel chaos comes as a yellow weather warning for snow covers Bristol. According to the Met Office, this means that “there is a chance of travel delays on roads with some stranded vehicles and passengers, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel”.
Meanwhile, other flights have been delayed or cancelled, though this could be for a variety of reasons. As of time of writing, three flights from Paris, Edinburgh and Geneva respectively have been cancelled. Another flight from Geneva and a flight from Dublin have been delayed.
The yellow weather warning for snow will be in effect for Bristol until 11.59pm tomorrow. You can get up-to-the-minute weather updates on the Met Office website.