IF BRISTOL airport flew its own planes they would probably be performing victory rolls around the terminal building right now.

Airlines operating from the site have been adding a series of additional destinations and new operators are being attracted.

New routes are the life blood of any regional airport and Bristol seems to be on the receiving end of a major transfusion.

As reported in last week's Business Argus, easyJet is currently launching five additional destinations to Madrid, Valencia, Rome, Geneva and Budapest. That takes the airline's Bristol-based routes to 25 - nine per cent of its total network.

Over the last year those routes attracted 2.15 million passengers.

The company's history at Bristol began when Go began services in May 2001 and quickly built up a network of 11 routes.

easyjet acquired Go in 2002 and has since doubled the Bristol network. It now employs about 300 people at the terminal or in the adjacent hangars.

As a company easyJet believes there is still plenty of room for growth at Bristol and is planning additional destinations.

The airline's chief operating officer, Ed Winter, said: "Our business is about enabling people to do things they wouldn't otherwise contemplate. Last year we carried 24 million people and many of them would not have travelled at all if we hadn't been around.

"Bristol was our first base outside London and we like it because customers in the South West and South Wales find it very convenient. Parking is very close to the terminal and you can just walk in and catch your flight. That fits very nicely with the easyJet philosophy."

Although easyJet is the largest operator at Bristol it's not the only one that's expanding its services.

Last week it was announced that Thompson Holidays would be operating a charter service to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt on the "Red Sea Riviera".

Sun, sand, coral diving and competitive pricing has made the resort very popular with Brits and naturally Thompson's move has delighted the airport management (this service is also available from Cardiff Airport).

Tony Hallwood, Bristol's aviation development director, said: "I'm delighted to see the launch of the first ever direct flight to Egypt. Sharm el Sheikh is a great winter sun destination and offers world-class diving. Sales so far have exceeded all expectations and we anticipate that the Red Sea Riviera will become a favourite with sun worshippers across the South West."

UK domestic aviation from Bristol has also been expanded.

Eastern Airways has just launched a new route to Aberdeen. The service runs twice a day, Monday to Friday, plus one round-trip on a Sunday. It was launched following research last year among businesses in north east Scotland. They asked for Bristol to be the next route to be added to those available from the Granite City.

Tony Hallwood said: "With a flight time of just 1hour 35 minutes, the service means executives can attend meetings in Aberdeen and return home the same day. It also means tourists can enjoy the rugged delights of the city and surrounding countryside without having to drive hundreds of miles to get there."

Next year Bristol expects to handle 4.5 million passengers and its managers believe that many of them will come from Gwent.

Mr Hallwood said: "Customer traffic from across the Severn Bridge is incredibly important to us. It makes sense because we're so easy to get to."

From May 2005 Continental Airlines will begin a transatlantic service from Bristol, another significant milestone for a regional airport.

And British Airways' City Express has earmarked Bristol for the only growth in its UK network, basing an additional Embraer 145 plane on its apron and for new routes to Italy and Germany.

City Express currently offers Munich, Frankfurt, Paris, Jersey, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The airport is responding to these enhancements by expanding the main terminal building to accommodate new check-in desks and security areas.

As Mr Hallwood said: "There are around seven million people in our catchment area and I think most of them are sick of driving up the M4 to fly from Heathrow or Gatwick. They want to fly from here and that's why we've doubled our market share over the last two years. We anticipate this trend will continue for some time to come and so we're developing our infrastructure to handle it."