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Somerset police have asked travellers not to turn up at their local airport drunk, or with the intention of getting drunk while waiting for their flight. The warning, which applies to Bristol Airport, but could easily be extrapolated to any hub in the country, is designed to deter a “small minority” from causing trouble at the Lulsgate site.

The ‘Know Your Limit’ campaign may appear to be a response to an escalating problem, but the Somerset Constabulary was quick to point out that there have been no significant alcohol-related incidents at Bristol Airport in 2011. The purpose of the scheme, then, is prevention, rather than cure.

Bristol Airport is the largest airport in southwestern England, serving the counties of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and of course, Somerset. The hub handled almost 6m people last year, many of which were heading to popular resorts in Europe, such as Alicante, Ibiza, and Prague. The popularity of Bristol’s routes with stag and hen parties means that large groups of people may be passing through the airport, and, more often than not, visiting the airport’s food and drink outlets.

While there is nothing immediately wrong with consuming alcohol at an airport, and many nervous or bored travellers will eventually make their way to a bar or coffee house, flyers who choose to drink beer or wine should be aware of their personal ‘limit’.

PC Andy Bibbings, of the Somerset Constabulary, said that anti-social behaviour that “negatively effects the enjoyment of other passengers” or “causes anyone to feel threatened or unsafe” would not be tolerated. “The reality is that the culprit may end up in a cell”, the police officer explained.

The Know Your Limit campaign will run in tandem with a customer information scheme, “Drink Awareness for Passengers”. The latter project will be supported by leaflets and ‘table-top spinners’, located around the airport.

Bristol Airport has become the latest hub to implement a £1 charge for the use of drop-off zones. The levy, which mirrors similar schemes at Newcastle, East Midlands, and Belfast airports, is designed to combat congestion at the Somerset hub, by encouraging motorists to travel on local trains, trams, and buses.

Drop-off fees are very unpopular. The introduction of the £1 levy at Newcastle Airport caused outrage amongst local motorists. Words such as, “chaotic”, “disgraceful”, and “disgusting”, were used liberally by critics in reference to the parking fee, but the scheme continues to gain in popularity at other UK hubs.

The relative apathy with which subsequent ‘pay-per-stay’ car parks have been greeted suggests that holidaymakers have accepted the spread of the £1 tax as inevitable, or that the media has grown tired of reporting on the issue. The addition of the levy at Bristol, for example, has been very sparsely reported, and without a single word of protest from local motorists.

Bristol’s new ‘express’ drop-off area, located a few metres to the southeast of the main terminal building, costs £1 for a stay of up to twenty minutes, and £4 for visits lasting up to half an hour. The new zone replaces a free parking area, which has been moved to the other side of the airport, and now resides within the long-stay parking zone.

A spokesperson for Bristol Airport said that the drop-off fee represents a “decrease in cost”, compared to the previous parking tariff. However, taxi drivers, arguably the group that is hit the hardest by parking charges, will almost invariably lose money, as Bristol has refused to offer any lenience beyond a simple discount.

In related news, Bristol Airport chiefs are “confident” that new destinations will soon be available from the Lulsgate hub. The announcement, made on Bristol’s official website, appeared a few days after the airport’s representatives returned from Routes Europe 2011, an annual ‘match-making’ conference, which aims to connect airports with airlines.

Shawn Browne, aviation director at Bristol, said that the Somerset hub is “fast becoming a destination that other airports want to see on their departure boards”. Mr. Browne noted that airlines were “impressed by the strength of the southwest market”. The new routes, if any, will be revealed in mid-to-late 2011.

From November 2011, Thomson Airways will connect Bristol Airport with the island of Boa Vista. The destination, which is a member of the independent Cape Verde Islands, is situated off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania in West Africa. Bristol Airport says that Boa Vista is “untouched” by world tourism, making it ideal for travellers who have grown weary of Benidorm, Alicante, and similar ‘sun and sea’ resorts.

Boa Vista is a paradise island, warmer and dryer than the Canary Islands, but just as picturesque. Towards the coast, gently sloping dunes end in white beaches. Rusty shipwrecks, some submerged beneath the sea, create an unusual panorama for first-time visitors. Boa Vista’s Rabil Airport and the popular Riu Karamboa Hotel are equally unique, resembling giant sandcastles. Bristol Airport’s aviation director, Shaun Browne, referred to Boa Vista as an “exciting new destination” for holidaymakers in need of a break from Britain’s overcast skies.

The route from Bristol will be operated by Thomson Airways until April 2012. The carrier already offers 40 destinations from Bristol Airport, including trans-Atlantic flights to Sanford in Florida and Cancún, Mexico. Planes will depart from Bristol every Tuesday for the duration of the winter season. Flights to Boa Vista from Glasgow and East Midlands airports will also begin later this year, courtesy of Thomson.

Package deals for holidays at the Royal Decameron, Riu Touareg, and Riu Karamboa hotels are being sold by Thomson, beginning at £704 per person for a seven-night stay. The hotels, located on Boa Vista’s beaches, generally offer three to four-star accommodation, with a variety of bars and restaurants available on site.

Terms like ‘carbon footprint,’ ‘global warming,’ and ‘renewable energy’ are rarely out of the headlines in this enlightened century. The idea that an industry can be both productive and environmentally friendly is a favourite daydream of engineers and businessmen, but few companies have the money or the desire to install a few solar panels on the cafeteria roof.

However, Bristol Airport has made an effort to catch up with the country’s eco-warriors, by installing a new wind turbine on the front lawn. The turbine, standing 20m tall, has a unique helical, or ‘twisted,’ design, which produces less noise and fewer vibrations than conventional windmills, such as those at Thanet, off the coast of Kent. The structure, says Bristol Airport, is part of an ongoing pilot project.

The Southwest Regional Development Agency contributed £39,000 to the purchase of the turbine, while specialist manufacturer, Aeolus Power, was responsible for designing and installing the contraption, dubbed the Quiet Revolution qr5. Christine Griffiths, a partner of Aeolus, said that the qr5 was “ideal for Bristol Airport,” as the turbine was designed to function in built-up areas.

Bosses at the southwest airport hope to generate enough electricity to make 203,000 cups of tea (0.03kw per cup) during the turbine’s first year, a remarkable number of beverages for a lone windmill. Whether the hub has actually spent thousands of pounds on powering a giant kettle is debatable.

Alan Davies, planning officer at Bristol, referred to the turbine as a “high profile statement of our ambition to reduce our reliance on carbon.” The structure is ostensibly part of plans to expand and upgrade the airport to support 12.5m passengers by 2030, more than double Bristol Airport’s total traffic in 2010.

A sustainable (and rather unusual) hotel is to be built at Bristol Airport, according to news website Hotel Designs. The building, alleged to be the hub’s first dedicated hotel, is being developed by London-based firm EPR Architects, the scribblers behind the Rose Bowl Cricket Ground, Hampshire, and ITV’s Granada Studios in Manchester.

The structure, once complete, will stand within a short walk of the airport’s main terminal, providing travellers with unrivalled access to the UK’s ninth largest hub. The hotel’s day-to-day operation will be handled by Pederson Hotels, a company that owns similar accommodation in Sheffield and Reading.

Arranged into two ‘wings’, the hotel is H-shaped and has its own dedicated parking zone to the west of the building. The as-yet-unnamed structure will be built from materials which prevent the loss of heat and energy to the cold outside the walls. Current plans will allow a maximum of 251 guests on 3 or 4 floors.

“The hotel has been designed to have a strong horizontal emphasis with colour used to articulate the form,” explains Hotel Designs. In layman’s terms, the building has colourful stripes. The architects hope that the stripy exterior will distinguish it from the ‘office block’ style of many new budget hotels.

A restaurant and bar installed adjacent to the main reception area will delight hungry guests, while three meeting rooms will allow business types to discuss the latest pie chart over a hot projector. The hotel will be fronted by a "landscaped area” complete with a path that leads to the terminal doors.

The development will help officials at Bristol Airport achieve their collective dream of 10 million passengers a year by 2020, a goal that is supported by a controversial £150m expansion due to get underway in the coming months.

Earlier this month, staff at Bristol Airport swapped their uniforms for something a little more extravagant, as the hub celebrated a new Thomson Airways route to Luxor, Egypt, with a pharaoh-themed fancy dress party.

Luxor, the site of the Ancient Egyptian city, Thebes, is one of the most popular tourist resorts in North Africa. The city sits on the banks of the Nile, and claims the ruins of the Karnak temple, and the nearby Valley of the Kings as landmarks.

Explorers can also book a felucca (a small yacht) ride on the Nile. The Greek historian, Herodotus, once said that Egypt was given to the world by the famous river, emphasising its importance in founding the ‘Land of the Pharaohs.’ Man-eating crocodiles, weighing 225kg, were also gifted to Egypt by the Nile.

With an average July temperature of 41 degrees Celsius, Luxor is an ideal destination for both sun seekers and would-be historians alike.

Airport bosses say that Thomson has helped boost winter capacity at the North Somerset hub by an impressive 55% over 2009, by adding the Luxor route, introducing a flight from Bristol to Gran Canaria at the beginning of November, and making the decision to base a second aircraft at the airport.

Bristol claims that seven new Thomson routes will go on sale during the winter of 2010/11, but it is unknown whether the airline’s latest additions are included in that figure. Flights to Larnaca in Cyprus, Heraklion in Greece, and Reus in Spain, are at least some of the routes to be introduced during the colder months.

Thomson is operating the flight to Luxor alongside its sister company, First Choice. Tickets for the route are being sold at £199 for a return trip, all taxes included. The price is for a single adult returning after a seven or fourteen day stay in Egypt. Naturally, First Choice is offering package deals for Luxor, with a week at the four-star hotel, the Iberotel Luxor, costing £374 per person.

While smuggling is a staple of Hollywood blockbusters, from the global transport of heavy weapons in Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage, to cocaine trafficking in Martin Scorsese’s, Goodfellas, the reality of smuggling is rarely flattering, with the culprits often portrayed as idiots in the media.

For example: a would-be cocaine smuggler was arrested at Newcastle Airport earlier this year, after locking himself in his own car, a feat that most would consider impossible, given that he had the keys on his person.

With airport security at its most paranoid in recent memory, pending a possible review in the coming months, smugglers are being captured at a prodigious rate, carrying such bizarre items as seahorses, boa constrictors, rare eggs, and even three alligators – possibly the last thing you would want to hide in your underpants.

Yet, audacious and ridiculous smuggling schemes happen every day, with one of the most recent occurring at Bristol Airport earlier this year. Liam Dimond, a 20-year-old male from Patchway, Bristol, was reportedly caught trying to bring an “arsenal” of weapons through his local airport, according to newspaper, the Evening Post.

Liam had been travelling back from a holiday in Bulgaria with his parents when customs officers discovered the haul.

The items, which were all melee weapons, barring a few throwing stars and a stun gun, included knuckle-dusters and flick knives, some of which were disguised as mundane items, such as cigarette lighters. The culprit claimed that the weapons, numbering ten in all, were “collection items” destined for his bedroom wall, rather than functional arms.

Owen Strickland, Dimond’s solicitor, said that the defendant had an “interest” in the handheld weapons after “seeing them in films.”

Dimond pleaded guilty to the offence earlier this month, but the case has since been referred to Bristol Crown Court, after a local magistrate ruled that the sheer size of the arsenal, coupled with Dimond’s previous convictions, meant that any sentence would need to be meted out by a judge with greater powers.

Isle of Man residents need to start using Flybe’s route to Bristol Airport, or it will be axed, said airline boss, Mike Rutter.

Speaking in March, just a few days after the airline unveiled the route between the city and the island, Mike said, “Our Isle of Man passengers are looking for regular, reliable services with a carrier that is committed long-term to the island.”

However, the budget airline’s loyalty to the island has been tested by falling passenger numbers, prompting the carrier’s decision to review the route.

The Isle of Man, famed for the triskelion on its flag and its annual Tourist Trophy (or ‘TT’) motorcycle race, has been a staple of aviation news in recent months, chiefly concerning the activities of native carrier, Manx2.

Manx2 recently transferred its entire operation from Belfast International Airport to neighbouring Belfast City Airport, claiming that the move would “double” the size of its business in Northern Ireland.

Then, at the beginning of October, the airline was voted the best flight provider on the island, receiving 15% more of the votes than larger carrier, easyJet.

Flybe claims that the popularity of the Isle of Man is borne out by a rise in passenger numbers at other airports operating Flybe routes to the island, including Birmingham, Luton, and Manchester.

This means that either Bristol Airport is driving customers away, or travellers are being hoovered up by rival airports and airlines.

In this case, the fabled ‘giant-killer’ appears to be Gloucestershire Airport, located 50 miles up the M5 motorway. The tiny hub is home to just one airline, Manx2, which provides routes to Jersey, and its homeland, the Isle of Man.

EasyJet’s new route to Liverpool from the island has also been cited as a possible contributor to the failure of the Bristol-Isle of Man connection.

Bristol Airport bosses were not optimistic, with Director, Ann Reynolds, saying that she “would not be surprised,” if Flybe decided to operate the Isle of Man route on a summer-only basis, a dramatic cull of the 11 weekly flights operating at present.

Border officials at UK airports have enjoyed some success in the fight against drug smuggling, after a would-be dealer was apprehended at Bristol Airport earlier this month and two more individuals were sentenced to a combined 10 years in prison for cocaine trafficking offences committed in January and June.

On Saturday, officials at Bristol Airport arrested a man trying to smuggle a suitcase full of cocaine into the country. The man, Andrius Karbauskis, believed to be Lithuanian in origin, arrived on a jet from Antalya, Turkey, carrying the £250,000 haul in "false compartments" inside the suitcase.

Cocaine, which is one of the most popular recreational drugs in the world, carries a maximum penalty in the UK of life imprisonment for supply, and seven years in jail for possession. People have been charged with ‘intent to supply’ after being found with just 1 gram of the Class A substance.

Gateshead man Dean Gilmore was sentenced to three years in jail on Friday for a botched attempt to escape Newcastle Airport with £88,000 worth of cocaine. Dean, who was carrying 2.4kg of the banned drug, was arrested in January after locking himself inside his own vehicle, a Vauxhall Omega with a malfunctioning auto-locking mechanism.

Detective Constable David Johnson said that the “vigilance” of airport staff and police officers had contributed to Gilmore’s arrest.

Completing the trio of convictions, Elphia Dlamini, an air hostess at South African Airways, was found guilty of cocaine smuggling on Monday and sentenced to seven years in prison. Elphia was rumbled by sniffer dog Clever Trevor at Heathrow Airport in June. She had been carrying a 3kg drugs haul worth £120,000 in her bra and knickers.

Somerset newspaper The Weston Mercury claims that the UK Border Agency is “cracking down” on a range of offences, from drug smuggling to sham marriages and illegal immigration.

The UK secretary of state has raised no further concerns about Bristol Airport’s controversial expansion plans, meaning that work on the project can now begin as planned. The move ends years of bickering over the environmental impact of the £150m scheme.

Councillors had recommended that the expansion go ahead as recently as May 2010, but the paperwork had to be considered by a local planning association before construction could begin.

Bristol has one of the largest airports in the UK, handling an average of 5.6m travellers every year. However, the hub wants to attract 9m passengers within the next five years and 12.5m passengers by 2030.

Such a monumental jump in traffic is unachievable with facilities that are more accustomed to handling a few million a year. At least that is the argument that Bristol bosses have been putting forward since the airport’s Master Plan was published in 2006.

The Master Plan, which is a document detailing the airport’s plans for the near future, also mentioned a huge rise in the number of aircraft travelling to and from Bristol Airport, from 53,000 in 2004 to 108,000 in 2030.

Critics were not impressed with the news, and set about trying to block the expansion.

Four years later, a representative for the pressure group Stop Bristol Airport Expansion, Hilary Burn, said that the news of the airport’s success was “exceptionally disappointing” and “against North Somerset Council's policies".

Airport bosses claim that the plan was subjected to “vigorous examination" but opponents have drawn attention to the airport’s ‘policy’ of ignoring the results of public consultations after only 320 of 5,500 comments were in favour of the plan.

In protest, the magazine Beautiful Britain painted a runway in a Bristol field during May to highlight a perceived trend of runways springing up ‘overnight.’

The airport believes that the project will be a huge boon to the local area, creating 4,000 jobs and generating £340m extra revenue per year.