Bristol Airport temporarily suspended all operations on Friday evening, 6 November, after a suspicious package was found on a separate aircraft parked on the apron, diverting one incoming flight to Birmingham Airport while the item was investigated.
The airport said the package was reported on a grounded aircraft and that, as a precaution, it stopped operations "for a short time" while security teams checked it out. One flight due into Bristol was diverted to Birmingham Airport (BHX) as a result. The item was later "deemed safe" and the diverted aircraft flew back to Bristol the same night, according to Birmingham Live.
A Bristol Airport spokesperson said: "A suspected suspicious package was reported on an aircraft parked on the apron, which was investigated and deemed safe. Safety and security are our top priority. As a precaution, our operations were suspended for a short time. One flight was diverted to BHX. Bristol Airport is open and operating normally."
The disruption was confirmed by both Bristol Live and Birmingham Live, which separately reported the diversion and carried the same airport statement. Bristol Airport said on Saturday, 7 November, that it is back to operating normally, with no onward restrictions linked to the incident.
The incident caused only brief, localised disruption. Passengers already at the airport or due to fly on Friday night may have experienced short delays while operations were paused, and anyone aboard the diverted flight faced an unscheduled stop in Birmingham before returning to Bristol. There is no indication any other flights were cancelled or that the closure extended into Saturday.
Airports routinely suspend ground movements as a precaution whenever an item cannot immediately be identified as safe, even when the eventual finding is benign, so a short operational pause of this kind is not unusual and does not by itself point to an ongoing security threat.
Travellers flying from Bristol this weekend should check their flight status directly with their airline, particularly if connecting through the airport on a tight schedule, though normal operations mean no general disruption is expected.
What this means for your journey: if you are heading to Bristol Airport today, normal arrival timings apply, but it is worth checking your flight status before you set off. See our /parking/ guide if you are driving in, or /public-transport/ for bus and rail links to the terminal.