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Bristol airport’s new chief executive starts role

Bristol Airport’s new chief executive, Dave Lees, has begun his role having moved from his position as managing director of Southampton airport.

Before becoming MD at Southampton, Lees worked as operations director and planning and development director at the south coast regional airport.

Prior to Southampton, Lees was head of service improvement at Heathrow, where he also held roles in operations and engineering.

He said: “I am proud, honoured and excited to be joining the Bristol airport team. The airport has a great reputation for its route development and network, passenger growth and the vital role it plays in the region.

“This is an exciting opportunity, and I am looking forward to working with regional stakeholders and communities to build on the airport’s success and ambitions for the future.”

Currently the ninth busiest airport in the UK, and the fifth largest outside London, Bristol handled over 8.1 million passengers in 2017, an 8% increase on the previous year.

Work has started in developing a new master plan setting out how the airport could serve around 20 million passengers per year by the mid-2040s.

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