Bristol Airport

Background

Each year, over ten million passengers pass through Bristol Airport – one of the UK’s fasting growing airports.

To meet rising demand, the airport is expanding, making digital transformation essential. The website, once a simple information hub, had become critical infrastructure driving its largest revenue stream - car parking - enabling recruitment and serving as a vital resource for the local community and media.

Bristol Airport needed more than a website refresh. It needed a scalable platform to enhance passenger experience, drive revenue and reduce operational costs.

Having worked with the airport for over a decade, this was our third website iteration - an opportunity to refine key user journeys, implement modern development techniques and update the digital brand, all while achieving significant cost savings through migration to a more flexible and cost-effective CMS.

Solution

We delivered Bristol Airport a brand-new platform, improving both the user and developer experience, making it easier to roll-out new features, updates and content. We chose Umbraco CMS v10 and .NET 6, replacing the legacy system with a modern, cloud-based architecture. The new platform runs on Azure App Services for Linux and is fully managed using Bicep infrastructure-as-code, enabling faster, more reliable deployment and change.

As part of Critical National Infrastructure, security and resilience were paramount. We adopted an infrastructure-as-code approach to enable rapid creation of new environments. Cloudflare and Azure Single Sign-On strengthened security, while technical SEO ensured no drop in organic search traffic post-launch. Modern front-end tooling powered by React alongside a host of integrations with third party APIs and services created the unified customer experience Bristol Airports diverse customer base needed.

Initially we concentrated on refreshing the look of some key components around the website. These modules allowed us to fuel our creativity, developing visual treatments for interactive masthead and other featured components.

Bristol Airport were impressed with how we were evolving their brand online which then led them to ask us to take over the whole website.

The new website supports a wide range of passenger needs, including trip planning, destination inspiration, real-time arrivals and departures, booking widgets, and improved parking and hospitality journeys. React was introduced for modern front-end development, while Umbraco’s reusable components empowered editors to manage content confidently without developer reliance.

Impact

The new platform has transformed Bristol Airport’s digital experience into one that feels seamless, intuitive and fit for a modern international airport. Passengers can now access clearer information, plan trips more confidently and complete key tasks more efficiently, particularly on mobile devices.

The results were immediate. Parking conversion rates rose by 119%, ecommerce transactions increased by 146%, and bounce rates dropped by 9%. The site has become a revenue-generating platform - simplifying travel for passengers while future-proofing Bristol Airport’s continued expansion.

Internally, Umbraco CMS has improved the editor experience, reduced complexity and enabled teams to roll out updates and new features with greater speed and confidence.

The cloud-based architecture provides a future-ready foundation that supports scalability, security and ongoing optimisation as passenger expectations continue to evolve.

With ongoing managed service support and a new programme of Conversion Rate Optimisation, the website continues to evolve. Bristol Airport now has a digital platform that doesn’t just meet today’s needs - it’s built for the future.