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Flights are today (8 January) set to resume to and from Bristol International airport, following the complete closure of the hub.

Passengers passing through the airport since 5 January have been subject to severe delays and cancellations after concerns were raised over safety on the runway.

Originally, one budget airline suspended all flights to and from Bristol, claiming that the newly-resurfaced runway was too slippery when wet and causing its planes to skid upon landing.

The airport then took action after a number of other airlines complained of having similar problems.

Despite the closure, airport officials claim that passengers were never put at risk, but they say that extra precautions have now been taken.

'We've had an army of contractors out on the runway over the last 12 hours putting grooves in to increase friction," Tony Hallwood, aviation development director at the airport told the BBC.

'The runway was not unsafe, the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] made it very clear that they were happy to continue operations and Bristol International has always said over the weekend that we'll never compromise passenger safety.'

In total, 385 flights were affected, causing disruption for 25,000 passengers. The first flight to resume its service to Bristol will be the 10:37 GMT flight from New York.

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