Bristol Airport has appointed Simon Earles as planning and sustainability director to oversee the development of its new masterplan, which is now being drawn up to meet future demand for air travel over the next 20 years and beyond.

In a related move, the airport’s head of planning & development Andrew Goodenough has been promoted to the position of development director and will continue to lead the delivery of new infrastructure.

Simon Earles, pictured, is a qualified transport planner and joins from Heathrow, where he was most recently planning and policy director. Prior to this, he was responsible for surface access to the airport, leading on projects such as Crossrail, Western Rail Access and HS2.

He has more than 16 years’ experience in the aviation sector having also worked for Luton Airport.

Simon’s appointment comes as the Bristol Airport begins work on a long-term vision for the future. As planning and sustainability director, he will be considering how the airport can meet the challenge of serving the South West’s demand for international connectivity in a way that is sensitive to the local community and environment.

Andrew’s promotion follows a 10-year career at the airport during which he has overseen construction of two major terminal extensions, new aircraft stands and a range of car park improvements.

He is a board member of Constructing Excellence South West and his previous experience includes managing capital expenditure projects at Luton, Cardiff and Belfast International airports.

Bristol Airport chief executive officer Robert Sinclair said: “Simon brings a wealth of experience with him, including a track-record of delivering transformative surface access to airports. He will be instrumental in ensuring Bristol Airport is well positioned to continue connecting the region we serve, with positive benefits for all stakeholders.

“At the same time, Andrew’s promotion demonstrates our continued focus on creating high-quality facilities which will enable us to meet demand for air travel today and in the future.”

Simon Earles added: “This is a great opportunity to join one of the UK’s most successful regional airports at an exciting time in its development. I look forward to bringing my experience of working with partners across the planning, environment and transport spheres to develop a truly sustainable future for Bristol Airport.”

Simon will be the second recent addition to senior leadership team at the airport, which is celebrating 60 years of flying from its current site, following the appointment of Nigel Scott as business development director.

Completion of a second major terminal extension earlier this year took investment at the airport since 2010 to more than £160m. Other recent developments include a £2.3m upgrade of the immigration hall, the opening of a first on-site hotel and a new customer reception centre for the Silver Zone car park.

The airport’s route network is also growing with direct flights to more than 120 destinations and frequent daily services to major hubs including Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin and Frankfurt. Earlier this month Thomson Airways started flights to Florida and Mexico using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, highlighting the scope for more direct long-haul destinations in future.

Bristol Airport, which is owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, has been ranked number one in the UK by the customer satisfaction benchmarking programme Airport Service Quality (ASQ) for the last three quarters running.