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This is a new one for me: Several airlines are refusing to fly into Bristol because they’ve lost faith in the safety of the runway. They’re afraid their planes will slip off the newly repaved surface in the lightest rain. After several days of boycott, the airport decided to close.

EasyJet was the first to cancel its flights. XL Airways was next, and British Airways followed suit shortly thereafter. Others joined in later.

Four planes have experienced “incidences on that runway in wet weather.” One aircraft skidded off the runway. The affected airlines are offering to reroute passengers through other airports, until Bristol’s runway is re-grooved.

But perhaps most interestingly: Not every airline refused to land at Bristol before the airport managers threw in the towel. For example, Continental’s Newark-Bristol flights were still on the schedule today. And European carriers like Ryanair and flyBe never stopped flying into the airport.

So why were these few airlines willing to take their chances? Why, when so many other carriers cut their schedules short?…

(For the latest status, click here for the Bristol Airport website.)

(Update 1/8/06: The airport has reopened following overnight work to add drainage grooves to the runway. How nice.)