Cardiff Airport
Cardiff International Airport Maes Awyr Rhyngwladol Caerdydd | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | TBI plc | ||||||||||
| Operator | Cardiff International Airport Ltd. | ||||||||||
| Serves | Cardiff | ||||||||||
| Location | Rhoose | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 220 ft / 67 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°23′48″N 03°20′36″W / 51.39667°N 3.34333°W | ||||||||||
| Website | www.cwlfly.com | ||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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Cardiff International Airport (Template:Lang-cy) (IATA: CWL, ICAO: EGFF) is the main airport for Wales serving around 1.9 million people in the capital, Cardiff, as well as South Wales and West Wales.
It is located in the village of Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan, approximately 12 miles (19 km) south-west of Cardiff, the country's largest city and capital.
As the only airport in Wales offering international scheduled flights (the other offering scheduled flights being Anglesey Airport), Cardiff Airport is owned by TBI plc and served by scheduled, low-fare, business and charter carriers, and also supports corporate and general aviation. Flights to Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and UK destinations are dominant at the airport, although services to several other European countries, the USA and Canada also operate regularly. [1]
bmibaby is the largest scheduled airline at the airport, with Flybe, Thomsonfly and Thomas Cook Airlines also having a large prescence, although Flybe have recently expressed their intentions to become the largest airline at the airport by 2011 focussing on the business and short leisure break sectors.[2]
The airport's slogan: 'Your Journey Made Easier'
History
The history of the airport extends back to the early 1940s, when the Air Ministry requisitioned land in the rural Vale of Glamorgan to set up a wartime satellite aerodrome and training base for Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfire pilots. Construction work commenced in 1941, and the airfield officially began life on 7 April 1942 when it was taken over by No 53 Operational Training Unit. The commercial potential of the runway was recognised in the early 1950s with Aer Lingus starting a service to Dublin in 1952. A new terminal building followed, along with flights to France, Belfast and Cork. An escalation in holiday charter business resulted in passenger throughput exceeding 100,000 in 1962.
In the 1970s, the airport, originally known as 'Rhoose Airport', was renamed 'Glamorgan, Rhoose Airport'. Around this time the supersonic airliner Concorde made a few flights into the airport on special occasions. These were limited by the length of the runway, meaning it could only land lightly loaded, and only take off without passengers and with a minimal fuel load. In the 1980s, its name was changed to 'Cardiff-Wales Airport'.
1986 saw a further extension of 750 feet (229 m) to the runway, costing in the region of £1 million, thus attracting more business to the airport in the form of new-generation jet aircraft. Development of transatlantic links were made with charter flights to Florida, in addition to the previously-established links with Canada. The runway extension, enabling the airport to handle 747 jumbo jets, was instrumental in attracting the British Airways (BA) Maintenance facility to the airport. The maintenance hangar is one of the largest in the world at 250 m x 175 m (820 ft x 574 ft), providing heavy airframe and engineering maintenance for the British Airways fleet and third party carriers.
In April 1995, due to planned Local Government re-organisation in Wales, the Airport Company was privatised, with shares being sold to property and development firm, TBI plc, now a subsidiary of abertis airports.
The airport is not only the main maintenance base for British Airways but also home to a variety of aerospace-oriented firms and colleges, and therefore a major contributor to the economic development of the region.
The airport was used by over 2.1 million passengers in 2007, according to the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, an annual growth rate of 4.3%, making it the 19th largest airport in the UK in terms of passenger numbers.
The airport was the main base of Air Wales until the airline ceased scheduled operations in March 2006. A new airline has been mooted as a new home carrier at the airport. When launched, Flyforbeans say they would operate to France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Eastern Europe. The airline, which indicates that it will begin operations in 2008, intends to operate Boeing 737 aircraft serving up to twelve destinations.[3]
It was announced on the 13 March 2008, that the Barcelona route will be reinstated by bmibaby. The route will start on 24 May with 2 flights a week and increase to 3 flights a week from 18 June. Thomsonfly stopped serving the route in late 2007.
Following a survey conducted by the airport operator in 2008 as part of a campaign to attract additional business routes to the airport, popular destinations such as Aberdeen, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Brussels and Scandinavia were identified as lacking a current link. The airport planned to conduct up to 25 meetings with airlines during May and June 2008 to support the case for more routes.[4]
It was announced in May that bmibaby would be stopping its Gdańsk services from Cardiff and East Midlands Airport due to low passenger numbers and concentrating on its Warsaw service.
Public Service Obligation Flights
On 21 February 2007, the airport announced that the airport would see the first Public Service Obligation (PSO) service to be operated in Wales.[5] Inverness based airline Highland Airways would fly several services each day between Anglesey Airport and Cardiff. BAe Jetstream 31 aircraft were allocated to the route and it was hoped it would provide a quicker alternative to commuters travelling between North and South Wales, who otherwise rely on the A470 road or rail. The PSO service would be subsidised by the Welsh Assembly Government for three years; after this period, the route must be completely viable to continue. In May, the Anglesey service was claimed as a success, with over 1,000 seats being booked on the service within weeks of its announcement. There are options for up to 10 flights a day.[6]
Statistics
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Airlines and destinations
Scheduled services
- Aer Arann (Cork, Dublin, Nantes [seasonal])
- Air Malta (Malta) [seasonal]
- Bmibaby (Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona [begins 24 May], Belfast-International, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdańsk [ends 31 May], Geneva [seasonal], Glasgow-International, Jersey, Malaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Warsaw)
- Eastern Airways (Newcastle)
- Flybe (Belfast-City, Edinburgh, Glasgow-International, Jersey, Newcastle, Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
- Highland Airways (Anglesey)
- Isles of Scilly Skybus (Newquay)
- KLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam)
- Thomsonfly (Alicante, Faro, Ibiza [seasonal], Malaga, Palma de Mallorca)
- Zoom Airlines (Toronto-Pearson [seasonal], Vancouver [seasonal])
Charter service
- Air Malta (Malta)
- BH Air (Bourgas, Varna [via Bourgas])
- Eurocypria Airlines (Heraklion, Larnaca)
- Monarch Airlines (Orlando-Sanford) [begins 22 May]
- Onur Air (Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman)
- Thomas Cook Airlines UK (Arrecife, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Heraklion, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Mahon, Orlando-Sanford [ends 15 May], Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)
- Thomsonfly (Alicante, Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Chambery, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Girona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Kefalonia, Kos [begins 24 May], Larnaca, Las Palmas, Malaga, Mahon, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Verona, Zakynthos)
- XL Airways (Orlando-Sanford, Sharm el-Sheikh [begins November])
Cargo services
- TNT Airways (Liége)
Transport links
The nearest railway station to the airport is Rhoose Cardiff International Airport railway station on the Vale of Glamorgan Line, linked by a free shuttle bus to the departures terminal. Arriva Trains Wales provides regular services to Cardiff Central Station and Bridgend, connecting it to the South Wales Main Line.
Cardiff Bus, EST Buses and Veolia Transport Cymru buses serve the airport and provide regular shuttle services to Cardiff central bus station and the Vale of Glamorgan.
By road, the airport is signposted along the M4 motorway in South Wales. From M4 junction 33 (Cardiff West), it is reached via the A4232 (towards Central Cardiff) exiting at Culverhouse Cross, and then following the A4050 to Barry and finally the A4226 towards Llantwit Major. The airport is 10 miles (16 km) from the M4 and is signposted.
Hotels
Express by Holiday Inn is recognised as the main airport hotel, situated adjacent to the International Arrivals Terminal. However, there is a Days Inn on the eastern airport access road and an Innkeeper's Lodge on the A4226 towards Barry. There is also a 4-star Copthorne Hotel in nearby Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff.
Future plans
Airport management announced, on 29 March 2006, a £100 million development strategy which will see the current terminal being extended, as well as upgrades to the main body of the building.
It is anticipated that the investment will attract up to five million passengers by 2015 - an increase of 150% - according to the airport's published response to a UK Government White paper on the future of air transport throughout the United Kingdom.[9]
Road access to the airport by way of the A48 trunk road was the subject of a public inquiry in 2006 but this is now superseded by needs of the forthcoming Defence Training Academy at RAF Saint Athan, the bid for which included plans for a direct St Athanand airport link to the M4 motorway.
Executive aviation
Dragonfly Executive Air charter operate two Beechcraft King Air 200 series aircraft. The company office is based on the south side of the airfield.
Flight School
Cardiff Academy of Aviation flying school is located on the south side of the airport. The flying school operates a fleet of Robin, Cessna and Piper aircraft.
See also
- Transport in Wales
- Transport in Cardiff
- Aeronautical Information Publication United Kingdom
- The Flight School
References
- ^ CAA Route Statistics 2006
- ^ "Flybe set to become Cardiff's biggest airline". Cwlfly. 14 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Flyforbeans has 12 destinations on its radar". icWales - Western Mail. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ You Would If You Could - Survey Results
- ^ "North-south airline is revealed". BBC News. 21 February 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Big demand powers North-South air route". Cardiff International Airport. 8 May 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Number of Passengers including both domestic and international.
- ^ Number of Movements represents total air transport takeoffs and landings during that year.
- ^ "The Future of Air Transport - White Paper and the Civil Aviation Bill, Chapter 6, Wales". UK Department for Transport. 10 December 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)