Cardiff airport new travel routes cause a stir
Cardiff airport was under Spanish ownership until recently whilst under this ownership the airport saw a massive slump of passengers with losing out on almost half it passengers from 2 million in 2007 to 1 million in 2012 which is a staggering loss for any airport. The underlining reason Cardiff airport saw rapid decline was due to the withdrawal of budget airlines from the airport causing there to be less flight routes around the world from Cardiff airport which of course leads to a decrease of customers.
Due to the budget airlines withdrawal many have opted to fly into Bristol instead as it offers more travel routes at a lower cost which appealed to most, the increase at Bristol saw passengers arrive their instead of Cardiff and then travel to Wales by other means of transport, for this reason Cardiff airport have missed out on majority of the business available which is seen by their massive decrease in passengers. The Welsh economy appeared to be suffering as Cardiff airport was one of the major Welsh airports that served Wales and with this the Welsh government planned a successful takeover of the airport for £52 million paying massively over the odds of what the declining airport was valued.
Although the Welsh government paid more than it’s worth it looks to be a good takeover as brand new low cost airline Vueling are adding more and more routes to and from Cardiff airport with routes to several places in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and many more locations that travellers that use or used Cardiff airport services never used to have the ability to travel too. This opens up a massive gate into the airport hopefully massively increasing the passenger amount and revenue creating more jobs in and around the airport as well as more money for the local economy profiting everyone in the area.
As you can see most people are happy with the introduction of Vueling as many travellers and expats won’t have to go through the hassle of travelling into Bristol and then driving or getting public transport to their desired Welsh location. Unsurprisingly the deal didn’t go down a treat with everyone as Bristol airport representatives have made their concerns known that they believe Cardiff airport would unrightfully benefit from state support as the airport was bought by the Welsh government, although the government refute these claims saying they would stay at “arm’s length” away from the running and management of the airport. Bristol airports chief executive Robert Sinclair remains unconvinced at the claims of the “arm’s length” statement, it’s not surprising that Bristol airport are scared of their loss as their six million yearly passengers could see a huge dip missing out on massive profits.