Airport's cargo hope amid low passenger numbers

It is "vitally important" Cardiff Airport makes money from new sources, not just passenger flights, its chief executive has said.

The airport has launched its first cargo service since 2010, carrying freight between south Wales and China.

Spencer Birns said he was focused on growing passenger numbers, which are about half of what they were before the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also said he was "anticipating" Qatar Airways services to Doha would restart.

Flights to the Middle Eastern nation's capital were suspended at the start of the pandemic, but he said he was "actively encouraging" the airline to restart services as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Wizz Air ended its flights from Cardiff in 2023, and the only direct flight to Paris stopped in March 2024.

But Mr Birns said the reintroduction of cargo services was "fantastic news".

The flights will be operated by European Cargo, a British carrier which has an existing base in Bournemouth.

Its second UK base in Cardiff has opened with three flights a week using dedicated Airbus aircraft, with the option of increasing to four flights in future.

"Last time we had that was 2010, so getting an airline back in here operating freighters is great," he said.

"It's fantastic for Wales, it's fantastic for the economy, and it's fantastic for the airport."

Mr Birns said cargo operations were a "major part" of a diversification strategy for the airport, which is entirely owned by the Welsh government.

Earlier this year, it was announced the airport would receive more than £206m over the next 10 years to boost passenger numbers and improve facilities.

Other parts of the strategy include training activities on the site, as well as running maintenance operations at Cardiff Airport and the nearby St Athan airfield, which is also operated by the airport team.

British Airways also operates a maintenance division at Cardiff Airport, and the management claimed about 4,000 jobs were "supported" by the airport’s operations across the two sites.

The Welsh Conservatives have said taxpayers had been "well and truly fleeced" by the Welsh Labour government's "vanity project", but Mr Birns said it was "not really for us to get involved in the politics".

He said the aim was to run the business "as best [as] we can for the owners. And the owners, in this case is Wales. It's the Welsh government".

He said other businesses in the aviation industry "don't see the microcosm of this politics".

"They see the fact that we're owned by a government as a benefit."

Mr Birns said 98% of the world's airports were "owned by the communities they serve" and Cardiff's ownership model was commonplace.

"We go into a meeting with an airline and they say 'who's your shareholder? What's the backing? What's the long-term strategy?'"

Mr Birns said a 10-year strategy backed by government investment meant airlines were "keen to talk about further investment" in Wales.

"The outside world, international, global view of us is much stronger by being in that position."

There are 16 airlines regularly use Cardiff Airport and 34 direct routes on sale.

The newest passenger airline to use the airport is Play Airlines, which connects Cardiff to Iceland and offers connecting routes to North America.

Other operators include a KLM service connecting Wales to Amsterdam, a major European hub.

TUI has 25 direct routes to holiday locations including Barbados, Mexico and Chambery in the French Alps.

Ryanair flies from Cardiff to Alicante, Tenerife, Faro, Malaga and Dublin.