Coronavirus: Ryanair Cardiff flight to Malaga takes off despite government concern

Dozens of passengers arrived at Cardiff Airport to fly to Malaga with Ryanair despite Welsh Government advice.

The Friday morning departure was the first commercial passenger flight from Cardiff since before lockdown.

The Welsh Government had called for Ryanair to postpone the flight to Spain while five-mile travel restrictions remain in place in Wales.

Those are set to be lifted on Monday, First Minister Mark Drakeford confirmed on Friday.

Many at the airport wore masks on entering the building.

A second Ryanair flight will leave for Faro in Portugal this evening.

One the Malaga passengers said he felt it was safe enough to travel abroad to certain countries.

Paul, who did not want to give his surname, said: "The Welsh Government needs to reassess what they're doing.

"There are very few people adhering to the five-mile rule.

"You can't prevent people here going away when the UK government believes it's now okay to travel to some places where there's a lower R rate.

"And a lot of countries, people will be travelling to have a lower R rate than we have here."

Another couple flying to Malaga, who did not want to be named, said their journey was partially for business reasons.

They said they had been travelling in the UK on business for weeks and it was "ridiculous" people were unable to travel more than five miles for other reasons.

"Most people are educated on how to live with this situation now so we have our gloves and masks and will maintain our hygiene," they said.

The Welsh Government previously said: "We don't believe these flights should be going ahead."

But Ryanair insisted "hundreds of Welsh people" would be returning from nations with R rates lower than the UK's.