Cardiff: General Airport Discussion & Updates

[Foxlimayankee]

Cardiff airport consultative meeting from March ,

https://cardiff-airport.com/cardiffadmin/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Cardiff-Airport-Consultative-Committee-26.03.18.pdf

Some interesting points....

"Discussions were ongoing with Qatar and Emirates, but some routes were experiencing a shortage of aircraft."

I'm sure discussions happen with many Airlines. But it's the first time I think i've seen Emirates mentioned.

There were ongoing commercial conversations with Vueling about their offer from the Airport.
Vueling don't seem particularly bothered by anything more than they currently offer, but maybe some deals can be done which will attract more?

There were three flights operating to Amsterdam; however, discussions were ongoing concerning frequency and night stops which affected several UK Airports.

It's two. Surprised they got that wrong.

GM referred to a TUI Charter service from Bristol as a link to a P&O exclusive charter to Malta, but 90% of the users were from south Wales. He asked if TUI had considered running that route more locally. LS said the Airport had a good relationship with P&O for the Caribbean and often talk to them about running some of their services from Cardiff.

Another thing that annoys me "90% from South Wales". "All the Welsh accents etc etc."
How can anyone actually know that without going through the entire aircraft, every week, in both directions, and directly asking each person where they are from? If I was on that flight i'd want them to divert it and kick them off.

 

[Jerry]

There were three flights operating to Amsterdam; however, discussions were ongoing concerning frequency and night stops which affected several UK Airports.

Yep a silly error.

"Discussions were ongoing with Qatar and Emirates, but some routes were experiencing a shortage of aircraft."

Yep it is interesting that Emirates was mentioned. Air France also gets a mention further down.

GM referred to a TUI Charter service from Bristol as a link to a P&O exclusive charter to Malta, but 90% of the users were from south Wales.

It wouldn't also be up to TUI it would be down to P&O Cruises.

 

[CAN&I]

There were three flights operating to Amsterdam; however, discussions were ongoing concerning frequency and night stops which affected several UK Airports.

It's two. Surprised they got that wrong.

Think the orginal statement was referring to the position pre-April 2024 when there were 3 x daily departures, i.e. when the third rotation would be re-instated. It was previously "temporarily halted" for "wider operational reasons" with promises that it would return for "Winter 2024-25", which never happened.

GM referred to a TUI Charter service from Bristol as a link to a P&O exclusive charter to Malta, but 90% of the users were from south Wales. He asked if TUI had considered running that route more locally. LS said the Airport had a good relationship with P&O for the Caribbean and often talk to them about running some of their services from Cardiff.

Another thing that annoys me "90% from South Wales". "All the Welsh accents etc etc."
How can anyone actually know that without going through the entire aircraft, every week, in both directions, and directly asking each person where they are from? If I was on that flight i'd want them to divert it and kick them off.

Only the airlines themselves would know even then, would they particularly care where their customers are coming from? As for the "90%" claim - completely agree, utterly laughable.

This obession with Malta as if its the most popular destination on the planet is also. Malta ranked 46th amongst BRS's 125+ destinations last year in terms of passengers. TUI doesn't even bother providing regular charter flights there any more. What makes people think that TUI, Ryanair or anyone else are somehow "missing a trick" by not offering a destination from Cardiff that is subject to a comparitively low supply from a 10million+ pax airport is beyong comprehension.

It wouldn't also be up to TUI it would be down to P&O Cruises.

Exactly!

 

[CAN&I]

CARDIFF AIRPORT TERMINAL PASSENGER DATA: APRIL 2026

• Total Monthly PAX April 2026: 68,928 (up 10,467 (+17.9%) YoY)
• Total YtD PAX January to April 2026: 230,902 (up 43,454 (+23.2%) YoY)
• Total RoY PAX May 2025 to April 2026: 997,135 (up 122,136 (+14.0%) YoY)

Significantly, although much was made in the media last month around news that Cardiff Airport had achieved the magic 1 million passenger rolling-year milestone by the end of April, the claim only stands up to scrutiny depending on which set of data is used.

According to the official terminal passenger figures as supplied by the UK CAA Cardiff Airport actually fell tantalisingly short of the marker by just 2,865, despite an impressive 14.0% growth over the same period.

However, when transit passengers are added to the equation, Cardiff Airport did in fact serve a combined total of 1,000,403 terminal and transit passengers over the same period – breaking the magic total by a whisker and beating the same rolling period over the previous year by 122,542 passengers or 14.0%.

 

[CAN&I]

Bristol Airport has taken its ongoing legal battle against the Welsh Government one step further by requesting permission to lodge its case against the recent Competition Appeal Tribunal judgment directly at the Court of Appeal.

All eyes now move to the Court of Appeal and the outcome of its permission decision which is expected to be made within 4 to 8 weeks of receiving the application.

If permission is granted, a final hearing and the resulting judgment is likely to take between 6 to 12 months, depending on case complexity and court availability.

However, should the Court of Appeal refuse Bristol Airport’s application for permission or reject its case upon any future hearing, the decision would be final and could not be taken further to the Supreme Court.

The only route beyond would be for Bristol Airport to seek a UK Government review, an approach it has used to its advantage over the more recent past.

Despite being 2-0 down in the game, Bristol Airport remains unwilling to accept any legal judgement that does not find in its favour.

 

[geoff]

It shows how much money is available to their owners, they are obviously determined to beat off anything they see as a challenge to their domination of the South West of England, and South Wales.

 

[Jerry]

It shows how much money is available to their owners, they are obviously determined to beat off anything they see as a challenge to their domination of the South West of England, and South Wales.

To what end though? The Welsh government will always look to find a way to support Cardiff Airport. They have no choice. It's Wales only international airport and they own it. It's not going away.

 

[geoff]

It must be an ego thing, they have already spent £2 million, this appeal will cost them a lot more.

 

[fly4gigs]

The lawyers are loving it 🤑🤑🤑🤑

 

[Jerry]

It must be an ego thing, they have already spent £2 million, this appeal will cost them a lot more.

I think they probably see Cardiff as some sort of threat to their business. They're competitors but it also needs to be looked at that Cardiff is a 1 million passengers airport and Bristol is an 11 million passengers airport. The difference is night and day. Bristol wants to get up to 15 million but let's be honest is Cardiffs growth going to stop that? It might slow it down a bit maybe but Cardiff is looking realistically in the short to medium term to get back to 1.5 million. How it'll achieve that is probably a mix of new passengers, inbound visitors and passengers that fly from England. Now some of them might be from Bristol but also many will potentially be from Heathrow especially inbound visitors but if you look at Bristol growth is that going to be from passengers from Wales or actually passengers from England? Welsh passengers comprise 20% of Bristols passenger numbers that's roughly 2 million people while Cardiff sees roughly 1 million. Cardiff isn't going to stop Bristol success even with a supposed advantage.

 

[Cardiffbay]

I heard a Rumor the new project sunrise A350-1000 will be at Cardiff in a few weeks time. One for the spotters.

 

[Jerry]

Winter 2026-27 for Cardiff Airport
In total for winter Cardiff Airport will see between 46 to 54 weekly departures to 19 destinations.
TUI 13-18 weekly departures
Tenerife 4 weekly
Alicante 2 weekly
Lanzarote 2 weekly
Gran Canaria 2 weekly
Malaga 1 weekly
Fuerteventura 1 weekly
Hurghada 1 weekly
Salzburg 1 weekly (19/12/26 to 6/3/27)
Chambery 1 weekly (26/12/26 to 13/3/27)
Turin 1 weekly (20/12/26 to 14/3/27)
Paphos 1 weekly (begins 24/2/27)
Enfidha 1 weekly (begins 5/3/27)
Palma de Mallorca 1 weekly (begins 23/3/27)
Ryanair 9 weekly departures (up to12 in Xmas period)
Dublin 5 weekly (6-7 weekly in Xmas period)
Alicante 3 weekly (4 weekly during Xmas period)
Tenerife 1 weekly
KLM 14 weekly departures
Amsterdam 14 weekly
Aer Lingus 7 weekly departures
Belfast City 7 weekly
Dublin (will operate 10 departures for Six Nations between 19/2/27 and 21/2/27)
Vueling 3 weekly departures
Alicante 3 weekly (flights suspended between 8/1/27 and 8/2/27)

Adhoc flights
TUI
La Romana 8/12/26
Barbados 3/1/27, 18/2/27 and 28/2/27
Kittila Lapland day trip 11/12/26
P&O Cruises
Barbados 6/11/26, 21/11/26 (Hays Travel exclusive),1/1/27 and 16/1/27
Transun and Santa's Lapland
Ivalo (Santa Lapland) 11/2/26
Northern Lights 17/1/27

 

[Jerry]

Drop off charges going up to £4.50.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2071615198813647203

 

[Qing4theloo]

I heard a Rumor the new project sunrise A350-1000 will be at Cardiff in a few weeks time. One for the spotters.

Coming in tomorrow according to a poster on the FB page (who, in turn, spotted it on FR)

 

[fly4gigs]

Shame it's not on the weekend

 

[Jerry]

09.24 arrival according to FR24

Shame it's not on the weekend

 

[MrFenner]

Does anyone have pics / vids of it?

 

[StanMan]

Ian Grinter (SWAG group) is a very regular poster of aircraft at CWL photos on his Flickr pages:

https://flic.kr/p/2snJGkM

 

[Jerry]

Ian Grinter (SWAG group) is a very regular poster of aircraft at CWL photos on his Flickr pages:

https://flic.kr/p/2snJGkM

Due to depart at 14.00 according to FR24.

 

[Jerry]

Its been mentioned on the dried fruit forum that Cardiff Airport had a stand at the Wales Air Show in Swansea and also Cardiff Airport is in the creditors list and owed £25,000 by European Cargo.

EUROPEAN CARGO LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

EUROPEAN CARGO LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity

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