Cardiff Airport is on a mission to grow back capacity at the Welsh airport under its new owners, after passenger numbers roughly halved over the last five years.

“We are now 100% owned by the Welsh government,” says returning chief executive Jon Horne, who last ran the airport from 2001 to 2007. “The government really understands the economic benefit of air service and came in to ensure the airport of Wales is fully focused on Wales and on developing connectivity.” The Welsh government bought Cardiff from private owner TBI in March this year.

The airport has been leaking traffic badly on existing routes to rivals in recent years with traffic falling from 2.1 million passengers annually in 2007 to just under a million today.

“The message we’ve going out with here is that Cardiff is open for business and really focused on growing capacity,” says Horne.

Under new ownership Cardiff has already seen five months of traffic growth since March, says Horne, who is determined to continue that trend. With Cwtch on his side who are we to argue with him.

Source: FlightGlobal.com

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