How many times has the Minister met with Cardiff Airport since May 2023?
The Minister for Economy and I meet regularly with Cardiff International Airport Limited (CIAL) executives to maintain the strategic relationship with the Welsh Government asset. Individually, I have met with CIAL twice since May 2023 and the Minister for Economy has met with CIAL five times. We both met with CIAL in March 2023.
The services and routes offered at Cardiff Airport are a matter for the CIAL board and airline operators. Ministers do not intervene in the airport’s day-to-day commercial operating matters. The executive team at the airport continues to work hard to restore flights and diversify the business as part of its recovery from the pandemic.
I understand that TUI has added an extra 40,000 holidays from Cardiff Airport for this summer programme and Ryanair has added two new routes and extra flights to Spain to their Summer 2024 schedule. Ryanair will be increasing their services to Malaga, whilst adding two new routes to Alicante and Tenerife. This is in addition to popular destinations Faro and Dublin.