Cardiff International Airport

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Cardiff International Airport
Maes Awyr Rhyngwladol Caerdydd

IATA: CWL – ICAO: EGFF
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner TBI plc
Operator Cardiff International Airport Ltd.
Serves Cardiff
Location Rhoose
Elevation AMSL 220 ft / 67 m
Coordinates 51°23′48″N 03°20′36″W / 51.39667, -3.34333
Website www.cwlfly.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 2,392 7,848 Asphalt
Source: UK AIP at NATS

Cardiff International Airport (Welsh: Maes Awyr Rhyngwladol Caerdydd) (IATA: CWL, ICAO: EGFF) is a British airport, located in the town of Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan, approximately 12 miles (19 km) south-west of the Welsh capital, Cardiff, serving all of South and Mid Wales.

As the only airport in Wales offering international scheduled flights (the other offering scheduled flights being Anglesey Airport), Cardiff Airport is served by scheduled, low-fare, business and charter carriers, and also supports corporate and general aviation. The airport is also know as Cardiff-Wales or Rhoose Airport, after the village nearest to the airport

Contents

The history of the airport extends back to the early 1940s, when the Air Ministry requisitioned land in the rural Vale of Glamorgan to set up a wartime satellite aerodrome and training base for Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfire pilots. Construction work commenced in 1941, and the airfield officially began life on 7 April 1942 when it was taken over by No 53 Operational Training Unit. The commercial potential of the runway was recognised in the early 1950s with Aer Lingus starting a service to Dublin in 1952. A new terminal building followed, along with flights to France, Belfast and Cork. An escalation in holiday charter business resulted in passenger throughput exceeding 100,000 in 1962.

The terminal entrance
The terminal entrance

In the 1970s, the airport, originally known as 'Rhoose Airport', was renamed 'Glamorgan, Rhoose Airport'. Around this time the supersonic airliner Concorde made a few flights into the airport on special occasions. These were limited by the length of the runway, meaning it could only land lightly loaded, and only take off without passengers and with a minimal fuel load. In the 1980s, its name was changed to 'Cardiff-Wales Airport'.

1986 saw a further extension of 750 feet (229 m) to the runway, costing in the region of £1 million, thus attracting more business to the airport in the form of new-generation jet aircraft. Development of transatlantic links were made with charter flights to Florida, in addition to the previously-established links with Canada. The runway extension, enabling the airport to handle 747 jumbo jets, was instrumental in attracting the British Airways (BA) Maintenance facility to Cardiff Airport. The maintenance hangar is one of the largest in the world at 250 m x 175 m (820 ft x 574 ft), providing heavy airframe and engineering maintenance for the British Airways fleet and third party carriers.

In April 1995, due to planned Local Government re-organisation in Wales, the Airport Company was privatised, with shares being sold to property and development firm, TBI plc, now a subsidiary of abertis airports.

The airport is not only the main maintenance base for British Airways but also home to a variety of aerospace-oriented firms, and therefore a major contributor to the economic development of the region.

Cardiff Airport was used by two million passengers in 2006, according to the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, with an annual growth rate of 14%.

A new airline was announced to be launching flights from Cardiff Airport. Flyforbeans would launch routes to France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Eastern Europe. The airline, which is expected to begin operations in early 2008, intends to operate Boeing 737 aircraft serving up to twelve destinations.[1]

On 21 February 2007, the airport announced that the airport would see the first Public Service Obligation (PSO) service to be operated in Wales.[2] Inverness based airline Highland Airways would fly several services each day between Anglesey Airport and Cardiff. BAe Jetstream 31 aircraft were allocated to the route and it was hoped it would provide a quicker alternative to commuters travelling between North and South Wales, who otherwise rely on the A470 road or rail. The PSO service would be subsidised by the Welsh Assembly Government for three years; after this period, the route must be completely viable to continue. In May, the Anglesey service was claimed as a success, with over 1,000 seats being booked on the service within weeks of its announcement.[3]

  • Aer Arann (Cork, Dublin, Galway, Nantes)
  • Air Malta (Malta seasonal)
  • bmibaby (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast-International, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdańsk [begins 9 February], Geneva, Glasgow-International, Ibiza, Jersey, Malaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Warsaw [begins 10 February])
  • Eastern Airways (Newcastle)
  • Flybe (Belfast-City, Edinburgh [begins 30 March], Glasgow-International [begins 30 March], Jersey [begins 17 March], Newcastle [begins 30 March], Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
  • Highland Airways (Anglesey)
  • Isles of Scilly Skybus (Newquay [begins 10 March])
  • KLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam)
  • Thomsonfly.com (Alicante, Faro, Ibiza [seasonal], Malaga, Palma de Mallorca)
  • Zoom Airlines (Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver [begins 8 May, seasonal])

Charter services are seasonal so may not operate all year.

  • Air Europa (Palma de Mallorca)
  • Air Malta (Corfu, Malta)
  • BH Air (Bourgas, Plovdiv, Varna)
  • BritishJet (Malta)
  • Eurocypria (Heraklion)
  • First Choice Airways (Alicante, Paphos, Tenerife)
  • Futura (Arrecife, Fuerteventura)
  • Monarch Airlines (Orlando-Sanford)
  • Onur Air (Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman)
  • Thomsonfly.com (Alicante, Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Chambery, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gerona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Kefalonia [begins 6 May], Kos [begins 24 May], Larnaca [begins 7 May], Las Palmas, Malaga, Mahon, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Rhodes, Reus, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • Thomas Cook Airlines (Arrecife, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Heraklion, Ibiza, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Reus, Rhodes, Tenerife, Zakynthos)
  • Travel City Direct (Orlando-Sanford)

The nearest railway station to the airport is Rhoose Cardiff International Airport railway station on the Vale of Glamorgan Line, linked via a free shuttle bus to the main terminal building. Arriva Trains Wales provides regular services to Cardiff Central Station and Bridgend, connecting it to the South Wales Main Line.

Cardiff Bus serves the airport by providing a regular shuttle bus to Cardiff central bus station via the Cardiff city centre taking around 30 minutes, with an Adult Single costing £3.40.

By road, the airport is signposted along the M4 motorway in South Wales. From M4 junction 33 (Cardiff West), it is reached via the A4232 (towards Central Cardiff) exiting at Culverhouse Cross, and then following the A4050 to Barry and finally the A4226 towards Llantwit Major. The airport is 10 miles (16 km) from the M4 and is well signposted.

Express by Holiday Inn is recognised as the main airport hotel, situated adjacent to the Arrivals Terminal. However, there is a Days Inn on the airport access road and an Innkeeper's Lodge on the A4226 towards Barry. Also, the 4-star Copthorne Hotel in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff is often used by cabin crew and passengers.

Airport management announced, on 29 March 2006, a £100 million development strategy which will see the current terminal being extended, as well as upgrades to the main body of the building.

It is anticipated that the investment will attract up to five million passengers by 2015 - an increase of 150% - according to the airport's published response to a UK Government White paper on the future of air transport throughout the United Kingdom.[4]

Road access to the airport by way of the A48 trunk road was the subject of a public enquiry in 2006 but this is now superseded by needs of the forthcoming Defence Training Academy at RAF Saint Athan, the bid for which included plans for a direct St Athan and airport link to the M4 motorway.

Dragonfly Executive Air charter operate two Beechcraft King Air 200 series aircraft. The company office is based on the south side of the airfield, sharing a building with the Cardiff Academy Of Aviation flying school. The flying school operates a fleet of Robin, Cessna and Piper aircraft.

  1. ^ Flyforbeans has 12 destinations on its radar. icWales - Western Mail (11 June 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
  2. ^ "North-south airline is revealed", BBC News, 21 February 2007. 
  3. ^ Big demand powers North-South air route. Cardiff International Airport (8 May 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
  4. ^ The Future of Air Transport - White Paper and the Civil Aviation Bill, Chapter 6, Wales. UK Department for Transport (10 December 2004). Retrieved on 2007-07-02.

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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_International_Airport"
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