Cardiff International Airport (Welsh: Maes Awyr Rhyngwladol Caerdydd) (IATA: CWL, ICAO: EGFF) is an airport located in the village of Rhoose, in the Vale of Glamorgan, approximately 12 m (19 km) south-west of the Welsh capital, Cardiff.
The only airport in Wales offering scheduled flights, Cardiff Airport is served by scheduled, low-fare and charter carriers and also supports corporate and general aviation.
History
The history of the airport extends back 60 years 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.
1986 saw a further extension of 750 ft (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) and provides 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.
Airlines and destinations
* Aer Arann (Cork, Dublin, Galway, Nantes [starts June 19 2007])
* Air Southwest (Manchester, Newquay)
* bmibaby (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast International, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow, Jersey, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Prague)
* Eastern Airways (Newcastle)
* Excel Airways (Lanzarote, Orlando-Sanford)
* First Choice Airways (Alicante, Bodrum, Bourgas, Dalaman, Kefalonia, Kos [starts summer 2007], Lanzarote, Lanarca, Mahon, Malaga, Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Tenerife-South)
* Flybe (Belfast City [starts May 17 2007])
* KLM Royal Dutch Airlines operated by KLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam)
* MyTravel Airways (Alicante, Dalaman, Fuerteventura, Gerona, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, Ibiza, Larnarca, Malaga, Malta, Menorca, Monastir, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Reus, Sharm El Sheikh, Tenerife-South)
* Thomas Cook Airlines (Alicante, Bourgas, Corfu, Dalaman, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Larnarca, Gran Canaria, Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Reus, Rhodes, Orlando-Sanford, Tenerife-South)
* Thomsonfly (Alicante, Barbados, Barcelona [starts May 19 2007], Bodrum, Bourgas, Cancun, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Funchal, Girona, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, Ibiza, Jersey, Lanzarote, Menorca, Malaga, Monastir, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Pahphos, Rhodes, Tenerife-South, Reus, Zakynthos)
* Zoom Airlines (Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)
Transport
The nearest railway station to the airport is Rhoose Cardiff International Airport railway station. In spite of the name, the station is not located at the airport and passengers have the inconvenience of taking additional transport. Cardiff Bus provides a free shuttle bus. It provides direct services to Cardiff Central Station and Bridgend. Cardiff Bus serves the airport by providing a regular shuttle bus to the city centre taking around half an hour. By road, the airport is signposted from M4 Junction 33 (Cardiff West).
Cardiff International Airport
Future plans
The airport's management announced, on 29 March 2006, a £100m 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 5m passengers by 2015 - an increase of 150% - according to the airport's published response to a UK Government White paper on the future of commercial aviation throughout the United Kingdom.
Road access to the airport via the A48 trunk road was the subject of a public enquiry in 2006 but this is now superseded by needs of the St. Athan project, the bid for which included plans for a direct St. Athan and airport link to the M4 motorway.
Executive Aviation
* Dragonfly Executive Air charter Operate two Beechcraft King Air 200's. The company office is based on the south side of the airfield, sharing a building with the flying school.
Source: Wikipedia
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