Have to say that I'm pretty tired of the comparisons with BRS as well. They may well of been a similar size in 1996 but that's sadly is no longer the case.
CWL still had a good chance 6-7 years ago to catch-up, it will continue to grow and I'll be very pleased indeed to be able to fly to more places from CWL.
I will admit to being one of the big CWL supporters up until a few years ago, when I think I didn't use it for nearly a whole year (I fly at least once a month). Either Bristol had a direct/better flight or was cheaper. I remember one easyjet flight to NCL where nearly half the people had Welsh accents, because it was cheaper to fly from BRS (even including parking/hire car cost and bridge toll).