I get the impression that some posters think the removal of the APD will be the saviour of Cardiff Airport or at least that the APD is mainly responsible for the heavy decline in passenger numbers in recent years.
The following figures show a comparison between Cardiff and Bristol (in thousands) over the last decade. The Cardiff figures peaked in 2007 whilst Bristol peaked in 2008.
Cardiff
2000 - 1498
2007 - 2094 (+39.8%)
2010 - 1398 (-33.2%)
2000 - 2010 (-6.7%)
Bristol
2000 - 2124
2008 - 6229 (193.3%)
2010 - 5723 (-8.1%)
2000 - 2010 (+169.4%)
Interestingly, Bristol had 41.78% more pax than Cardiff in 2000 but by the end of the decade the difference had increased dramatically to 309.4%.
Also Cardiff had 6.7% fewer pax at the end of the decade that at the begining whilst Bristol had 169.4% more pax during the same period.
I believe the APD has sod-all to do with the current state of Cardiff Airport as it seems obvious that Cardiff has failed to achieve and/or maintain the growth in traffic compared to its nearest competitor over a substantial period of time.
So what are the real reasons for this ? Is it a case of the pax numbers are simply not there, or the airport management being closely related to Rip Van Winkel, or is there some other logical explanation?