I read that article with incredulity this morning too, TA.
Is Sion Barry to Carwyn Jones what Alastair Campbell was to Tony Blair? Two months ago Mr Barry was telling us that CWL would be at 3 mppa in 2020 and will have overtaken Bristol by 2025.
Cardiff Airport has the potential to grow passengers to three million - Business News - Business - WalesOnline
On Saturday the FM was quoted in the local press saying that the immediate priority was to revamp the terminal building and increase footfall, routes and passenger numbers. That's not rocket science but the 'how' was not explained.
He then turned to his aviation
bete noire, Bristol Airport, whose success he says he does not begrudge but which he believes can be matched at CWL within a decade.
Specifically he said, “We have to aim at building ourselves up to the same kind of passenger level as Bristol. I think that’s realistic. It’s not going to be Manchester or Birmingham, but it certainly can aim to be like Bristol or Southampton.”
This is a somewhat confusing message as BRS is currently handling 5.91 mppa and SOU 1.69 mppa: the latter would be a less daunting target. So is the FM really aiming to increase CWL's current throughput of 1.01 mppa to SOU's level or to BRS's?
Or does he think that BRS and SOU are currently handling the same number of passengers, in which case it's another indication that most politicians know little about aviation and should stay out of it.
Of course, if CWL was able to make substantial passenger gains in the next decade it would be because the economic conditions generally had improved a great deal which would almost certainly mean that other airports had also improved, and that CWL's target had become nearer 8 mppa, assuming the FM has made up his mind by then whether he's chasing Bristol or Southampton.
Scots YES vote could leave Wales on its own, warns Carwyn Jones - Politics News - Politics - News - WalesOnline (the reference to the airport is some way down the page)