I'm not too keen to get involved in these arguments because they easily become dogmatic and ideological, when neo-liberalism is looking a busted flush, but I think we must not assume opinions as facts. I think that there is evidence that inbound tourism into Cardiff Airport from Europe is doing quite well. There are quite strong Family links between Wales and Italy - yes they produce and sell the ice cream. And there are regular sporting links between the two nations. Overall, the deal is to base two E195s in Cardiff, and to be viable they will be a mixture of what works - business, inbound and outbound tourism. Flybe rightly will make the decisions.
If the wealthy Welsh are to holiday abroad, and they are, then it is clearly in the interests of the WG that they fly, contributing some income to Welsh coffers, than from an English airport.
It would be a great pity if the Dusseldorf link was totally lost, as this is mainly a tourist inbound service. Let's hope the Saturday service continues.