Are you Welsh? If not you aren't keeping Cardiff open.

Airports play a part in growing the economy. If CWL wasn't there, yes many people would simply transfer to using BRS, but with that so may some industries.

The key element is that CWL isn't just there to take people on their holidays, it's there to provide links to businesses across the UK, Europe and the World, which will help grow the Welsh economy. This isn't something that's going to change overnight, but is already happening with the links provided by BE and now QR.

Governments bail out companies all the time, especially in Wales and the Airport is no different to that and key to helping the Welsh economy.
CWL needs to start somewhere, as it was left to deteriorate over the years, both structurally and commercially. People on here seem to expect things to happen overnight and it to become an instant success. Wales and the WG is pitching itself to the world, which will help the Airport grow as inbound tourism and business will grow. It's small steps but BE is continuing to grow and is rumoured to be happy with the success of CWL. Hopefully QR will be the same.
Given the current state of the Airport, the investment is needed. The work that's gone into growing the business once more is slowly paying off, but is not going to create instant profits to do the work that's really required now. It's an investment by the Welsh government, not only in the Airport, but in the economy.

Totally agree, just a shame that other regions of the UK don't have access to such funding.

Noticed an EI A320 (AMS-ORK) heading into CWL wearing 7700 earlier this evening.

I don’t like to go to work everyday to clean up your vomit but somebody has to, now drop the dramas, this is an airport forum.

Emergency landing. Pilot declared a mayday with fumes in the cabin.

But CWL isn't serving Wales except for the bottom right hand portion of it, Cardiff, Bridgend, even Newport might be a toss up between CWL and BRS, OK the re-opening of the railway between Barry and Bridgend gives commuters an alternative rail option to get further west in to Wales but BHX serves mid Wales more appropriately and LPL serves north Wales more appropriately than CWL ever shall, if WAG were really interested in opening up Wales to worldwide air travellers surely they'd be doing something about Hawarden.

And as for travellers from Europe and the world, I can assure you that the vast majority of them refer to the British Isles as UK, Britain, or England, let's say their destination is Wrexham, what percentage of them do you think actually recognise that Wrexham is in a country other than England? ... And, yes, they are ignorant!

Considering that 2/3rds of the population of Wales is in it's catchment area I'd say that it was serving Wales.
As to people thinking Wrexham was in England then that is all about awareness and promoting Wales through events like the Champions League final and attracting airlines like Qatar.
I also believe that the Welsh government are looking at other intra Wales routes. Whether that includes Hawarden I don't know.

Ignore foggy, he has an axe to grind regarding CWL for some reason.

Think what you like, I had a great few years working at CWL looking out of the window to learn that 'Car Park' in Welsh is 'Parc Car' :)

A previous post, as do so many, referred to BRS as the competitor to serve Wales other than CWL, how the hell does BRS serve Aberporth, Aberystwyth, Pwlheli and Wrexham, to name but four, any better than CWL does when the truth is that neither of them serve these locations adequately ... Might as well say that CWL & BRS serve Birmingham and the Black Country.

So people travelling to/from Wrexham are going to route via CWL rather than via BHX or MAN? ... Yeah, sure they are!

Firstly I never said that people traveling to and from Wrexham would go via CWL i said that awareness of Wales will help people know the difference and having a national airport even if it's in the south will help with that.
Do you think that the Champions League final would've come to Wales if Cardiff Airport didn't exist? Yes BRS BHX and MAN and even Heathrow all serve Wales in their own way but the problem with those airports is they aren't IN Wales they are in England. Wales is a country so having it's OWN airport helps promote it and it's economy.

The 4 airports mentioned must be a worry to CWL. Rather than just throw money at routes and things in general,i think management of CWL sit down and work out where they not doing things right. If things were correct in the general layout of services and airport layout then given time the pax will return to cwl. Whatever service anyone offers if its a good service then ppl will use it.

The 4 airports mentioned are always going to take passengers off CWL but with the right investment and airlines CWL can be a viable airport for the country. Since the Welsh government have taken over it is recovering. Flybe do seem to be developing a good base and are probably the right airline for the airport. Vueling are established and slowy adding flights and TOM and TCX continue to plod along steadily and of course Qatar Airways start next year. Only thing to question is Ryanairs intentions. The airport has a lot to do but is going in the right direction.

First of all I think the point is that CWL should be trying to take passengers away from the other 4 and not vice versa whilst suggesting that CWL can be a viable airport for Wales is similar to suggesting that DUB can be a viable airport for Ireland.

Then why does Ireland also have international airports in SNN and ORK to name but two, never mind the regional airports, yes DUB is a viable airport for Ireland but, if it didn't have connecting flights, it can only serve a portion oif Ireland much the same as CWL that, besides Holyhead, doesn't have connecting flights and can only serve a portion of Wales.

If only Air Wales had stuck with Do228's then they might still be going, allbeit on minimal profits, providing puddle jumper services around the airports of Wales!

Wales and Ireland have completely different demographics and Ireland is much bigger geographically also Ireland has a big advantage over Wales. Firstly it's an independent country secondly it has a large amount of inbound American tourism thirdly it's major airport is TATL hub and fourthly it has a larger awareness around the world than Wales.

Is there anywhere that anyone may make a comparison with Wales where the response won't be a disagreement, to the effect, "But we're different"?

How are Cardiff Aviation doing, are they paying their staff and their rent yet or are monies still being written off by the Welsh government?

Actually not sure thats true. The block grant that funds the WAG is paid for out of UK national taxation, and the spend per head is greater in each of the devolved areas than it is in England.
As somebody who works at CWL I hope it does well, but can quite understand a degree of antipathy from, say a Bristol airport worker, who sees some of their tax bill fund a competitor that may negatively impact their own job security.
I think that colleagues and supporters of CWL should be careful about an apparent feeling of 'entitlement' to external funding that isn't available elsewhere.

But it up to the democratically elected WAG as to where it spends its allocation. And, since it uses a form of proportional representation, it's more democratically elected than Westminster. I'm not taking sides here on whether the money would be better spent elsewhere.

I'm not Welsh but I owned a house with a CF62 postcode for 23 years ... It's not just the Welsh that pay their taxes in Wales!

A couple of points.

Anodyne was responding to the comment "Are you Welsh? If not you aren't keeping Cardiff open." Wales isn't self-supporting by way of revenue, so if you're paying tax in the UK you are indirectly supporting CWL.

The other point is that CWL is benefiting from support from the Welsh Govt which isn't available to other airports in the UK. An issue of fairness here, particularly as CWL is competing with other airports.