Welsh Government Pumps £20m into Struggling Cardiff Airport

The Welsh Government has confirmed it will proceed with investing a further £20m in Cardiff Airport, marking the first instalment of a planned £205m support programme aimed at reviving its fortunes. 💷✈️

This investment comes as part of a 10-year subsidy support package for the airport, which the Welsh Government acquired in 2013 from Spanish firm Abertis for £52m. The funding aims to drive diversification in areas including aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul, general aviation and increased freight movements.

Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, Rebecca Evans, said: “We have given consideration to the Competition and Markets Authority’s assessment and have refined the technical details of the ten-year programme. We will now proceed to a first investment of £20m. We remain committed to the growth of this essential economic infrastructure, which currently generates over £200m in gross value added (GVA) annually and supports thousands of jobs in the South Wales region.”

The Welsh Government submitted its subsidiary plans to the Competition and Markets Authority last year, with Bristol Airport responding that the plans appeared to breach the Subsidy Control Act by giving Cardiff an unfair competitive advantage.

A Bristol Airport spokesman responded: “Bristol Airport is proud to welcome customers from South Wales, providing opportunities to reach more than 115 destinations using our extensive range of airlines. Visitors also frequently use Bristol Airport to attend major sporting events in Wales. Our airport has and continues to invest, including work under way on a major £400m investment to improve facilities for customers over the next five years, at no cost to the taxpayer.”

Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure, Peter Fox MS, criticised the move: “The Labour Government’s decision to inject the first £20 million of a planned £200m to Cardiff Airport will bring the total amount of Welsh taxpayer money invested to over £200m. Cardiff Airport is a financial burden on the Labour Welsh Government and Welsh taxpayers and it is time for Labour to finally do the right thing and sell the airport to the private sector.”

The airport posted an Ebitda loss of £4.3m in its last financial year and has made accumulated losses of more than £61m since being acquired by the Welsh Government. Passenger numbers for the year ending March 2024 were 862,000, down from 910,000 in the previous year and well short of its pre-pandemic figure of 1.6 million.