New Cardiff Airport airline has just one plane

Glamorgan Star news 23/04/2022

3 minutes read

Wizz Air has allocated just one plane to Cardiff Airport.

New Cardiff Airport airline has just one plane

Low-cost airline Wizz Air has allocated just one plane to its newly-established base at Cardiff Airport.

Earlier this month, the Hungarian-based airline began operating routes from Cardiff to Alicante, Faro, Heraklion, Palma de Mallorca, Larnaca, Lanzarote and Tenerife, but it is doing so with only one A321 aircraft that has the capacity for 239 passengers.

Industry experts have questioned the feasibility of the venture, as when inevitable delays occur, it will have knock-on effects with crews running out of time.

The airline says the investment will lead to the creation of 40 direct jobs and 250 ‘indirect jobs’, but this is based on Airport Council International’s formula of 750 on-site jobs being created for every one million passengers carried, and the figure is reliant on Wizz Air selling a high volume of the 203,000 seats it will be making available during the summer season.

Welcoming Wizz Air’s announcement, Spencer Birns, Chief Executive Officer of Cardiff Airport said: “We’re delighted to welcome the opening of the Wizz Air base, as it marks a real turning point for the airport in its post-Covid revival plans. Our customers in Wales have been asking for a more cost-effective choice for many years.

“What makes this launch so exciting is that Wizz Air is an ultra-low-cost airline that will help build competition and offer improved choice to people living in Wales.”

On Easter Monday, Cardiff Airport had just six arrivals and seven departures, including the Wizz Air plane making one return journey to Lanzarote, compared to neighbouring Bristol Airport’s 81 arrivals and 81 departures.

In 2013, Cardiff Airport was sold to the Welsh Government for £52 million, and in March last year, the then-Economy and Transport Minister Ken Skates announced the troubled airport would receive a five-year recovery grant of £42.6 million and separately £42.6 million of the airport’s debts would be written off.

Before it fell into administration at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Flybe was Cardiff Airport’s largest airline, providing 27% of its passenger numbers in 2018, but last month it was confirmed that the revived airline would not be operating flights from the airport.

Cardiff was the hardest-hit airport in the UK during the first year of the pandemic, with an 87% decline in passenger numbers, from 1,656,085 in 2019 to 219,984 in 2020. By August 2021, passenger numbers were down 90% on pre-pandemic levels.

In total, more than £130 million of taxpayers’ money has been invested in the airport since the 2013 Welsh Government purchase, leading to calls from the Welsh Conservatives for them to cut their losses and sell it.

Earlier this month, Wizz Air attracted negative publicity when it was revealed that the airline was charging for luggage on ‘free’ flights it provided to refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

In March, Wizz Air announced it would offer Ukrainian refugees 100,000 free seats on all continental Europe flights departing from Ukraine’s border countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania). But one family of four who were trying to get from Krakow in Poland to Luton on one of the flights came across a stumbling block during the booking process when they were asked to pay €130 for their two suitcases.

Agnese Edmonds, who is now hosting the family at her home in Essex, told LBC radio: “When they were booking tickets, the tickets were free but the luggage wasn’t. Although they didn’t have too much luggage, the adults had one suitcase each, so they had to pay for that.”

Responding to the claims, Wizz Air said in a statement: “Wizz Air is committed to helping Ukrainian refugees reach their final destinations, wherever that may be in the Wizz network.

“To that end, Wizz Air continues to add larger planes and extra flights from Ukrainian border countries, as well as rescue fares from non-border countries, to help support the movement of refugees as necessary.

“However, our policy states that trolley bags and checked-in luggage are subject to additional fares.”