Cardiff International Airport

Cardiff Airport Maes Awyr Caerdydd
IATA: CWL ICAO: EGFF
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Welsh Government
Operator	Cardiff Airport Ltd.
Serves	Cardiff South Wales Mid Wales West Wales
Location	Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan
Elevation AMSL	220 ft / 67 m
Coordinates	51°23′48″N 003°20′36″W / 51.39667°N 3.34333°W / 51.39667; -3.34333Coordinates: 51°23′48″N 003°20′36″W / 51.39667°N 3.34333°W / 51.39667; -3.34333
Website	cardiff-airport.com
Map
EGFF Location in the Vale of Glamorgan
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 12/30 2,392 7,848 Asphalt
Statistics (2016)
Passengers 1,347,483 Passenger change 15–16 16.1% Aircraft Movements 26,256 Movements change 15–16 4.7%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority

Passengers	1,347,483
Passenger change 15–16	16.1%
Aircraft Movements	26,256
Movements change 15–16	4.7%

Cardiff Airport (Welsh: Maes Awyr Caerdydd) (IATA: CWL, ICAO: EGFF) is by far the busiest airport in Wales and has been under the ownership of the Welsh Government since March 2013, operating at an arm's length as a commercial business. The Airport serves customers in mainly South, but also Mid and West Wales. Passenger numbers at the airport peaked in 2007 with over 2.1 million passengers passing through the airport that year, but had halved to around 1 million in 2012, and stood at around 1.3 million in 2016. The Airport is located in the village of Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan, 12 mi (19 km).

On 27 March 2013, the Welsh Government announced it had purchased the Cardiff International Airport Ltd from TBI Ltd as a going concern for £52,000,000. Claims were made that this was a "nationalisation", a private enterprise being acquired by the state, and as such these claims appear correct, however the Welsh Government's First Minister, Rt.Hon Carwyn Jones AM, announced: "The Airport will not be operated by the Welsh Government. It will be managed at arm's length from Government on a commercial basis and, over time, I expect to see a return to the public purse on the investment." The Chief Executive of Cardiff's main rival, Bristol Airport, Robert Sinclair said the purchase price of £52m paid by the Welsh Government was "well above market value when compared to recent transactions involving UK Airports – gives us concern that ongoing government involvement and support is highly likely,"

In March 2015 it was confirmed that WRU Group Chief Executive Roger Lewis, would succeed Lord Rowe-Beddoe as chairman of Cardiff Airport on 1 November 2015, following the 2015 Rugby World Cup when he would stand down from the WRU.

Since 2013 Cardiff Airport has undergone a huge transformation with improvements made to the terminal, surrounding infrastructure, customer service standards and also the introduction of new routes. In June 2015 Europe's largest regional airline Flybe opened a two aircraft base at Cardiff. The airline now operates a busy flight network of 16 direct routes across the UK & Europe to destinations including Faro, Jersey, Dublin, Glasgow, Berlin, Verona and Paris CDG.