Cardiff Wales International Airport

Cardiff International Airport Maes Awyr Rhyngwladol Caerdydd
IATA: CWL ICAO: EGFF
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Welsh Government
Operator	Cardiff Airport Ltd.
Serves	South Wales Mid Wales West Wales
Location	Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan
Opened	1 April 1954; 63 years ago
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 2,354 7,723 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 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. Passenger numbers were 1.3 million in 2016 and are increasing year-on-year.

Cardiff Airport is located near the village of Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan.

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, 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."

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, Rome, Edinburgh and Paris CDG.

The history of the Airport extends back to the early 1940s, when the Air Ministry requisitioned land in the rural Vale of Glamorgan to set up a wartime satellite aerodrome and training base, named RAF Rhoose, for Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfire pilots. Construction work commenced in 1941, and the airfield officially began life on 7 April 1942 when it was taken over by No 53 Operational Training Unit. After WW2 the airfield fell into disuse and was abandoned.