Cardiff Airport (; ) is an international airport in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan, to the south-west of Cardiff, Wales. It is the only airport offering commercial passenger services and cargo services in Wales. The airport is owned by the Welsh Government, operating it at arm's length as a commercial business.
In 2025, the airport was ranked 20th busiest airport in the United Kingdom, handling 953,681 passengers, up 9% on 2024.
History
In the early 1940s, 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 started in 1941, and the airfield officially began life on 7 April 1942 when it was taken over by No 53 Operational Training Unit.
After World War II the airfield fell into disuse and was abandoned. In 1951, the Bridgend-born Minister of Civil Aviation, David Rees-Williams, called for a commercial airport to be built in South Wales. He told the House of Lords that "a decision had to be taken whether to do nothing at...or whether Pengam Moors, the existing airport for Cardiff, should be improved at a cost of some millions of pounds, involving the alteration of the course of the Rumney River or, thirdly, whether an entirely new airport should be constructed or acquired in the vicinity of the capital of Wales."
Lord Ogmore thought diverting the river at Pengam would be a problem, and feared that the tall chimney stacks of the nearby East Moors Steelworks could pose a safety hazard to aircraft. The Welsh Civil Aviation Consultative Committee then proposed the abandoned RAF airfield at Rhoose as a possible alternative. On inspecting it, Ogmore found it "in a poor condition, with a large number of bombs stacked on the runways, and buildings in an extreme state of dilapidation". However, he considered Rhoose could be suitable for civil aviation "if the necessary money and time were spent upon it". The government accepted his proposal, and the Ministry of Aviation began to convert the abandoned airfield into a civilian airport. In October 1952, the new Rhoose Airport was opened by Rees-Williams's successor as Minister of Aviation Alan Lennox-Boyd.Hansard Lords Debates 1957
First civil flights In 1952, Aer Lingus started a service to Dublin. Civilian flights from the old Cardiff Municipal Airport at Pengam Moors were transferred to Rhoose on 1 April 1954. A new terminal building followed, along with flights to France, Belfast and Cork. An increase in holiday charter business resulted in passenger throughput exceeding 100,000 in 1962.
On 1 April 1965, the Ministry of Aviation handed over the airport to Glamorgan County Council, and it was renamed Glamorgan (Rhoose) Airport. The council started a five-year plan to develop the airport, including a new control tower, terminal building and a runway extension.
In the 1970s, the supersonic airliner Concorde made a few flights into the airport on special occasions. These were limited by the length of the runway, meaning it could only land lightly loaded, and only take off without passengers and with a minimal fuel load.
In the 1980s, the airport's name was changed to Cardiff-Wales Airport. 1986 saw a further extension of to the runway, costing in the region of £1 million, thus attracting new-generation jet aircraft to the airport. Transatlantic links were developed, with charter flights to Florida, in addition to the previously-established links with Canada. The runway extension, enabling the airport to handle 747 jumbo jets, was instrumental in attracting the British Airways maintenance facility to the airport. The maintenance hangar is one of the largest in the world at , providing heavy airframe and engineering maintenance for the British Airways fleet and third party carriers.
Privatisation In April 1995, as a result of planned local government reorganisation in Wales, the airport company was privatised; the shares were sold to property and development firm TBI plc.
In December 1995, Heli-air Wales began training helicopter pilots from the airport. It moved operations to Swansea Airport in 1999.
The airport is home to a purpose-built maintenance base for British Airways, maintaining its wide-bodied, long-haul aircraft. It is also home to a variety of aerospace-oriented firms and colleges, such as CAVC International Centre for Airline Training.
The airport was the main base for four local airlines: Cambrian Airways from 1935 to 1976, Airways International Cymru until the airline ceased operations in 1988, Inter European Airways until 1993 and Air Wales until the airline ceased scheduled operations in March 2006.
In 1996, Cardiff was one of the first airports the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair used for its "no frills" services using second-hand Boeing 737-200s on a short hop from Dublin.
2000s
By 2006, Ryanair had withdrawn from the airport, ending five years of daily service on the Cardiff to Dublin route. The withdrawal was due to a very public falling out with the airport over charges. On 15 May 2014, it was announced that Ryanair would return to the airport.
Following a survey conducted by the airport operator in 2008 as part of a campaign to attract additional business routes, popular destinations such as Aberdeen, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Brussels, and Scandinavian cities were identified as lacking a current link. The airport planned to hold up to 25 meetings with airlines during May and June 2008 to support the case for more routes.
The airport was used by 2.1 million passengers in 2008, but this had fallen to around 859,805 passengers by 2022, according to the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, making it the 20th busiest airport in the UK in terms of passenger numbers. On 2 March 2009, the airport's management revealed a name change for the airport along with initial development plans to improve the image of the facility. Following a brand review involving consultation with a number of key stakeholders, the names Cardiff Airport and Maes Awyr Caerdydd replaced Cardiff International Airport. Later, it emerged that the airport had applied for £5 million of payments from the Welsh Assembly Government to deal with unspecified development at the terminal. This attracted immediate public criticism and requests that the airport's owners, Abertis, match such an investment with a £6 million route development programme.
2010s It was announced on 13 April 2011 that Bmibaby were to close their base at the airport, along with their base at Manchester Airport, the following October in order to redeploy aircraft at their other bases, including the creation of a new operation at Belfast City Airport. The base closed on 30 October 2011, shortly before the airline soon ceased operations.
It was announced on 28 October 2011 that Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling were to open a new route to Barcelona, commencing 27 March 2012 and operating the route thrice weekly. Just over a month later, it was announced that Monarch were to serve Orlando Sanford Airport, Florida for the following summer, commencing the service on 28 May 2012. The airline operated the route on behalf of its own holiday wing, Monarch Holidays, and its partner company Cosmos. This was the first time in four years that there was a direct charter connection between Cardiff and the United States.
On 16 May 2012, it was announced that airport's managing director, Patrick Duffy, had left his position amid mounting pressure from the Welsh Government on the airport's owners Abertis to improve the state of the airport and improve the services it offers or else sell the facility to an investor in a proposed public-private partnership. Why Duffy left his position after four years remains unclear.
On 18 December 2012, it was announced that the Welsh Government was interested in buying the airport from its current owners.BBC News – Cardiff Airport: Welsh government plan to buy from TBI. Bbc.co.uk (18 December 2012). Retrieved 23 July 2013. In 2012, the Airport faced sustained criticism from the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones. On 28 February 2012, Jones announced to the Welsh Assembly: "We would like to see many routes emerging from Cardiff Airport, but the Airport must get its act together... Last week, I went to the Airport and the main entrance was shut. People could not go in through the main entrance; they had to go through the side entrance. It is important that the Airport puts itself in a position where it is attractive to new airlines, and, unfortunately, that is not the case at present." His criticism led to accusations that he was "talking down" Cardiff Airport whilst aviation industry professionals commented that he was unqualified to make such comments. However, Jones returned to this theme on 7 March 2012 saying, "With the condition of the Airport at the moment I would not want to bring people in through Cardiff Airport because of the impression it would give of Wales...I have to say the time has come now for the owners of the Airport to decide to run the Airport properly or sell it."
Byron Davies, Shadow Minister for Transport, said: "It is a bit rich for the First Minister to publicly attack and run down Cardiff Airport, when he has failed to seize opportunities, which would massively increase the range of routes available from Cardiff, introduce direct routes to North America, opening our economy to trade and business with one of the world's biggest economies".Cardiff-New York air route worth £200m a year to Wales, report reveals. Wales Online (19 March 2012). Retrieved 23 July 2013. Liberal Democrats spokesperson, Eluned Parrott, said: "The First Minister needs to stop talking our capital city's Airport down and instead he should be doing all he can to encourage visitors to Cardiff Airport. His comments are hardly going to encourage tourism and business to Wales."First Minister Carwyn Jones under fire for attack on Cardiff Airport. Wales Online (13 March 2012). Retrieved 23 July 2013.
The First Minister's criticism was roundly rejected by Alex Cruz, chief executive of Vueling – a Spanish airline which operates regular flights from Cardiff. Cruz said "We are more than satisfied with Cardiff Airport. We would not fly into an Airport that we did not feel was suitable for our customers."First Minister Carwyn Jones' Cardiff Airport criticism rejected. Wales Online (29 March 2012). Retrieved 23 July 2013. However, on 20 March 2012 Jones again criticised Cardiff Airport saying "business people" had complained to him "week after week, for many months about the Airport." He asserted he had put their points to the owners of the Airport but "they have been met with a shrug of the shoulders. That is just not good enough. I know of situations, and have seen them myself, where people have been locked in the baggage hall and where the front door was not open and people had to go in through a side door—I had to do that the last time I used the Airport."Carwyn Jones renews attack on 'not good enough' Cardiff Airport. Wales Online (20 March 2012). Retrieved 23 July 2013.
On 29 May 2012, it was announced that Jones would personally chair a "Task Force" on Cardiff Airport with the aim of "maximising its economic impact, commercially and for Wales".Cardiff Airport to be targeted by task force, says Carwyn Jones. Wales Online (29 May 2012). Retrieved 23 July 2013. On 27 June 2012, the Task Force, comprising tourist chiefs, local government spokesmen and trade unionists, met for the first time. No airlines were invited to attend. A bid to obtain the full minutes of the meeting under the Freedom of Information Act was refused by the Information Commissioner.. Wales.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2013.