Cardiff Airport: Ryanair's new route and extra flights

Ryanair will operate 26 weekly flights from Cardiff airport, including a new route a to Belfast

Ryanair has launched a new route and announced an increase in overall flights from Cardiff Airport.

This summer the budget airline will operate 26 weekly flights from the airport - a 63% increase from last year - including a new route to Belfast.

It comes after rival airline Wizz Air pulled out of the airport last month citing "high operational costs".

Cardiff Airport boss Spencer Birns said he was "grateful" for Ryanair's "commitment" to the airport.

Each week Ryanair will operate 14 flights to and from Dublin and four flights each on its Malaga, Belfast and Faro routes.

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Last month David Bryon, former head of another airline, BMI Baby, said the airport was in the wrong place and claimed no one in their "right mind" would invest in it.

"There just isn't the volume [of passengers]. Not only is Cardiff Airport on the coast, which limits its catchment, it's on the wrong side of Cardiff," he said at the time.

'Wiped out' by Covid

The airport has been owned by the Welsh government since its £52m purchase in 2013, however it was valued in 2021 at just £15m.

Mr Birns, who was appointed CEO of the airport in 2021, previously said the Covid pandemic had "wiped it out" and that it could take four years to fully recover.

Passenger numbers have fallen from 1.6 million before the pandemic in 2019 to 812,000 in the year to November 2022.

A spokeswoman for Ryanair said: "We look forward to welcoming hundreds of thousands of customers onboard our flights to/from Cardiff this summer."

Mr Birns added: "We are grateful for Ryanair's commitment to working with us to grow more flight choice from Cardiff and we look forward to developing further options for our customers with the airline.

"Ryanair continues to recognise that people living in Wales want to fly to and from their local airport and this increase in choice is a good step for building on future opportunities with the airline in Wales."