Cardiff Airport stays under government control, Jones says

The Welsh government bought Cardiff Airport for £52m in 2013

Cardiff Airport will remain under Welsh government control, the first minister has said, despite calls to sell it.

Carwyn Jones told AMs on Tuesday that "in time" stakes in the airport would be offered for sale.

But he insisted during First Minister's Questions that ministers would not "give away" a controlling interest.

He claimed that would take the airport back to the situation in 2013 when the Welsh government stepped in to buy it to secure its future.

Earlier in November, the airport's outgoing chairman, Lord Rowe-Beddoe, said it should be privatised within the next five years.

Tory AM Nick Ramsay asked on Tuesday if Mr Jones would set out a timetable for the sale of the airport following Lord Rowe-Beddoe's comments.

In reply, the first minister said: "In time we will look to sell shares in the airport to private investors.

"What we will not do is give away a controlling interest because that will take us right back to where we were before."

Speaking of the Welsh government's purchase of the airport for £52m in 2013, Mr Jones said Mr Ramsay "cannot pretend the airport was doing well up to 2013".

"We tried to work with the owners (to improve its performance).

"In the end they said 'we're not interested any more, you can buy it from us'.

"In time we will look to recoup that money - what we will not do is put an artificial timetable on the sale of an airport that is now 10 percent up in terms of passenger figures compared to last year.

"That's what government can do for airports - if the Tories had had their way, the airport would now probably be looking at being turned into a housing estate."