Cardiff Airport: Flybe new routes and 50 jobs

One of two Embraer E195 planes that Flybe will operate from Cardiff

Airline Flybe is to operate new routes flying from Cardiff Airport, creating 50 new jobs.

The new network includes flights between Cardiff and Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, Faro, Glasgow, Munich, Milan and Paris.

The airport was bought by the Welsh government for £52m in 2013.

Flybe dropped flights from Cardiff to Glasgow and Paris in 2013 as part of restructuring of the company.

First Minister Carwyn Jones said: "Flybe's announcement that it is opening a new base operating 11 routes from Cardiff Airport is fantastic news.

"We've already invested in improving the overall customer experience at Cardiff Airport and the new routes to major European destinations, as well as the creation of 50 new jobs, demonstrates Flybe's commitment to the airport and will help to make it the success we know it can be."

The jobs will include flight crew and ground handling staff.

The Paris flights start in June with four weekly flights but services will operate daily at their height.

The Dublin flights also start in June with six a week rising to 12.

Fifty new jobs will be created at Cardiff Airport

ANALYSIS

BBC Wales economics correspondent Sarah Dickins:

The expansion by Flybe doesn't fully fulfil the Welsh Government's vision of Cardiff becoming a long haul hub - in the much-quoted Schipol model - the Netherlands airport that has become an international flights crossroad.

But it is one step towards that in that it makes Cardiff more important on the air passenger route map and it makes Wales more accessible to foreign tourists

But Cardiff has a long way to go before it is seen as either a major regional hub for long haul flights or a serious competitor to Bristol.