Cardiff to London flights to end in October

Flights between Cardiff and London will end in October, it has been announced.

Carrier Flybe launched the route when the closure of the Severn Tunnel for work disrupted rail travel between the capitals in September 2016.

But, because of demand, the temporary service continued when the tunnel fully reopened later that year.

Now Flybe's chief revenue officer Vincent Hodder has said passenger levels are not enough to make it "commercially sustainable".

He added: "Despite the investment and hard work by all parties involved to build the market, and the passionate support of a small group of regular passengers, the results have not reached the level required."

The last flight from Cardiff to London City Airport will be on Friday 27 October.

Economy Secretary Ken Skates said the ending of the service was "disappointing", adding the company had said that impact of air passenger duty on shorter flights was one of the reasons for cancelling the route.

"I would again call on the UK government to devolve air passenger duty to Wales and to immediately allocate the £700m it saved through its decision not to electrify the mainline to Swansea to the Welsh Government," he said.

"This will enable us to progress our plans to provide passengers in Wales with the transport services they deserve."