Public Accounts Committee

Cardiff Airport

Additional Information from Chris Cain, Northpoint Aviation (23 February 2016)

The Chairman of the Committee also asked whether there were any other airports that could act as current or future benchmarks for Cardiff other than Newcastle. I have given some thought to this and would suggest the following:

Belfast International - c4mppa, mainly low cost and charter carriers a long haul route, strong competition from Dublin, a military enclave, a catchment of similar size but with a higher propensity to fly.

Leeds Bradford - serves a core and secondary city, acquired five years ago by Bridgepoint Capital for £160m; passenger numbers have increased to over 3 mppa, mainly through low cost growth; are some regional business networks and charter activity. Short runway makes long haul difficult, although mid haul is possible.

Aberdeen - currently 3.26mppa, was 3.75mppa from a catchment population smaller than Cardiff but with propensity to fly buoyed by the energy sector. Interesting mix of network carriers serving their hubs, regional operations to domestic centres and Norway, charters and low cost to holiday destinations. Airport 'City' under construction.