Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:45 pm on 22 October 2019.
Well, Llywydd, the airport has, as the Member knows, a draft master plan, which provides exactly what he is asking for, and that is a plan that the Welsh Government endorses. We invest in the airport in order to make sure that Wales has a vibrant asset, which we need for our economy in the whole of the south of Wales. We are very confident in what the airport can achieve. The Member will have seen that only today TUI, the largest firm of its sort in the United Kingdom, has announced 15,000 new holidays to be sold from Cardiff Wales airport next year, bringing further passengers and further new business to that airport.
What would help the airport, Llywydd, would be if his Government would allow air passenger duty to be devolved in Wales. What would help would be if his Government would allow our airport to have the same advantages as large airports across our border are able to have. Smaller regional airports are squeezed in the United Kingdom by the United Kingdom's regional policies and their approach to those airports. There's a great deal the UK Government could do to support Cardiff Airport and it resolutely refuses to do any of them.