Wizz Air

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:29 pm on 11 January 2023.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 3:29, 11 January 2023

Well, the £42.6 million rescue and recovery plan that was put in place during the pandemic remains in place, and is designed to help Cardiff Airport to become self-sustainable and profitable in the future. We are now working with the airport to understand the impact of the withdrawal of Wizz Air on the progress of that pathway. Clearly, it is a significant customer for the airport, but it's worth saying the airport remains a vibrant source of flights to other destinations. I've recently used the Belfast flight myself and found it an excellent experience; also KLM flies from the airport, TUI, Vueling, Ryanair and Loganair. 

Now, there is a problem across the whole sector, as I mentioned earlier, because of rising energy costs, because of inflation, because of the recession, and the margins that many of these operators operate within are very small. Much of the market is taken up by package holidays, which are becoming more and more competitive, meaning that the profitability is lower. So, it's a tight market and a difficult business model that we are dealing with. 

The management of the airport and the board are very strong, and we are very lucky to have them. And I met with them recently and visited the airport. I must say I have great sympathy for the range and number of challenges they've had to face over the last couple of years, and we are fortunate to have them. And we're in this for the long haul, but there are, clearly, some really difficult short-term challenges that are being faced across the sector, but by Cardiff in particular. Other airports, you will know, have closed in recent months across the UK, and this is the point I was making earlier—in the absence of a strategy for regional airports across the UK, the smaller airports face fixed costs the same as any other, larger airport. They have to maintain a full fire service, for example. There are now increasing costs through regulation about enhanced security screening equipment that all airports need to have, and the ability of a smaller airport like Cardiff to cushion that sort of cost is very challenging. Now, UK Government seems focused entirely on a London-based aviation strategy, and, clearly, from our point of view, there are tensions in the climate change department of our carbon targets on the one hand and a need to grow air travel in order to make the airport viable on the other hand. And we fully acknowledge these tensions. 

My view is that, if Cardiff Airport were to close, people would simply fly from other airports. So, from a climate change point of view, I really don't see any benefit in tackling this in a unilateral way. There needs to be an aviation strategy for the whole of the UK, on a four-nations basis, that is climate-proof, and we need to address these issues together. In the meantime, we need to make sure Cardiff is still in the game to be part of that strategy, and the UK Government recognising the needs of regional airports, the fixed costs base they face, and their willingness to help with that is essential, but, sadly, not forthcoming.