Ryanair’s problem at Cardiff was the inability to accept the fact that the airport needs to make some money as well – rates that would kill the airport off hardly make for a sustainable way to operate….

A new Severnside airport would be great – but I really can’t imagine any government considering it. Remember it took 26 years to get Terminal Five at Heathrow from the design stage to reality, so I would wager that building a new airport around Newport would be a slower process than building Chartres Cathedral….

Maybe we do need to look at a more radical solution, wasn’t there a plan a few years ago to close down both Cardiff and Bristol Airports and build a new one on the levels outside Newport.

This new airport would be more easily accesible by rail and from the M4 than either of the existing airports.

Because of its location Bristol Airport is prone to fog and ice which disrupts is services, meaning that the new airport would be more reliable.

The larger size of the new airport would also give it a critical mass and enable it to support a greater number of routes and provide better facilities for travellers.

I realise there will be political issues, post devolution, in merging an English and Welsh institution, but surely it’s worth considering.

The airport does not choose routes – it has to attract airlines to operate the routes. And it is not easy to throw money at airlines, since various chunks of European law get in the way.

The key is getting the airlines interested in Cardiff, and then getting the public to realise that they have a load of routes from their local airport – both of these are problems for the airport and the WAG, but don’t necessarily need shedloads of money…

The problems are really as follows:

1. Cardiff’s big player is – currently – bmibaby, who for their own reasons caused by their history are going nowhere fast;
2. Cardiff’s management needs to realise that they are not in the public sector any more and the world doesn’t owe them a living;
3. The WAG needs to accept that aviation is not some sort of plaything for the rich, but an integral part of the Welsh economy, that, if treated properly, would generate a lot of jobs and inward investment. The WAG’s shameful statements on transport spend pages on the bus service in Valleys, and about one line on aviation in all of the country – apart from the ridiculous interWales link – IeuanAir!

The other nightmare, not of Wales’ making, is the parlous state of the economy right now. Launching new routes is very expensive for any carrier, and at the moment, taking risks like this is OUT. What we’ll see for a while, until the industry starts to grow again, is carriers consolidating on existing routes and in existing bases. New bases (like Ryanair in Malaga) will happen since this is a better and more efficient way of running the operation – if Malaga has ten routes, it is often better to base the crew and aircraft in Malaga, rather than in the ten destination airports.

It’s going to be a cold spring for the industry. We’re at the bottom of the cycle in the aviation industry, and things will get better. When they do, we need a MUCH better attitude from WAG and the airport to capitalise on the coming growth.

Oh, and if the Conservatives would drop that daft “cancel the third runway at Heathrow” policy, that would be a plus as well!!