Every which way from Rhoose

FOR reasons I won’t bore you with, for the last few days I’ve felt like I’m at an airport departures lounge waiting for what will be, after some inevitable turbulence, a long-haul flight.

So it was fitting that last week I had the pleasure of going “air side” at Cardiff International Airport to meet up with some of the team and take a peek at the latest changes to the departure lounge.

If you’ve flown from Cardiff recently you won’t have missed the fancy new duty free shop (because you have to walk through it), and chances are you’ll know about the The Beer House, a new bar and restaurant which opened in May 2016.

But there have been even more recent improvements.

As of this month there’s a new Costa which provides an attractive seating area (and, I noticed, a good range of food options), plus the WH Smith has moved to a far larger space and now sells technology bits and bobs and has a Well’s pharmacy section – handy and much-needed, apparently.

The new Smiths is actually located in a brand new, huge seating space, with which Cassie and Sarah were visibly excited. (I really like how the improvements mean so much to them.)

The best thing, aside from all the added room, is the natural light – something that is so often lacking in airports.

There are large windows and even a view of the runway. Call me a child, but I like to watch aircraft land and take off – it seems sad to have the excitement of air travel (can you tell I don’t fly much?) hidden from view so often.

I took a couple of photos showing the space, which is already in use, but there’s actually new furniture by Cardiff-based interiors specialist Powell going in at the end of next week.

It seems things are really on the up in Rhoose.

It connects directly with more than 50 destinations, including nine capital cities.

Last year saw the number of passengers increase by 9% (it was 16% in 2016), which makes nearly 50% passenger growth since the airport came into public ownership in 2013.

I was also pretty excited to hear that next month Flybe starts a twice-weekly (Tuesdays and Saturdays) service to Venice – Cardiff’s fourth direct route to Italy.

It’ll run from March 27 until September 9.

And you probably heard the hoo-ha about Doha, didn’t you?

If the words “five times a week longhaul flights from Cardiff Airport” don’t invoke some element of excitement in you then perhaps you’re unaware of how far Cardiff Airport has come in recent years and what a significant step forward this is.

This really is big news. In fact, could prove to be a game-changer.

As of May 2018, Wales will say “Croeso” to Doha (or orrigh’ or shwmae) with a new Qatar Airways link to the Qatari capital’s Hamad International – the world’s fastest-growing hub airport – creating links to destinations like Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

This new Middle Eastern connection is both a symbol and an opportunity.

It’s a significant milestone in this dramatic comeback story that so many people living here – and abroad – passionately want to see.

At last, Cardiff Airport has achieved its ambition of gaining a frequent long-haul service to the Middle East.

For Qatar Airways, which hopes to have three million passengers a year by 2030, this is a huge vote of confidence in Wales and our ever-improving national airport.

No doubt the team at Cardiff Airport it worked their socks off to snag this service and so credit is due to everyone at the airport and behind the scenes for making this happen. (Personally, I think the clincher was my suggestion for the slogan, “From the ‘Diff to Doha”.)

Doha could also prove to be a destination in itself – especially if Wales qualify for the 2022 World Cup, which Qatar is set to host.

That doesn’t sound so outlandish these days, does it, and nor should it be.

If Wales as a nation has been taught one thing by its national football team it’s that good organisation, aiming high and self-belief can produce results.

Wales has so much to offer, and it’s never been more important to show this.

The airport is also a key component in the region’s future economic prosperity.

Wales, in case you don’t know, is a centre of excellence for aerospace manufacturing. (Happily, the Middle East is a key growth aerospace market so the new route could be a boon in this regard.)

In Wales there are more than 160 companies in the aerospace game, and they employ more than 23,000 people.

I was also interested to learn that Cardiff Airport alone sustains 2,675 direct and indirect jobs.

Like so many others, my family has members scattered around the globe.

My brother and also my cousin and his family live in Melbourne.

The idea of being able to fly to Melbourne from Cardiff with just one stop is exciting.

For countless members of the global Welsh community, the “Dai-aspora” if you will, having the opportunity to fly home to Wales directly will mean a lot, just as it will to those of us here who are usually expected to fetch inbound loved ones from distant airports.

I’ve another personal reason for being excited by this development and for having hoped for so long that Cardiff Airport will regain lost ground.

I’ve inherited a soft spot for Rhoose from my mum, Maggie, who in her 20s was an air stewardess (as they were then called) with Cambrian Airways and later British Airways.

Maggie still attends the Cambrian reunions and frequently regales the family with often funny stories from her glamorous days and nights spent city hopping on propeller-powered Viscounts and BAC 1-11 jet planes out of Rhoose, piloted by Battle of Britain veterans.

“When we switched to jet planes, we had to up our game – on a Jersey flight we suddenly had next to no time to take passengers’ drinks orders before we were coming in to land,” she tells me.

Times have certainly changed, and Cardiff Airport’s fortunes haven’t always been rosy, but our national airport is once again upping its game to become a major gateway to the world – and to Wales.

Did you know that one in three people who use the airport is a visitor to our beautiful country?

With improvements already made to the terminal and more on the way, plus the Welsh Government’s plans to improve ground access across the region and Qatar Airways’ Boeing 797 Dreamliners taking off from May 2018, it’s fair to say that Cardiff Airport’s future is brighter now than at any time in the past 20 years.

So buckle up and stow your table, as it feels like things are really taking off down in Rhoose.