What Cardiff its new Qatar
Cardiff Airport landing its first scheduled long-haul flight in a deal with Qatar Airways provides not just a huge boost for the airport itself but the wider Welsh economy.
Qatar Airways is investing in a new daily route from the Rhoosebased airport to the Middle Eastern hub of Hamad International Airport in Doha, with the first flights expected in the spring of next year.
The new deal – over a number of years – could see around 150,000 new passengers using Cardiff Airport each year, not just from Wales but England too, particularly the south-west.
There is hope that it could also provide a catalyst for Middle Eastern investment, including from sovereign wealth funds, into new infrastructure projects in Wales, including potentially a new terminal at Cardiff Airport itself.
And landing Qatar Airways also strengthens the case for a direct service from Cardiff to north America, with passengers from the Middle East changing at Cardiff Airport for a connecting flight.
But to make the most of the opportunity a number of things need to happen – some outside the direct control of the airport and its Welsh Government owner. Improve access to the airport Road links If there was an option to locate a new international airport serving the west of Britain, then Cardiff Airport (west of the capital city at Rhoose) and Bristol Airport (even further out from the centre of Bristol) would not be top of the list.
The once-mooted Severnside Airport between Newport and Bristol – close to the Great Western Mainline and M4 – would have been an ideal location. But we are where we are.
But in terms of public transport access, despite some negative perceptions, Cardiff Airport is much better-served than Bristol is. And there is some positive investment in the pipeline to make journey times to the airport even quicker.
Widening of Five Mile Lane will help speed up the link from the M4. The process of compulsorarily purchasing land along Five Mile Lane is ongoing – once completed, it will mean the road can be expanded and the speed limit lifted from 40mph to the national speed limit.
Planning permission for the improvements was granted last December. A public inquiry was held in January and Vale of Glamorgan Council now awaits a final decision from Welsh Government transport minister Ken Skates.
Last month the council began the tendering process for the main works and is now requesting bids to be submitted by the end of July, before seeking to appoint a contractor in the autumn.
Initial clearance works for the new road are scheduled to commence in January.
Passengers driving from the east will still have to navigate Culverhouse Cross, while drivers from the west could exit the M4 at Bridgend or Pencoed and travel down the A48, before linking up with Five Mile Lane.
A longer-term solution would be to expand the road off Junction 34 of the M4 to create a dual carriageway from the motorway to the Weycocks Cross roundabout in Barry.
To relieve the burden on the small roundabout, any dual carriageway could leave the expanded Five Mile Lane and cut across land, linking up directly with the airport. Rail links The railway station for the airport is in the village of Rhoose and passengers are then ferried to the airport by bus.
So why not, in the future, Great Western Mainline services (a rail franchise not being devolved to the Welsh Government) from London to Cardiff and then switching to the Vale of the Glamorgan Line (devolved from October 2018) for a direct service to the airport before rejoining the Great Western Mainline at Bridgend?
Or there could be a change at Cardiff for Great Western Mainline passengers for a dedicated express route on the Vale of Glamorgan Line to the airport.
Any rail operator[s], even at one train an hour, would want to see enough passengers using it to justify it commercially. But as passenger numbers at the airport grow, it could become viable, although the Welsh and UK governments could always provide an additional out of franchise subsidy to make it a priority rail service.
While a new terminal at Cardiff Airport is on the radar long-term – and will be needed once passenger numbers reach more than three million from the current growing 1.3 million per annum – it