Cardiff Airport ‘biggest money-pit’

MARK Drakeford is under fire for spending millions of pounds of taxpayer cash on propping up loss-making Cardiff Airport.

The Welsh First Minister handed it £8.9m over the past year – but it was not enough to prevent bosses from racking up more than £3m in fresh losses.

His predecessor Carwyn Jones paid £52m to nationalise it in 2013 and it has subsequently been necessary to write off more than £40m of taxpayer loans.

No longer able to support the business with state loans, Mr Drakeford’s administration has opted to bankroll it through government grants.

The airport’s £8.9m grant for the year to March 2022 was significantly higher than the £2.5m received in the previous year.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: “Mark Drakeford’s Labour Government loves a vanity project to squander taxpayer money.

“But Cardiff Airport is the biggest money-pit of all.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “We are committed to maintaining an airport in Wales and have put in place a recovery package designed to make Cardiff Airport self-sustainable and profitable for the future.”