Passenger numbers at UK airports last year were 78% below pre-pandemic levels, and numbers at Cardiff Airport fell by 93%, new figures have shown. Wales' biggest airport was just the 25th largest in the UK, according to Civil Aviation Agency data for 2021.
In total, Cardiff served just 123,000 passengers last year. That compares to 2.08m for Bristol, 6.2m for Gatwick and 19.3m for Heathrow. The Welsh-Government-owned airport was also smaller than Exeter, Norwich and Bournemouth - and was less than half the size of Southampton. Cardiff served just 0.2% of UK air travellers.
The airport has fallen back since it was bought by the Welsh Government in 2013 for £52m. In 2010, Cardiff was the 20th biggest airport in the UK by passenger volume. Ministers bailed it out with £85m in a grant and debt write off during the pandemic in March 2021.
All UK airports were hit hard during the pandemic. Analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by the PA news agency found just 64.4 million passengers arrived or departed on flights at UK airports in 2021. That is compared with 296.9 million in 2019. Trade body the Airport Operators Association (AOA) said the figures highlight how the UK's aviation sector "suffered more than European rivals last year" due to tougher travel restrictions.
Read more: The passport rules you need to know about that could stop you going on holiday
Heathrow, the UK's busiest airport, recorded its lowest annual number of passengers for nearly 50 years in 2021, at just 19.4 million. This was a decline of 76% from the 2019 total of 80.9 million.
Cardiff had one of the biggest decreases, only behind Southend which was down 95%, and followed by Gatwick which was down 87% and London City, which was down 86%. Passenger numbers across all UK airports last year fell by 13% from 2020.
That bucked the trend for major airports in the rest of Europe, such as Frankfurt (up 32%), Amsterdam's Schiphol (up 22%) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (up 18%).
In April Cardiff Airport announced the launch of its first low-cost airline base for two decades with Wizz Air UK this week and chief executive, Spencer Birns, said the time he was confident that passenger numbers can recover to 50% of pre-Covid by year end. Read everything he had to say here.
The airport, which is wholly-owned by the Welsh Government but operated by an at arm’s length commercial company, saw its last base from a low-cost carrier launched back in 2002 with Bmibaby, before its demise in 2011.
AOA chief executive Karen Dee said: "The CAA's figures show just how badly UK airports were affected by the pandemic, much more so than our European competitors.
"The UK's restrictions were more onerous and lasted for longer than those in Europe, despite our much more rapid vaccine rollout."
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of trade association Airlines UK, said: "This summer should be a bumper one and for many routes we're seeing demand above where we were in 2019.
"But we can't lose sight of the fact the sector has been through its worst ever crisis and it will take several years to deal with the debt airlines had to take on to make it through the pandemic with no passengers."
He called on the Government to "focus ruthlessly" on where it can "really make a difference", such as supporting the development of sustainable aviation fuels and modernising the UK's airspace.
Spencer Birns, CEO Cardiff Airport said: "Looking at the latest figures to the end of March, we have recovered 12% of our rolling annual traffic. We are anticipating our busiest summer for three years and we expect to be 50% recovered [around 800,000 passengers] by the end of the year. That assumes no further restrictions on travel, or any significant drop in demand due to any geopolitical events or airline failures.
"The people living in Wales that use the airport are indicating they have a high desire to travel again for holidays this year. There are nine airline partners currently making regular use of the airport’s facilities, including Wizz Air which recently opened a base in Wales, as well as TUI, Vueling, Ryanair and Loganair. The airport is expected to offer over 25 direct routes in 2022, as well as easy, one-stop global connections to over 165 cities available with KLM via its hub in Amsterdam."
