This week during FM's questions, in response to a question from Eluned Parrott about visitor access to Wales, he said "given the condition of the airport I would not want to bring people into Wales through Cardiff Airport, because of the impression of Wales that it would give"
To quote Nessa from Gavin & Stacey, " I wont lie to you" - we were shocked and disappointed by these comments. At this time the Airport needs words of support not to mention some positive action on the Delta (Cardiff to New york) proposition.
Of course the airport could do with upgrading, a new terminal etc but let's think about that some more when the passenger numbers start to climb on the back of Vueling bookings and hopefully other new carriers.
Of course Abertis haven't supported the Airport as we would like. We don't feel they have much empathy for Wales but being headquartered in Barcelona just like Vueling we hope that will now change.
All this comes at a time when across Cardiff and beyond there is a big advertising campaign promoting Vueling routes to Barcelona, Alicante and Palma from Cardiff.
To say that the First Minister's comments are unhelpful is an understatement. We agree with Eluned Parrot that he needs to stop talking Wales down. He needs to stop talking our National Airport down. He should be doing all he can to encourage visitors to Cardiff Airport and Wales. Wales is a fantastic product as we've said before and has won acolades from National Geographic and Lonely Planet over the past year.
A vibrant airport is good for the economy and brings in both business and tourists which are both good for the economy. As our elected representative he should be doing all he can to support our economy and Airports are key drivers of economic activity !
Should we be surprised by these comments, maybe not ? When flying to the USA on official business last week he choose to fly via Heathrow rather than Via Cardiff to Dublin and then on to the USA clearing US customs that way. Flying from Cardiff that would have shown support for our National Airport wouldn't it?.
The message we actually need to send out is 'come to Cardiff Airport, there are routes available that would be successful and if you come to Cardiff you will be backed by the Welsh government'” Martin Evans, Wales Transport Research Centre.
Yes Martin you are so on the money with these comments.
First Minister - you should resign. To use a well known Twitter hashtag to describe our view on your performance we would use #fail
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