Julie James MS, Minister for Climate Change
Wizz Air has today announced that from 19 September it will reduce its flight schedule at Cardiff Airport over the winter months due to increasing macro-economic pressures.
Whilst this is disappointing news for Cardiff Airport, the airline has stressed to the Airport Board that this is a temporary change to its operations at Cardiff Airport, which was launched in April this year, following a 12 month delay due to the pandemic, and that it remains committed to resuming its scheduled summer timetable from Cardiff Airport from April 2023.
Despite this difficult commercial decision, I welcome the news that Wizz Air will continue to offer services from Cardiff over the winter season to Milan and Bucharest, and to bolster its ongoing commitment to Wales, tickets for travel during summer 2023 from Cardiff Airport, are already available via wizzair.com.
Wizz Air has advised that it will offer its staff the opportunity to be re-deployed over the winter months to enable a swift return to Wales in April 2023.
The agreement to operate from Cardiff Airport was a commercial decision between the airline and the Airport board.
Affected passengers who booked directly with Wizz Air should contact the airline; those who booked via a travel agent should contact their travel agent.
Whilst this is unfortunate timing, the Airport Board remains positive about its recovery from the pandemic as there continues to be significant demand for travel this year. My officials will continue to maintain a close and open dialogue with the Airport Board and despite this announcement I remain positive for the airport’s recovery and eventual growth.
This statement is being issued during recess in order to keep members informed. Should members wish me to make a further statement or to answer questions on this when the Senedd returns I would be happy to do so.