The Welsh economy lost out on millions of pounds because of the Labour Government’s failure to manage Cardiff Airport and keep direct flights to Doha in place, according to the Welsh Conservatives.
Shortly after purchasing the Airport for £52m ten years ago, Labour ministers celebrated attracting a direct flight to Doha, the Qatari capital.
Since, the Airport is now valued at £18m and the airline had ceased operations at Cardiff ahead of Welsh fans travelling to the first World Cup for which the national team had qualified in over six decades. Qatar Airways hopes to return by next year after suspending flights due to the pandemic.
The Welsh Conservative estimate that around £4.5m may have been lost because of this as Welsh fans had to travel from England instead.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Transport Minister Natasha Asghar MS said:
“Whilst we understand Covid had an impact on the Airport, it shows a remarkable lack of foresight and inability to plan for the Labour Government to fail to deliver routes to Qatar for Welsh fans to have travelled to the World Cup.
“The deal with Qatar Airways, much celebrated by Labour ministers when struck, was a bit of an odd one to start with – but for the one time when flights would have been in high demand, there were no routes running.
“Now we discover this cost the Welsh economy several million pounds, it raises the question of why didn’t the Labour Government that owns the Airport work with the Qatar Airways to provide routes even if only for a few weeks – they came to pick up the Welsh national team after all.
“This only goes to show that the reason no private buyer can be found for the Airport is because Labour is determined to fly it into the ground – just like its approach to transport across Wales in general, Labour’s strategy for Cardiff Airport is in terminal decline.”
The Welsh taxpayer has already forked out £225m to keep the Airport going. On top of significant loans, Labour ministers wrote off £42.6m of the Airport’s £69.8m of debt in 2020, attesting the support should bring the Airport back to “financial viability” by 2025/26.
The news comes shortly after Wizz Air said it will cease all operations from Cardiff Airport later this month, less than a year after the first flight left the runway.