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| Cardiff Airport given £3.5m to attract new airlines | Cardiff Airport given £3.5m to attract new airlines |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Cardiff Airport has been told it can borrow £3.5m of taxpayers money to try to attract new airlines. | Cardiff Airport has been told it can borrow £3.5m of taxpayers money to try to attract new airlines. |
| The Welsh government described it as the most significant step at the airport since buying it 18 months ago. | The Welsh government described it as the most significant step at the airport since buying it 18 months ago. |
| It comes after First Minister Carwyn Jones said its future lies in long-haul flights, not competing with Bristol on closer destinations. | It comes after First Minister Carwyn Jones said its future lies in long-haul flights, not competing with Bristol on closer destinations. |
| The last time such a fund was available was in 2006 when £4m was used by the then privately-owned airport. | The last time such a fund was available was in 2006 when £4m was used by the then privately-owned airport. |
| Cardiff Airport has had mixed fortunes under public ownership. | Cardiff Airport has had mixed fortunes under public ownership. |
| It was bought by the Welsh government for £52m in March 2013 and has invested about £10m in improvements at the terminal. | It was bought by the Welsh government for £52m in March 2013 and has invested about £10m in improvements at the terminal. |
| A general decline in passenger numbers was halted, although figures for September showed a 7% reduction on the year. | A general decline in passenger numbers was halted, although figures for September showed a 7% reduction on the year. |
| Earlier in November, the German airline Germanwings announced it was ending flights between Cardiff and Dusseldorf in 2015, following on from Cityjet scrapping a service to Glasgow. | |
| But Ryanair has returned to the airport after an eight-year gap with a weekly flight to Tenerife. | But Ryanair has returned to the airport after an eight-year gap with a weekly flight to Tenerife. |
| Analysis by BBC political editor Nick Servini | |
| One of the huge challenges that we have had all along since the government announced it was going to buy the airport is how to try to challenge this highly successful commercial operation in Bristol airport, which has something like 5m passengers a year. | |
| Cardiff is around the 1m mark. | |
| The route development fund is an attempt to deal with that. We are moving into the second phase now following the decision to put the airport into public ownership. | |
| The Welsh government is putting £3.5m to try to attract new airlines and new routes and that is why it is saying it believes this is most significant step that it has taken since buying the airport. | |
| From a passenger's perspective, all they want to know about is what kind of routes and what kind of offer there is going to be and there is a big hope this can make a difference. |