Anglesey to Cardiff PSO route scrapped by Welsh government – with the money going to public transport

The Welsh Government has scrapped its North to South Wales funded, PSO funded, air service, between Anglesey and Cardiff, saying it will instead use the annual £2.9m public subsidy to improve integrated public transport. The route had been suspended since March 2020 and will not be re-started. The Welsh Government said pre-Covid some 77% of people using route did so for work, but that a shift to hybrid and home-working has cut demand. There is far less demand for business flying.  Instead the money saved from running the service will be used to improve public transport in north Wales. This will benefit more people and help reach the Welsh net zero target by 2050. The decision follows an independent study commissioned by the Welsh Government into the carbon impact of the service on the environment. It said this shows the service had a more negative impact on the environment than any other form of travel between Anglesey and Cardiff. Often travel by rail was actually faster, door to door, than by plane.
.

 

 

North to South Wales air route scrapped by the Welsh Government

It said it will use the public subsidy for the route to make improvements in public transport across North Wales

By Sion Barry, Media Wales Business Editor (Business Live)
8 JUN 2022

The Welsh Government has scrapped its North to South Wales funded air service, saying it will instead use the annual £2.9m public subsidy to improve integrated public transport.

The public service obligation route, between RAF Valley on Anglesey and Cardiff Airport, had been suspended since March, 2020, due to pandemic. The Welsh Government has now confirmed it will not recommence the route. It had been operated by Eastern Airways. Prior to the pandemic the route carried nearly 14,000 passengers a year.

The Welsh Government said pre-Covid some 77% of people using route did so for working purposes, but that a shift to hybrid and homeworking has changed demand patterns.

Deputy Minister for Climate Change, with responsibility for transport, Lee Waters, said: “The pandemic has driven huge change to the way people work, with a reduction in business travel over the past few years.

“We don’t think passenger levels will return to a level that makes this service viable economically or environmentally. Instead we will invest the money saved from running the service into improving public transport in north Wales. This will benefit more people and help us reach our net zero target by 2050”.

The decision follows an independent study commissioned by the Welsh Government into the carbon impact of the service on the environment. It said this shows the service had a more negative impact on the environment than any other form of travel between Anglesey and Cardiff, unless it was flying close to full capacity every day.

The analysis also showed that despite common perceptions, the air service was not always the fastest link to Cardiff from North Wales, especially east of Bangor, where it said rail travel is faster, door-to-door.

Mr Waters said: “We need to achieve greater reductions in our emissions in the next decade than we’ve achieved over the course of the last three decades if we are to avert catastrophic climate change. It’s going to an uphill challenge and difficult choices will need to be confronted.”

A spokesman for Eastern Airways, said: “Eastern Airways as the operator of the service acknowledge the decision of the Welsh Government and understand fully the pressures National, Regional and Local Government are under to manage spending and the need to make such tough decisions that impact remoter communities disproportionately. We do however disagree with the analysis that the service had a more negative impact on the environment than the resulting fifty-six one-way five-hour car journeys or indeed local low-volume utilisation of rail services”

“The loss of the service which pre-covid had grown to its highest patronage does also mean Liverpool and Manchester now become the primary air service gateways for North West Wales rather than connectivity over Cardiff Airport which the service facilitated. We will seek ways of working proactively with Cardiff Airport, however, to develop alternate air services and help the much needed economic recovery we each support and bring.”

The Welsh Government, who wholly-owned Cardiff Airport, has established a North Wales Transport Commission that has already begun looking at options to build more efficient train and bus connections across and into North Wales.

However, while new Welsh Government bus regulation is improving services across North Wales and it operates the Wales & Borders rail franchise, the rail infrastructure network is not a devolved asset, with investment decisions a matter for the UK Government

The Welsh Government said the £2.9m annual funding from the air route will be ringfenced for the North Wales Metro programme – increasing the provision of integrated public transport, as well as seeking to increase services between the north and south of the country.

Welsh Conservative Shadow Transport Minister, Natasha Asghar MS said “Whilst I understand some people will be frustrated with this news, I believe it is the right decision especially given around £3m of taxpayer cash is used to prop the service up every year.

“I despise any task that fritters away taxpayers’ hard-earned money and keeping this service going would have done just that.“

It is, however, disappointing that Labour ministers have only now axed the airlink. Instead of wasting some £10m on the airlink, which hasn’t operated since the pandemic began, over the last three years, they should’ve taken decisive action and scrapped it as soon as it became a loss-making exercise.

“The pandemic has drastically changed the way people work and with many now working from home the demand for the airlink simply isn’t there.

“It is vital Labour ministers now start heavily investing in transport infrastructure and connectivity in North Wales and make sure those affected by this decision aren’t losing out. ”

https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/north-south-wales-air-route-24176732


See earlier:

‘A total waste of Welsh taxpayers money’ What people really think about Cardiff Airport

Cardiff airport was bought by Welsh Government for £52m in 2013.
In March 2021, the airport was given another £42m of taxpayers’ cash, while another £42.6m it owed in debt to the Welsh Government was being written off.
It was valued at around £15m in 2021.  It continues making huge losses
 

Welsh Assembly Member questions £21m Cardiff Airport loan from taxpayer – on top of an earlier £38m loan, not yet repaid

Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay has criticised the Welsh Government for its ‘blank cheque’ approach to funding for Cardiff Airport. Mr Ramsay said: “The Welsh Government has committed to this new loan without providing any detail on what the money is for or when it will be paid back. This comes on top of a previous loan of £38 million in 2015 which has also yet to be paid back. Transport minister Ken Skates said the funding – in the form of a loan the airport will pay back – would support “ambitious plans for the future” including a target of two million passengers a year.  Mr Ramsay questioned the fairness of the loan, saying: “Businesses in my constituency do not receive this level of support from the Welsh Government and will understandably be questioning the fairness of these funding priorities.  We need far more clarity on what this money is being provided for and when we will see an end to what effectively amounts to a “blank cheque” for the Airport. … the public have the right to expect a coherent and rigid timetable for this money to be recovered.” But following the transport minister’s announcement, the Welsh Conservatives said Cardiff Airport would do better if it were re-privatised, where it would not need Welsh taxpayers to shoulder the financial burden. 

https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2019/10/welsh-assembly-member-questions-21m-cardiff-airport-loan-from-taxpayer-on-top-of-an-earlier-38m-loan-not-yet-repaid/

 


Cardiff to Anglesey air link continues to get large government subsidy as bus grants are slashed

The Welsh Government has defended a big increase in subsidy for the North-South Wales air service while it cuts funding for lifeline bus services. From 2010-11 to 2012-13, subsidy for the flights between Anglesey and Cardiff increased by 37.2%. Subsidy was £184 for each passenger who used the service in 2012-13. Over the same 2-year period, the Welsh government reduced its grant to councils for unprofitable bus services by 29.2%. At least 94 bus routes have been withdrawn since 2011. Other services are under review because subsidy per passenger exceeds £2 or £3. The Welsh Government has been reviewing bus funding since early 2012 – but has not evaluated the air service’s costs and benefits since the global financial problems and major reductions in public-sector budgets. The route from Cardiff to Anglesey has 2 flights each way, each weekday, and there were almost 15,000 passenger journeys in 2008-09, but only 8,406 passenger journeys in 2012-13. Subsidy for the air operator and the civilian air terminal at RAF Valley on Anglesey increased from £1.08m in 2008-09 to £1.55m in 2012-13. 

https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2014/03/cardiff-to-anglesey-air-line-continues-to-get-large-government-subsidy-as-bus-grants-are-slashed/

.

.

.