World City Guide

Getting There By Air

Cardiff International Airport (CWL)
Tel: (01446) 711 111. Fax: (01446) 711 675.
Website: www.cardiffairportonline.com

Cardiff International Airport is located at Rhoose, 19km (12 miles) southwest of the city centre. As a regional airport, it is much smaller than the major UK international hubs. Even so, it handles currently about 1.5 million passengers annually, with a capacity for three million.

Major airlines: Direct scheduled flights are provided by the national carrier, British Airways (tel: (0845) 773 377 or (0845) 779 9977; website: www.british-airways.com), to Aberdeen, Belfast, Brussels and Paris. Other airlines include KLM (website: www.klmuk.com), which offers a connection to Amsterdam, and British Midland subsidiary Bmibaby (website: www.bmibaby.co.uk), which serves Belfast, Edinburgh, Geneva, Glasgow, Jersey, Milan, Alicante, Faro and Malaga. Air Wales (website: www.airwales.co.uk) connects Cardiff with Cork and Dublin, while low-cost airline Ryanair (website: www.ryanair.com) also serves the Irish capital. A number of airlines run seasonal charter services to mainland Europe and further afield.

Approximate flight times to Cardiff: From New York is 8 hours 45 minutes; from Los Angeles is 12 hours 20 minutes; from Toronto is 8 hours 50 minutes and from Sydney is 24 hours 20 minutes. These times include stopovers and transfers. There are no flights between London and Cardiff but London Heathrow is less than three hours away by rail and a little longer by road.

Airport facilities: Thomas Cook offers 24-hour banking and exchange services daily between May and October. Other services include a 24-hour information desk, ATM, duty-free shops, restaurants, cafs and pubs. There are also facilities for disabled passengers, car parks and car hire (Europcar, Avis and Hertz).

Business facilities: There is no business centre in the airport. There is an executive lounge in the departures lounge, which is available to certain passengers. Fax and photocopying facilities are available at the information desk in the main terminal.

Arrival/departure tax: This is included in the airline ticket.

Transport to the city: Cardiff Bus (tel: (029) 2066 6444; fax: (029) 2078 7742; e-mail: enquiries@cardiffbus.com; website: www.cardiffbus.com) runs airbus X91 hourly 0630-1830 Monday to Saturday (journey time – 35-40 minutes). The fare is 2.75 each way. Shamrock Coaches (tel: (01443) 407 000; fax: (01443) 403 378; e-mail: shamrockcoaches@aol.com; website: www.shamrocktravel.co.uk) runs bus X45 hourly 0630-1830 Monday to Saturday at the same fare rate. On Monday to Saturday evenings, hourly between 1936 and 2236, EST (tel: (01446) 793 100) operates bus 345 and the single fare is 2.65. First Cymru’s (tel: (0845) 608 2608; website: www.firstgroup.com/firstcymru) X5 coach runs every two hours from Cardiff Airport to Cardiff coach station 0845-2135 on Sunday only. A single fare costs 2.85. Cardiff Air Taxis (tel: (01446) 710 693) charge approximately 20 for trips to and from the city centre (journey time – 20-30 minutes). The nearest railway station is eight kilometres (five miles) away, at Barry, with connections from Cardiff.