Have a job that will base me in Cardiff for close to two months this summer. I’m toying with idea of taking the plane over from the US and basing it there for that time so I can use it for travels on my down days. How is Cardiff? Is it aviation friendly for a light twin, or will they milk you ceaselessly with handling fees and other exorbitant inventions?
Is there a flight club there I could arrange parking with should this happen?
Hi Adam, Cardiff have been known to be pretty GA friendly – they recently reduced landing fees in an attempt to get more GA visiting. The terms and conditions are noted here, depending on how much you will be flying, agreeing to composite pricing might be the best route to go…. A light twin with less than 3t MTOW would cost (e.g.) £259 per month plus VAT, all inclusive.
I’d agree that Cardiff has become much more GA friendly – landing fees paid at the local flying club have dropped to around £20 for a SEP which is very good for a UK regional airport. The airport is open 24H and has full IFR capability. It’s also a popular choice for IFR approach training.
GA uses “the white building” on the south side of the airfield, nowhere near or accessible from the main terminal. There’s a good restaurant/cafe there and the flying school but not much else – you’d need your own car for transport. Not sure about hangarage but there always seems to be plenty of open hard parking space.
Other options in the area include Gloucester, about an hour up the road, very friendly to GA indeed with huge range of facilities, instrument approaches and out-of-hours indemnity for VFR daytime. Swansea is probably a similar distance, definitely only VFR and may not be significantly cheaper. Bristol is probably also about an hour’s drive away, also 24H but you’ll find the costs much higher and more likely to be delayed due to higher volume of commercial traffic.
Reading this I’ll have to add Cardiff to one of my weekend trip destinations this summer.
Popped in to Cardiff for the first time a few weeks ago. It has a great mix of GA and CAT. The café is definitely worth a visit and has a great view of the action!
