AIRPORT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
Minutes of Meeting held on Thursday 11th December 2014
Present:
Cllr Jeff James (Chairman)
Cllr Lis Burnett
Cllr Gwyn John
Helen Tustin
Debra Barber
Jason Thomas
Russell Clements
Aiden Cottee
Paula Baggot
Vale of Glamorgan (Rhoose)
Vale of Glamorgan Council
Vale of Glamorgan Council
Regal Travel – ABTA & Advantage
Cardiff Airport Managing Director
Cardiff Airport Chief of Staff
Cardiff Airport Head of Airfield Operations
Cardiff Airport NATS
Cardiff Airport Executive Assistant
Apologies:
Cllr Dilwar Ali
Cllr Neil Moore
Cllr Stuart Egan
Cllr Patel
Spencer Birns
Cardiff Council
Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
Cardiff Council
Cardiff Airport Aviation & Business Development
Director
Also in
Attendance:
1.0
Members of the Public
Welcome from the Chairman
The Chairman opened the meeting, welcomed all Members and thanked all for taking time
to attend.
2.0
Apologies
Apologies were noted as above.
3.0
Minutes of the Last Meeting held on 2nd June 2014
The Chairman and Committee agreed that the Minutes of the last ACC held on 2nd June 2014
were a true and accurate record of the meeting. There were no matters arising.
The Chairman asked Deb Barber to kindly update the Committee and give an overview of
news since the last meeting.
4.0
Report from the Airport Directors
Deb had pointed out that a lot has happened at the Airport, firstly that she was here in the
interim Managing Directors role rather than her previous position of Operations Director.
There has been significant improvements made to our infrastructure and facilities;
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We’ve delivered greatly improved car park infrastructure
Created a free drop-off zone at the front of the Airport
The overall appearance of the front and rear of the terminal building has been
given a huge makeover and is now coherent with the Airport brand
We have also introduced services such as free trolleys and wifi and the most recent
improvement has been the introduction of an airside smoking area in the
departure lounge
We have also opened a greatly improved security area, equipped with the latest
technology and the feedback is very positive
We now also have Caffi Cwtch which is on the first floor of the terminal, which has
been a hugely popular replacement to the old Scrum Half Bar which attracts more
families, this has been a great improvement.
Improving the passenger experience overall continues to be hugely important to us and we
have worked hard on improving our standards of customer service over the summer. All of
this is summarised in our customer commitment and Straight A’s customer service
principles. These were handed out in the meeting and available on our website.
We have also been working with the airlines to deliver new routes.
 We were delighted to welcome back Ryanair in October with a weekly service to
Tenerife.
 Cityjet are flying to Paris and Edinburgh
 Flybe are operating to Geneva for the skiing season
 Our Spanish low cost carrier Vueling had a strong summer, they’ve increased their
presence this year with more passengers taking advantage of their routes to
Alicante, Malaga, Barcelona and Palma
 P&O have announced more cruise flights to the Caribbean this winter
 We have also has more passengers using KLM and Aer Lingus to connect via
Amsterdam and Dublin to destinations in North America, the Middle East, Asia and
beyond
 Most recently, Thomson have announced that they will be bringing their new
Dreamliner to Cardiff next year to operate on the winter cruise programme.
However, it continues to be a challenging time for regional airports, the economic situation
continues to impact our industry overall and Cardiff Airport is no different in that regard. We
are affected by commercial decisions and fleet restructuring undertaken by our airlines
partners, which is not unusual in this industry, but it does reflect the tough climate that we
operate in and you will have seen evidence of that since we last met.
We have also had a very busy summer with regards special events. We were really pleased
to work with Football Association Wales in support of Cardiff’s staging of the UEFA SuperCup
in August. We had both the Real Madrid and Sevilla teams flying through the Airport, as well
as all the UEFA officials and also the Real Madrid fans travelling for the match.
The highlight of our year though was of course the NATO Summit. I was immensely proud of
the Airport Team and the way in which we supported the event. It was the biggest gathering
of world leaders ever on UK soil and we were delighted to be the main airport of entry for
the event.
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We handled 76 NATO flights and welcomed
o 17 Heads of State
o 13 Foreign Ministers
o 15 Defence Ministers
o 2 Heads of Delegation
o 811 pieces of luggage
But most importantly, we also handles business as usual, with no adverse impact on our
customers travelling through the Airport over the 2 days of the summit.
I should also mention our fly-on-the-wall documentary, which was filmed over 9 months
from January to September, and culminated in coverage of the NATO Summit. The 6
episodes aired in October and November on ITV Wales and charted our progress through all
of the events that I’ve just described to you. We all enjoyed the filming and from a business
perspective we have got some really great feedback from it. ITV Wales were also immensely
pleased with viewer’s response so you never know they might be back for more.
From the Operations perspective, we have continued to build on our environmental
performance. We have recently procured a rocket food waste recycling unit, which will be
coming online soon. This will enable us to convert all food waste to compost, which we will
use on site and will enable us to reach our target of 100% landfill divert.
Overall, I would assure you that our key objective continues to increase passenger numbers
and to increase the number of routes that we offer. We are committed to make Cardiff the
Airport of choice for our Welsh customers travelling on business or for pleasure and for
visitors inbound to the country, but most importantly we want to maximise the wider
economic benefits that a successful airport delivers to the region.
The big item though on the Operation front is our project to introduce a GPS-based
instrument approach procedure and Russ Clements, our Head of Airfield Operations, and
Aidan Cottee our Air Traffic Control Manager Operations and Training will brief you with a
presentation.
4.1
RNAV Presentation
AC and RC gave an overview presentation on RNAV and opened the opportunity to ask
questions to members and members of the public. aRea NAVigation (RNAV) uses a
combination of satellite and ground-based navigation technology to permit aircraft to follow
a precisely defined path over the ground with far greater accuracy than is possible with
conventional routes. RNAV approaches are essentially GPS approaches for aircraft. Aircraft
today already use RNAV extensively to fly in our airspace even though the existing
conventional routes have not been specifically designed for its use. Processes are underway
at a European level to make modernisation of the route system a legal requirement for the
UK and other European states by 2020. This will require all member states, including the UK,
to upgrade routes to the RNAV standards. This legislation will be enacted by UK mandates to
be introduced by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The CAA is planning to mandate that all
operators will have to be RNAV 1 approved by November 2017, and then require RNAV
routes to be introduced by winter 2019.
It was agreed at the Framework Briefing meeting with the CAA that the following be
consulted for this ‘Airspace Change Proposal’;
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The Cardiff Airport Consultative Committee
Local authorities in the neighbourhood of the airport or whose area of
responsibility is overflown by the routes which are to be affected but who are
not already represented on the Cardiff Airport Consultative Committee
Bristol City Council
The Ministry of Defence
The airlines operating at Cardiff Airport; and Principal airspace users and
stakeholders as represented on the National Air Traffic Management Advisory
Committee (NATMAC).
Consultation – 15th December – 20th March 2015
Publication of Consultation Response – April 2015
Submit ACP to CAA – April 2015
CAA Decision circa July 2015
Proposed RNAV Implementation December 2015.
The overall response from the Committee was positive and was in agreement with the
proposal but others thought it was a matter for their Council.
4.2
Airlines/Commercial/Projects
A member of the public asked the Directors for a development update on attracting new
airlines.
DB stressed how important it was to build existing business and that they are always looking
at low-cost carriers, scheduled and long-haul market.
A member of the public asked when they could see our business plan.
The Directors confirmed that our business plan contains commercially sensitive information,
so will not be put in public domain. We will however, be developing a master plan in due
course.
PJ asked when would there be a counter within the sink area of the men’s toilet to rest
laptops etc.
JT agreed that there will be a new counter fitted as soon as possible.
PJ asked whether the airport bus driver on route to and from Rhoose station is advised
whether there are any delays or problems with the line.
The Chairman agreed that we will investigate.
5.
As there were no further questions, the Chairman closed the meeting. He thanked everyone
for coming and agreed that a lot has happened in 6 months. Thank you for your
commitment.
6.
Date of Next Meeting
To be advised and circulated to Members. It will also be placed on airport website for
members of the public.
Distribution:
All ACC Members
Airport Website for information