Passenger numbers at Cardiff Airport were up by 5% to a record 2.1 million in 2007. Average airline load factors - the percentage of seats occupied on aircraft flying from the airport - also rose.
Domestic passengers were up 17% while international passengers grew 2%. Scheduled passengers grew by 6% and charter passengers by 4%. bmibaby and Thomsonfly were the largest airlines at the airport, with Aer Arann - who operate flights to Dublin, Cork, Galway and Nantes - having the fastest growth rate.
Peter Phillips, the airport's head of communications, said: 'Welsh business and leisure travellers are rejecting the hassle and uncertainties of a long drive to catch flights and opting for their local airport. We see this trend continuing in the next decade and made provision for this with last year's £10 million investment in facilities.'
The airport expects more growth in 2008. Among new services already announced are Warsaw and Gdansk by bmibaby; flights to in Jersey, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh by Flybe; and flights to Newquay by Skybus.
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