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Cardiff Airport has announced plans to create an extension to the terminal. The plans have been in the pipeline for some time, but the planning application has finally been submitted to the Vale of Glamorgan Council. Work could begin as early as the end of this year if it is successful.

The plans were first publicly announced last year, with the airport authorities hoping to have the changes in place by this summer. However, the recession got in the way and the plans had to be put on ice for a few months.

But now the wheels are in motion once again, and the council is expected to make its final decision within a matter of months.

The extension to the terminal will be quite extensive, and will cost in the region of £5 million. This would involve the linking of the arrivals and departures halls into a single common area, the addition of numerous food and retail facilities, a more contemporary design to the building and the shifting of the security control area to the first floor.

The plans also include a redesign of the approach area at the front of the terminal, and all of the plans come as part of a bigger £15 million scheme that involves the creation of new infrastructure and a radar system.

The managing director of the airport, Patrick Duffy, said that the aim is to “present a modern statement for the region and increase our commercial activities”. However, he was also keen to point out that the work on the terminal would “not actually increase the demand for airlines” in the area, meaning it would not lead to greater tourism opportunities.

The Indonesian island of Bali, famed for its white beaches and wonky palm trees, is the latest route on offer from Wales’s largest airport, Cardiff. South Wales has not had links with Bali since 1997.

Air France KLM will begin offering a thrice-weekly flight to the island from the 7th December 2009.

Visitors will land at the wonderfully named, Denpesar Ngurah Rai Airport, following a brief stop at Schiphol, Amsterdam.

Previously Welsh tourists had to travel to Heathrow, around 150 miles east of Cardiff, for a flight to Indonesia.

Officials noted shorter queue lengths in South Wales, and urged travellers to avoid Heathrow at all costs.

Spencer Birns, head of development at Cardiff, was keen to boost the appeal of indirect flights - “Travelling to London may appear the better option, but it is often more convenient to fly on connecting flights from Cardiff.”

Mr. Birns went on to conclude that tourists could save up to four hours of travel time by flying from Wales.

Of course, the short break in Holland adds an hour or two to the overall journey, but a few drinks in Schiphol Airport are infinitely more glamorous than a bottle of warm cola on the M4 motorway.

Formed from a merger in May 2004, Air France KLM is now the largest airline in the world, boasting flights to over 900 global destinations. The firm was pleased to have bolstered its links with Indonesia.

Despite being related, Air France and KLM maintain two separate websites. For booking and enquiries, please use the official Cardiff Airport website.

Cardiff has become the fourth UK airport to adopt the innovative e-Border system, behind London Stansted, Manchester and Bristol.

The system remains voluntary, but the UK Border Agency (UKBA) hopes to furnish a further four airports with the technology over the coming months: namely, Birmingham, Gatwick North, East Midlands and London Luton.

Unique gates, incorporating facial recognition software and automated border controls, form the bulk of the e-Border technology, allowing travellers to bypass security officials completely. The system makes use of the biometric chip embedded in 17m UK passports.

Russell Clements, acting director at Cardiff Airport, was optimistic about the future of biometric screening, “The uptake of use since the launch has been positive with business travellers in particular opting for the more convenient e-passport gate option."

E-Border correlates your facial data with the photograph held on the UKBA database, the same alien creature that lives on your passport’s final page.

New airport security measures have consumed more than £1.2bn over the past year, highlighting a growing need for DIY passport controls.

The installation of a human X-ray machine (better known as the ‘naked scanner’) at Manchester Airport was heralded as an important step forward by proponents, but did little to quell concerns about privacy and traveller modesty.

Fingerprint visas and a liquid scanner, capable of detecting hazardous substances such as nitro-glycerine, a liquid explosive, have also made their debuts at UK airports over the past few months.

Unfortunately, a rise in automated security is making the human race redundant, in more ways than one.

Online check-in services, favoured by the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair, have done for jobs what Margaret Thatcher did for coalmines, and hundreds of airport careers are being lost, never to return again.

Related Links

Manchester Airport Trials 'Naked Scanner'

Bristol Airport Launches £12bn e-Border

Swissport is Getting Coal for Christmas

Thomas Cook has announced two new routes from Cardiff airport – Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, and Monastir, Tunisia. The flights will operate over the winter season, terminating in April next year.

Despite a general downturn in the aviation industry, few UK holidaymakers are content to stay indoors and watch the rain slide down the windows.

Local authorities have noted increasingly strong demand for winter sunshine holidays from south Wales, bucking a trend that has seen passenger numbers drop throughout the UK.

A spokesperson for Thomas Cook, Pete Constanti, was enthusiastic about the new routes: “We are making it as convenient as possible for people to go on holiday. Holidaymakers now have even more destinations to choose from.”

Cardiff is the only international airport in Wales, claiming a huge catchment area. The facility handles some two million customers a year, many of whom travel from towns and cities in western England.

With Christmas not too far on the horizon, the next few months represent for many, the last chance to find a winter break before the end of the year.

Officials are determined to lure tourists away from the larger airports, after last year’s soggy summer drowned the local economy. Thomas Cook has urged Welsh travellers to “escape before the deals do.”

According to Book FHR, a travel information resource, the new flights will commence on the first and sixth of November, travelling to Egypt and Tunisia respectively.

Seven nights in Sharm el Sheikh on a bed and breakfast basis will cost in the region of £340, excluding baggage and taxes.

The National Trust has blasted the plans of Cardiff International Airport to construct a new access road. This road, if proposals to build it are accepted, may run next to meadows which are an important part of the local habitat. Furthermore, the road, which will run through the Vale of Glamorgan, may negatively impact upon a beautiful village which has won numerous awards in the past. Currently, three options for the location of the road are being considered, and the Welsh Assembly Government has expressed its desire for local people to make their views known before any final decision is made.

However, for many people living in the Vale of Glamorgan, not one of the three options is satisfactory. The large majority of the inhabitants do not want to see a new road built at all and have already made such views public. Two of the road options are focussed around the A4232 from Junction 33 of the M4 but the third option, which is perhaps the most controversial choice, would see a new road link being built to the south of the M4 junction after the one proposed by the two other potential schemes.

Furthermore, the third option, which was initially proposed in 2003 but faced opposition almost straight away from the Vale council, will entail the construction of a bypass located at Pendoylan, a village which has won numerous awards as a result of its natural beauty and historic importance.

The National Trust believes that Lanlay Meadows, which could be affected by the construction of the road, would be adversely impacted upon. A spokesman for the National Trust revealed that the meadows are a “rare survival of a type of habitat and landscape that would once have been common”. He also expressed his concern about the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment.

This week, Bmibaby celebrated a very special milestone. Two days ago, the airline marked six years at Cardiff airport with several celebratory events aimed at including the passengers who have made its time in the Welsh capital such a success.

Bmibaby has operated 18,000 flights from the airport since arriving in 2002 and has managed to keep approximately three and a half million passengers happy during that time. Part of the appeal of the airline is the wide range of routes offered throughout the year. Popular destinations include Spanish and Portuguese cities such as Malaga and Faro.

However, the airline also transports passengers to destinations closer to home, including Edinburgh and Belfast. As a result of its success, Bmibaby has announced a new route - Geneva will be added to the list of destinations as of the twentieth of December. This is bound to be a popular route and a nice little earner for the airline since it is one of the top ski destinations in Europe. Skiers will be able to choose from five flights a week between Cardiff and Geneva.

Earlier this year, Bmibaby was forced to quash rumours that its services from Cardiff were going to be reduced. The company’s managing director, Crawford Rix, explained that the airline remained “committed to its operation from Cardiff and will continue to offer low fares to exciting destinations”.

Bmibaby is one of the most popular budget airlines in the UK and provides cheap flights to destinations across Europe. Click here for flight information, prices, and online booking.

The union representing pilots (BALPA) has announced that it is only a matter of time before a crash is caused by people using laser pointers to dazzle pilots as they come into land.

There were literally dozens of incidents last year where co-pilots had to assume control after the pilot was temporarily blinded, and in the last month alone a plane landing at Cardiff and one at Edinburgh were involved in potentially fatal incidents. In addition to the temporary blindness, laser attacks can also cause disorientation and uncontrollable sneezing attacks, all-in-all a lethal combination when trying to land a plane.

South Wales police are investigating the incident at Cardiff airport when a laser was shone on a plane at 4,000 feet. Because of the height of the plane it has been difficult to pinpoint the direction from which the light came but the perpetrator, if caught, could find himself facing a prison sentence.

In America there have been 900 incidents in the last four years and the authorities are considering treating offenders as domestic terrorists. At present, offenders face 20 years in prison and a fine of $25,000. Australia too has its fair share of laser users and even the famous Royal Flying Doctor plane complete with patient on board has fallen victim. Offenders in Australia face 5 years in prison if caught.

The lasers, usually imports from China or Russia and designed for astronomy, can be bought over the internet for as little as £10 and there is no doubt that in the wrong hands can be catastrophic.

It’s not an easy job but someone’s got to do it and staff in the air traffic control deck below Cardiff’s International Airport are more than aware of just how tough their job can be. Aviation safety is hot on everyone in the world’s minds at the moment so it comes as quite a stir to hear that reports have come into the public domain in the last few weeks of up to eight near crashes over the skies of the Welsh capital.

The Freedom of Information Act has come into play once again and this time it has led to some rather shocking facts being revealed to the Civil Aviation Authority. There have been reports of very near crashes above the airport when taking off and landing. There have been incidents involving drunken passengers, some of whom have had to be removed from flights. There have also been incidents with bomb scares and hoax terror attacks. An incident in which an Air Traffic Controller was distracted and almost led to two planes colliding mid flight has raised serious questions about the safety of the airport. There was even a case in 2006 of an alleged UFO in the skies, as none of the technical staff on the ground could identify the object.

The Director of Operations at the airport defends Cardiff as having “one of the best safety records in the UK”. However, he is also quick to point out that there will be thorough investigations into the incidents as they strive to be as safe as they can.

After the recent embarrassment of having sent three passengers to Turkey instead of Lanzarote following a check-in blunder by Servisair, there is yet more bad press for Cardiff airport.

In this day and age of heightened security and technological advances, it may seem extraordinary that a passenger can travel on the wrong passport. However, that is exactly what happened to a woman flying out to the Canaries on holiday last month.

Andrea Cole, aged 43, was flying out with her mother for a break at her holiday home in Fuerteventura and erroneously picked up her husband’s passport. She succeeded in clearing two lots of check points at Cardiff and another when she reached her destination without being challenged once. The immigration officer at Fuerteventura took the passport from Mrs Cole, looked at the photo and at her, and waved her through.

According to a spokesperson from Cardiff airport, Servisair - the handling agent for Thomas Cook - would have had responsibility for checking the passports both on check-in and prior to getting on to the plane. An investigation is now under way and both Thomas Cook and Servisair have apologised for the apparent breach in security, assuring the public that security is a top priority.

Meanwhile, a holiday maker leaving her hotel in Turkey was given the wrong passport by hotel staff but nevertheless managed to leave Turkey and enter the UK at Manchester airport without the error being noticed. Both the airline and the UK Border Agency have expressed concerns that this could happen and an investigation is under way.

We have all heard of luggage ending up at the wrong holiday destination but now it seems that passengers can suffer the same fate too! A family from Cardiff has found out the hard way that not only does it help to have paid attention in Geography class but also that you should take nothing at face value and check your boarding pass carefully before stepping on the plane.

Charles Corray had checked in at Cardiff airport with his wife Tania and daughter Phoebe, looking forward to his 5 star all inclusive holiday in Lanzarote. Somehow the check in clerk issued the wrong boarding pass to the family and they had not realised that Bodrum, the destination shown on the card, was in fact in Turkey. As the family had had to get up in the small hours of the morning to catch their flight, they all decided to catch up on their beauty sleep as soon as they boarded. It was not until the plane landed that the air hostess said “Welcome to Turkey!” and the penny dropped. To add insult to injury, the family had to pay £10 a head in visa charges to enter Turkey.

They were able to board the same plane later in the day, for its homeward flight back to Cardiff, where they were put up in a hotel at First Choice’s expense. Although they could have been taken to Luton in a taxi to fly out to Lanzarote for the holiday that they had planned, it would have meant returning to Luton as well on the homeward leg, which did not suit the family, who had paid extra for the convenience of flying from their local airport. They eventually agreed to accept a similar holiday in Ibiza, leaving Cardiff the following day.

Meanwhile First Choice has apologized for the mix-up and confirmed that the Servisair employee has been suspended, pending an enquiry.