Cardiff Airport reflects on a successful Champions League weekend

In what has been one of biggest events to ever come to Wales, Cardiff Airport is reflecting on an incredibly busy and successful Champions League Final weekend.

The excitement began on Friday June 2, with the arrival of Juventus and Real Madrid to Wales – including sporting legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Welsh football hero Gareth Bale.

The next two days saw a 300% uplift in air traffic activity around the skies of South Wales, with 380 additional flight movements operated by charter airlines including Alitalia and on scheduled airlines Vueling and Ryanair, while KLM increased the size of their aircraft to manage demand.

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Juventus fans were welcomed to Wales through a specially built facility known as ‘Terminal 2’ with flights jetting in from the early hours of Saturday morning and continued right through to just a couple of hours before kick-off. Real Madrid fans also flew into Cardiff on scheduled services operated by Vueling and Iberia Express, as did a number of VIPs on private aircraft.

Deb Barber, CEO of Cardiff Airport, said: “Having had a few days to reflect it’s amazing to think what we as a city have achieved. As Wales’ national airport we welcomed 21,000 travelling fans in a very short amount of time, not to mention the teams themselves and a number of VIPs.

"Working in partnership with UEFA, Football Association of Wales, South Wales Police and with the cooperation and hard work of our team, we were able to deliver a successful and safe event.

"The Champions League final has demonstrated just what we can deliver as the national airport of Wales, and we as a team look forward to future opportunities and an exciting year ahead.”