Come fly with me....

Last Monday, I took my first North-South flight on the new air service from Anglesey Airport. The 18 seater plane was full and, according to press reports, celebrated its 2000th passenger later that day only two months after it started.

I have nothing but praise for the newly built air terminal and the flight itself, although the jury is still out on whether the taxpayer should be subsidising each ticket to the tune of around £50.

The Assembly Government also needs to get its act together to ensure that the service forms part of an integrated transport system. For example, a lack of intelligent timetabling for rail and bus links from Cardiff Airport can actually add considerable time to your journey into the capital city. In addition, a rail stop should be constructed at RAF Valley to ensure public transport access from across North Wales into the airport.

Nevertheless, this is a major and long overdue step in linking North Wales to other parts of the British Isles. Indeed, in one of my first columns for the Daily Post in February 2003, I wrote that


“prior to the last election, there was much rhetoric on how the National Assembly could create vital air links between North and South and yet nothing has come to fruition. One could argue that no-one has the vision or capital to pay for such a development…which would create vital air links between different parts of Wales, but clearly there are opportunities for such developments if the right support were to be provided by the National Assembly”.

Following that piece, I was telephoned by Albert Owen, the MP for Anglesey who had also thought that, in the absence of any impetus from the Assembly, a case should be made for a new air link between North and South Wales. We met at his office in Holyhead to discuss how to take this further and, over the next few months, Albert organised meetings at RAF Valley to flesh out the proposal. Importantly, these showed that not only was the idea feasible but that a civilian air facility could be built at RAF Valley for a relatively small amount of money.

After leaving Bangor University later that year, I didn’t take part in any further discussions but it is great to see that, to overuse an aviation pun, the service is finally off the ground.

At the end of that original article, I stated that to ensure the success of any air link, “all we need now is politicians with the vision to ensure that this money is allocated to such developments”.

Given my political persuasion, I very much doubt whether I would be allowed into Albert’s constituency office for a cup of tea again to discuss economic policy!

However, party politics aside, he deserves the plaudits for starting the process which helped turn that original rhetoric into reality. All it needs now is for people to continue to use the service regularly and ensure that it succeeds in establishing a vital link between North and South Wales.