Need Opinions On Cardiff Airport Traffic

[griffis007]

Hi

This is an unusual post but I'm hoping you guys can help.

I'm thinking (almost completed!) buying this house

51.39126,-3.316723 (google maps)

But I am concerned on the level of air traffic passing near the house.

The planes are not overly loud as the direction over the house seems to be in the landing pattern rather than takeoff.

I can't make sense however (or find) of the the flight statistics in the summer months.

ideally I would like to have an idea of how many planes an hour I could expect on average on any given day (or as an average) and if they go through the night

I have contacted the airport but they are not very helpful.

It would be great if any of you can help me!

Thanks

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Need Opinions On Airport Traffic

In terms of commercial passenger traffic (airliners) Cardiff Airport (IATA code CWL) has seen a severe downturn in business over the past three years with its annual passenger numbers dropping by a third to the current 1.4 million a year, making it the 20th busiest UK airport.

On top of that there are air taxis, business jets, small general aviation aircraft, one Royal mail inbound flight per night on weekdays and large Boeing 747 aircraft ('jumbos') that fly in and out to the British Airways maintenance centre at the airport. However, in the overall scheme of things the numbers of BA maintenance flights is very small.

In general terms there are around 20 commercial arrivals and the same number of departures most days in winter with the summer figures at around 30 daily, with a third to a half being turbo-props (propellor aircraft) at the moment.

On occasions such as big rugby matches 10-20 extra commercial airliners might operate in and out plus several business jets.

CAA stats show that in CWL's busiest ever year for passengers (2007 when nearly 2.1 million passengers used the airport) there were 23,039 air transport movements. Broadly, this is the number of commercial aircraft landings and departures in the year, so in 2007 there was an average throughout the year of 63 per day - this is the total of both landings and departures but in summer there would be more and fewer in winter.

By 2010 air transport movements had dropped to 17,194 - an average of 47 per day throughout the year.

CWL has few night flights (say, after 2200 hours) and most would be arrivals.

Aircraft land and take off into the wind. In the south-west of Britain broadly speaking two thirds of the year sees winds emanating from a westerly direction (nw/w/sw) and the remainder from the east though of course on occasions northerly or southerly winds also occur, so this will determine the runway being used at any given time.

Cardiff's runway faces north of west (300 degrees) and the reciprocal faces south of east (120 degrees).

Although CWL has been struggling to retain retain and attract carriers in recent years, with the consequent drop in passenger numbers, it doesn't mean it will not recover in the coming years.

I hope this is of some help.