Welsh Government to loan £10m to, er….Welsh Government?

Just about a year ago the Welsh Labour Government caused a bit of a stir when they announced they were going to buy Cardiff airport at a cost of £52million.  This at a time when public services everywhere were being asked to make considerable savings.

The airport had been losing money for some time and fewer and fewer flights are leaving from there.  Certainly many people in the South Wales area find it easier and cheaper to travel from Bristol.  Tucked away on the outskirts of Rhoose on the Vale of Glamorgan Cardiff airport is hardly the most accessible of locations.

News has not been good recently.  Earlier this month Flybe announced that they were cutting their flights from there to Paris and Glasgow. 

A few days ago BA stated categorically that they would not go back to operating flights from there.

At a press conference two days ago the First Minister, showing the same stubborn, head in the sand attitude he has over all the other problems over which his government is presiding,  said that they would never completely sell Cardiff Airport.

Then today the icing on the cake.  An announcement that Cardiff Airport is to receive a £10m loan from the Welsh Government to make improvements to the site.  The loan will be paid off over 12 years.

So the Welsh Labour Government is to make a loan to itself to improve a failing airport. How much interest will it be charging I wonder?  What provisions have been made it case it defaults on the loan?

With cutbacks in services being made across Wales the public will find it very difficult to understand just what is going on here.