Cardiff International Airport is the fastest-growing in the UK

The drive comes on the day that a new service linking the airport to Brussels gets underway.

Last October, it emerged that the new road between the M4 and the airport was unlikely to be built, even though it was supported by a report commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Alun Cairns AM has now said he will be stepping up pressure on Transport Minister Andrew Davies to deliver the road.

Last month, the government revealed its 30-year plan for UK air travel, in which it said Cardiff airport needed easier access and a bigger terminal.

Mr Cairns, who represents South Wales West, said a new road link was essential as the number of passengers at the airport increases.

"Demands for a new road have been repeated time and time again," he said.

Mr Cairns added the plans were backed by prominent businessmen including Digby Jones, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry.

The government believes the airport needs a bigger terminal

Cardiff International is Britain's fastest growing regional airport and handles around 1.5m passengers a year.

Last year, consulting engineers firm Faber Maunsell prepared a report for the assembly government to look at solutions to congestion problems on the western edge of Cardiff, leading to the Vale of Glamorgan.

They recommended a �37m link road between the M4 and the airport would cut traffic jams west of Cardiff.

But the assembly government was said to be worried about opposition, and wanted alternatives to be examined.

Other options could include turning the existing airport route into a trunk road.

The new road recommended by the consultants could be built within 10 years if planning work began quickly.

On Monday, Air Wales launched a service from south Wales to Brussels.

A rail link from Cardiff to a nearby terminus in Rhoose is due to open later in the year.

In the government's 30-year plan for air travel, which was released in December, proposals for a new �2bn airport in the Severn Estuary were dropped, because they did not "stack up commercially".