Cardiff Airport's £205m handout challenged by Bristol

A planned £205.2m subsidy of Cardiff Airport will be challenged by Bristol Airport at a tribunal on Monday.

Lawyers for Bristol Airport are expected to argue that the size of the Welsh government subsidy is unprecedented in UK aviation and a breach of competition rules.

The government will respond at the tribunal, but has previously defended its 10-year plan to invest in the airport, which has been owned by ministers since 2013.

The competition appeal tribunal is expected to last two days.

In April 2025 the Welsh government officially awarded a subsidy worth £205.2m to Cardiff Airport, with £20m already allocated to be spent during the current financial year. The full amount would be phased over 10 years.

Ministers said the subsidy would support new maintenance facilities, hangars and cargo capacity. New routes would also be developed, concentrating on global aviation hubs and destinations that could also support Wales's economic growth.

After seeing the size and details of the proposed subsidy, Bristol Airport filed an appeal with the competition appeal tribunal in July 2025.

Bristol Airport is expected to argue the investment amounts to a subsidy of £71.50 per passenger, and that the taxpayer would be paying for people to go on holiday from Cardiff Airport.

It will claim that passengers and airlines could be drawn away from Bristol Airport by means that were anti-competitive.

It will also argue that Cardiff Airport should have been more seriously treated as an "ailing or insolvent enterprise" during a review of the subsidy, a legal category which would have triggered extra checks before public money could be used to subsidise the business.

The Welsh government has previously said it would defend the legal challenge by Bristol Airport, and that it would "fight for our ability to invest" in Cardiff Airport's "long-term prosperity and shape its economic destiny".

In a statement ahead of the hearing, Bristol Airport said the Welsh government's subsidy "was unlawful, disproportionate, and would unfairly harm airport and airline competition."

It added that it would be "asking the tribunal to quash the subsidy decision made by the Welsh government, which it believes failed to lawfully apply the subsidy control principles, resulting in a subsidy that should not have been granted."

A spokesperson for the Welsh government said ministers would present their position "through the proper legal process".

They added: "As the case is the subject of ongoing litigation, it would not be appropriate for us to comment further at this stage."

A panel of three, chaired by Ben Tidswell, will hear Bristol Airport's appeal against the subsidy and the response of Welsh ministers.

The hearing is expected to last two days, with a decision likely to be deferred until a later date.