Welsh air travellers paying more

The report claims passengers in Wales get a raw deal

Cardiff International Airport flights are on average 27% more expensive than those from Heathrow or Gatwick, according to the Welsh Consumer Council.

A report published on Thursday - entitled Air Travel From Wales - has criticised high fares and a lack of international flights from the capital.

Flights were compared to low-cost Ryanair services

The council states that on average fares from Cardiff are 27% higher than from Heathrow or Gatwick.

And the prices, members have claimed are too high - 165% more expensive than flights operated by the low-cost airlines like EasyJet and Ryanair.

The Consumer Council said Cardiff only had scheduled flights to five international destinations and two of those were in Ireland. The others were Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam.

The result is that most air travellers - even in the Cardiff area - fly from England.

"If a wide range of competitive international services were available from Wales, less consumers would have to travel to London by car, thus saving on pollution," argued the report's authors.

But it is unhappy with a trend to short-haul flights within the UK because they encourage people to switch from trains which cause less pollution than planes.