Here’s a slightly unexpected but not altogether surprising piece of news, drawn from a report uncovered by South Wales Echo (via an FOI request):

A DIRECT flight service between Cardiff and New York could increase North American investment in Wales by more than £200m a year, a previously undisclosed Welsh Government report has revealed.

The document also shows a four-times-a-week transatlantic link has the potential to increase Welsh exports to North America by some £42.7m a year.

The figures are based on the assumption that the introduction of a service between Cardiff and New York would bring an extra 10,000 business visitors to Wales annually.

The 2009 report – produced for the Welsh Government by the University of Glamorgan’s Wales Transport Research Centre – was obtained by the Echo using the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Read the full story online or on the front page of South Wales Echo today.

Of course, this just reinforces the point that the airport is desperate for new and affordable air routes. It’s not local access improvements such as a rail spur that will bring in the serious money and revive the airport (and the local economy), it’s – in this example – the addition of a New York service.