WHBM

Cardiff airport sounds a bit of a dreary backwater here, with just one jet a day and a handful of small turboprops. But it also, not in the OAG (they progressively crept in over subsequent years) was actually a base for several of the holiday flight operators to the Mediterranean etc. Britannia Airways were always there, with a 757, and in the summertime two, while Thomas Cook's predecessors, maybe more than one, with 757s and 737s, ran in parallel. These all used to depart early morning, depending on the return flight length they would make a second run sometime in the afternoon, and at summer weekends fit in a third rotation, departing at about 10pm and getting back just as the sun was coming up next morning, ready to start off again.

Cardiff is also the centre of the Rugby game in Wales, where it is regarded particularly fervently, and when they periodically play France there all sorts of charters turn up there, often including an Air France 777-300, one of the high seating ones normally employed to the French Caribbean.

Also there is, which may come as a surprise, the British Airways main 747/777 maintenance base, which moved from Heathrow to a substantial facility here across from the terminal in about 1990, and you will commonly find two or three BA aircraft there. This is where the biggest checks and cabin refurbs take place. And guess what, the BA staff there even have their own amateur rugby team, which in the airline rugby team world championships (yes there is one) of course comes out generally near or at the top. (Can't believe I'm writing about rugby; had to do it at school. Hated it).

Bonus question : What was the largest aircraft to have served Cardiff, all through the 1980s. Airline, type and destination (hint, if you get the airline the destination is pretty apparent).