Llanfair-yn-Neubwll is a community and village on the Isle of Anglesey in the north west of Wales. The community includes the villages of Llanfihangel yn Nhowyn and Caergeiliog, and has a population of 1,688. The community is heavily connected to the nearby Royal Air Force airfield, RAF Valley, established on Tywyn Trewan during the Second World War, and still in use. Due to the founding of the airfield, Llanfair-yn-Neubwll is the most Anglicised of the communities on Anglesey.
Llanfair-yn-Neubwll lies on the western coast of Anglesey looking out towards Holy Island. Notable geographic features of the area include the offshore rocks of Ynys Feirig and the eight lakes known as Ardal y Llynnoedd. Many of the lakes are included in Valley Wetlands RSPB reserve.
Anglesey Airport (Maes Awyr Môn or RAF Valley) (IATA: VLY, ICAO: EGOV) is an airport owned by the Isle of Anglesey County Council on land leased from Defence Estates. The airport is situated at Llanfair yn Neubwll on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales. The leased site is part of RAF Valley, an RAF station teaching RAF pilots using BAE Hawks. The Airport is operated on the County Council's behalf by Manx2.
Plans put forward in early 2006 by the National Assembly for Wales have led to a subsidised weekday air service between the airport and Cardiff Airport, 12 miles west of the Welsh capital in the hope of improving the economy of Anglesey and North Wales in general. The twice daily service operated by Highland Airways began in May 2007. Flights to Dublin, London and Amsterdam are being discussed. The service - subsidised under the European Commission's Public Service Obligation (PSO) scheme to connect remote communities with urban centres - is controversial; opponents[who?] argue that the public funding should have been invested in better rail links between North Wales and the capital. According to Wales Air Network - a single issue pressure group for Welsh air infrastructure - not only did Welsh Assembly Government funding for the airport amount to the largest investment ever by WAG in air transport but that it may have prevented Wales from having a direct link from its capital to New York and other global centres.
For residents of Anglesey the air service is significantly quicker than surface transport. The flight time is around 40–45 minutes.
The new terminal was designed by MAP architects and is worth £1,000,000, with the publicly funded building contract having been given to the construction company Yorkon. The building was built off site and brought to the airport when finished. The new terminal is a single storey building consisting of a check-in desk, departure lounge and baggage handling areas as well as other visitor information areas.
