plc. In December 1995, Heli-air Wales began training helicopter pilots from the airport. It moved operations to Swansea Airport in 1999. The airport is home to a purpose-built maintenance base for British Airways, maintaining its wide-bodies, long-haul aircraft. It is also home to a variety of aerospace-oriented firms and colleges, and therefore a major contributor to the economic development of the region. The airport was the main base for four local airlines: Cambrian Airways from 1935 to 1976, Airways International Cymru until the airline ceased operations in 1988, Inter European Airways until 1993 and Air Wales until the airline ceased scheduled operations in March 2006. In 1996, Cardiff was one of the first airports the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair used for its "no frills" services using second-hand Boeing 737-200s on a short hop from Dublin. 21st century By 2006, Ryanair had withdrawn from the airport, ending five years of daily service on the Cardiff to Dublin route. The withdrawal was due to a very public falling out with the airport over charges. On 15 May 2014, it was announced that Ryanair would return to the airport after an absence of eight years. Following a survey conducted by the airport operator in 2008 as part of a campaign to attract additional business routes, popular destinations such as Aberdeen, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Brussels, and Scandinavian cities were identified as lacking a current link. The airport planned to hold up to 25 meetings with airlines during May and June 2008 to support the case for more routes. The airport was used by 2.1 million passengers in 2008, but this had fallen to around 1.3 million passengers by 2016, according to the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, making it the 20th busiest airport in the UK in terms of passenger numbers. On 2 March 2009, the airport's management revealed a name change for the airport along with initial development plans to improve the image of the facility. Following a brand review involving consultation with a number of key stakeholders, the names Cardiff Airport and Maes Awyr Caerdydd replaced Cardiff International Airport. Later, it emerged that the airport had applied for £5 million of payments from the Welsh Assembly Government to deal with unspecified development at the terminal. This attracted immediate public criticism and requests that the airport's owners, Abertis, match such an investment with a £6 million route development programme. It was announced on 13