Cardiff: Route Development & Rumours

[David_itl]

Icelandair adding a Euopean route so cue all airports without them praying they will be selected

 

[Jerry]

Icelandair adding a Euopean route so cue all airports without them praying they will be selected

Yep! 🙂

 

[Jerry]

It won't happen but it would be amazing to see United flying their new A321XLR from Cardiff to Newark!

United Airlines Sets a Course for the Future With Order of 50 Airbus A321XLR Aircraft

New aircraft will improve operational efficiency, elevate the inflight travel experience and reduce environmental impact

hub.united.com

 

[Jerry]

So off the top of my head I decided to list all the routes that CWL has lost over the last 30 years and hopefully many will return one day. If I've got any wrong please let me know or if I've missed any out.

Belfast International, Newquay, Liverpool, Leeds Bradford, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Norwich, London city, Manchester, Galway, Brussels, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Milan, Bergamo, Verona, Venice, Rome, Madrid, Almeira?, Murcia, Girona, Warsaw, Gdansk, Prague, Zurich, Paris Orly, Loreint/Nantes, Lyon, Grenoble, Nice,Toulouse?, Lisbon?, Monastir, Fuentenventura, Funchal, Bilas-Modrum, Varna, Plovdiv, Split, Pula, Ljujana,Toronto, Vancouver, Orlando, Sanford, Cancun, Punta Cana, La Romana, Puerto Plata, New York.

 

[Cardiffbay]

So off the top of my head I decided to list all the routes that CWL has lost over the last 15 to 20 years and hopefully many will return one day. If I've got any wrong please let me know or if I've missed any out.

Belfast International, Newquay, Norwich, London city, Manchester, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Milan, Verona, Venice, Rome, Madrid, Murcia, Girona, Krakow, Warsaw, Prague, Zurich, Paris Orly, Monastir, Fuentenventura, Funchal, Bilas-Modrum, Toronto, Vancouver, Orlando, Sanford, Cancun, Punta Cana, La Romana.

I’m not sure about krakow but bmi did fly to Gdansk. I’m sure there was an Isle of Man flight and Guernsey needs adding also.

 

[Jerry]

I’m not sure about krakow but bmi did fly to Gdansk. I’m sure there was an Isle of Man flight and Guernsey needs adding also.

I thought Krakow was a bmiBaby route for a few years?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I’m not sure about krakow but bmi did fly to Gdansk. I’m sure there was an Isle of Man flight and Guernsey needs adding also.

I thought Krakow was a bmiBaby route for a few years?

CWL's bmibaby Polish routes were Gdansk and Warsaw Chopin. Both only operated in 2008 with Gdansk handling only 2,050 passengers in the year and Warsaw Chopin just under 21,000 (courtesy CAA stats). Looking further at the CAA stats, I can't find any other regular flights to other Polish destinations during bmi baby's time at CWL

CWL usually sees at least one annual Krakow flight (as do a number of other airports without regular Krakow services) in connection with schoolchildren visiting the Holocaust museum at the former Auschwitz concentration camp.

I think you can also include Puerto Plata and Varna which were once regular charter flights from CWL. In the 1980s many UK airports, including CWL, also had regular summer charter flights to the former Yugoslavia prior to the Balkan Wars of the 1990s with such destinations as Split, Pula, Ljubljana and Dubrovnik. I think that CWL operated to most if not all, albeit Dubrovnik currently operates in summer.

 

[geoff]

Yes Manx Airways did a daily weekday flight from the Isle of Man, stopping at Dublin, Cardiff on the way to Jersey.

 

[geoff]

I forgot to add that Manx used their largest plane on the route, a BAe ATP, they also served Guernsey a couple of time a week with a Jetstream 31.

 

[TOM100]

Brussels ? New York (charter one year I think), Lisbon with Baby (although on sale not sure it ever operated).

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

Obviously Orly serves Paris Region so arguably is covered and similar can be said for Belfast International.

Galway was once operated by Aer Arann however that no longer accepts commercial traffic.

Aer Arann also operated to Lorient which I believe was successful passenger wise but maybe not yield. it was then switched to Nantes during Rugby World Cup in France which turned out to be a flop.

Innsbruck for the Ski and Flybe did also operate a Grenoble and Lyon. Also Balkan used to operate to Plovdiv for the Ski season.

bmibaby also operated to Murcia which has since moved airports. Almeria went on sale but unsure if ever operated.

Think Funchal and unsure if anybody is operating to Reus anymore.

Also Aberdeen is not served as a direct flight.

 

[Jerry]

Reus anymore.

TUI does once a week.

 

[Seasider]

LBA

 

[Jerry]

LBA

When was that served?

 

[Jarvo]

I know the airport is marketed as Milan, but being over 20km away and a city in its own right, Bergamo, served by BMI baby in the early 2000's.
They also apparently operated Toulouse.

 

[Jarvo]

When was that served?

In the very first message in this thread all the way from 2009, @Aviador says it used to be operated a long time ago by Knight air from Yorkshire.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I know the airport is marketed as Milan, but being over 20km away and a city in its own right, Bergamo, served by BMI baby in the early 2000's.
They also apparently operated Toulouse.

I've looked at the timetables that I have for CWL in the early 'noughties' and Bergamo - and Munich - were operated by bmi baby, certainly from the first summer (2003) and Bergamo through the first two winters as well but then both routes seem to have been pulled. Toulouse seems to feature around 2004 and 2005 but seemingly only at weekends.

I also have a note of an Air Wales Liverpool service in 2004 and 2005. I can't remember it but a check with CAA stats shows that in 2004 CWL-LPL handled 2,100 passengers and in 2005 6,300. It was gone by 2006 in which year Air Wales ceased trading.

 

[Cambrian]

Cambrian also operated to Nice in the late 1950 via Bristol and Southampton. A long way on a DC3.

 

[Silvercity]

I've looked at the timetables that I have for CWL in the early 'noughties' and Bergamo - and Munich - were operated by bmi baby, certainly from the first summer (2003) and Bergamo through the first two winters as well but then both routes seem to have been pulled. Toulouse seems to feature around 2004 and 2005 but seemingly only at weekends.

I also have a note of an Air Wales Liverpool service in 2004 and 2005. I can't remember it but a check with CAA stats shows that in 2004 CWL-LPL handled 2,100 passengers and in 2005 6,300. It was gone by 2006 in which year Air Wales ceased trading.

I don't know why i can't recall this route at all, I do remember however Manx Airlines doing the same route some years before.

 

[geoff]

Leeds Bradford was served in70's by Dan Air HP 748 budgies, as a stop on the CWL Glasgow route, ot operated on Mon. Wed, and Friday.