Qatar Airways

[Silvercity]

Sorry for appearing trivial but i actually think they’ll try and revert to May 2025, i don’t think they want another December election again.

It’s early days for Kier Starmer but i do think he’s a worthy opponent to Boris Johnson.

He's running rings around Boris , mind you thats not difficult .

 

[kraktoa]

Actually I thought it was me being trivial so no problem at all as I understand it the legislation sets the date for May 2024 but there's a lot of water to go under the bridge before then. I certainly agree Kier Starmer looks like giving Boris a run for his money, back to aeroplanes!

Boris was sworn in Dec 2019. So I would hazard a guess that they will go for a summer 2023 election. Technically 3.5 years.

 

[Jerry]

First time I've seen CWL advertise Qatar Airways in a while. They must be confident that they'll resume flights in October to start advertising.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1293585565158379522

 

[geoff]

It would be great to see Qatar back at CWL.

 

[Jerry]

Job advert for cabin Crew has appeared again. Recently posted only a few days ago
https://www.google.co.uk/search?ibp=htl;jobs&q=airline+jobs&hl=en-GB&kgs=f90593917636959f&shndl=-1&source=sh/x/im/textlists/detail&entrypoint=sh/x/im/textlists/detail#fpstate=tldetail&htivrt=jobs&htiq=airline+jobs&htidocid=ValUGmdNz4kGY6LwAAAAAA==

Also noticed that there is a job advertisement for a Senior Airport Services Agent at Cardiff that was posted a month ago so hopefully that's positive that Qatar will return in October.

 

[superking]

Can you not book flights. Getting rather tight for operations to start in october. It seems rather strange that nothing has been posted any where or in papers to advertise the service.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Also noticed that there is a job advertisement for a Senior Airport Services Agent at Cardiff that was posted a month ago so hopefully that's positive that Qatar will return in October.

Was posted over a month ago but doesn't specify how long, and isn't posted on QRs website. Would think this is just an out if date ad that hasn't been removed.

 

[Jerry]

Can you not book flights. Getting rather tight for operations to start in october. It seems rather strange that nothing has been posted any where or in papers to advertise the service.

Flights are onsale from the end of October. 5 weekly. And the airport has been advertising it on social media.

 

[IanFarquharson]

Flights are onsale from the end of October. 5 weekly. And the airport has been advertising it on social media.

We shall see !
BHX still NOT confirmed QTR start date yet but hopefully same date as CWL

 

[Barry Man]

From what we know at the airport it is on for the end of October

 

[IanFarquharson]

Looks like both CWL and BHX both suspended till at least S21 now

 

[Jerry]

Looks like both CWL and BHX both suspended till at least S21 now

Yet CWL is still onsale. Haven't checked BHX but i would be surprised if they operated.

 

[IanFarquharson]

Qatar Airways suspends Birmingham / Cardiff in W20 as of 25SEP20
By Jim Liu
Posted26 September 2020 01:30
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Qatar Airways on Friday (25SEP20) filed additional service changes to the UK, for winter 2020/21 season. Latest revision as of 25SEP20 sees the closure of following routes

Doha – Birmingham 7 weekly service cancelled in W20. First available flight for booking now scheduled on 28MAR21
Doha – Cardiff 5 weekly service cancelled in W20. First available flight for booking now scheduled on 28MAR21

Previously reported changes:
Doha – Edinburgh Reduce from 7 to 4 weekly. 787-8 replaces A350-900XWB (2 of 4 weekly by A350 from 01FEB21, all 4 weekly by A350 from 01MAR21)
Doha – London Gatwick Reduce from 18 to 4 weekly (7 weekly form 26DEC20), 787-8 operating
Doha – London Heathrow Reduce from 6 to 4 daily, 777-300ER operating. QR015/016 operated by A350-900XWB instead of 777 during following period: 01NOV20 – 16DEC20, 01MAR21 – 27MAR21
Doha – Manchester Reduce from 21 to 17 weekly, 787-8 replaces 777/787/A350

More from Qatar Airways

 

[Jerry]

Sounds like with the exception of Heathrow the others will be on 787 8 leaving no available 787s for CWL and BHX plus I doubt sales were any good.

 

[Jerry]

New York, Boston and Doha on the horizon for Northern Ireland?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1330941342776774657

Covid19 is obviously going to effect demand for the Doha route in the immediate future especially as people could be wary of flying long haul and business travel will no likely be down as well. Although the flight is onsale I wonder if a combined Cardiff Belfast to Doha flight could guarantee the routes survival until things pick up and give NI a ME3 link.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Covid19 is obviously going to effect demand for the Doha route in the immediate future especially as people could be wary of flying long haul and business travel will no likely be down as well. Although the flight is onsale I wonder if a combined Cardiff Belfast to Doha flight could guarantee the routes survival until things pick up and give NI a ME3 link.

If a large subsidy is the price for Qatar beginning a BFS operation the NI government might think the WG should chip on as well if a joint operation is the only viable option, at least in the short term.

As a posted in the BFS thread earlier this evening, we still don't know how closely the UK will be tied to EU regulations post-Brexit (if at all) or whether the EU will allow some flexibility for its member states as they recover from the effects of Covid. As owners of CWL the WG could probably get around the EU state aid rules - if they still apply next year - if they were imaginative with their bookkeeping.

 

[Jerry]

As owners of CWL the WG could probably get around the EU state aid rules - if they still apply next year - if they were imaginative with their bookkeeping.

Well I assume that the marketing deal between the WG and Qatar Airways is still in place so they could potentially increase that if they are minded to. Losing Qatar would be a big political and pr blow for WG so I'd expect that they'll try and do everything they can to keep them and a shared service could be a good option.

 

[Jerry]

I'm assuming the 'crew' are the Qatar Airways check in and customer service staff. Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if the route was dropped or put back to June. But it is still onsale though.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1346185349236719623

 

[Foxlimayankee]

This is a very big assumption on his part.
They don't have any crew based at CWL. The ground staff are mainly Swissport, check-in & Ticketing/sales staff, and all ramp staff are Swissport.
QR have a small number of Supervisors & Duty Managers, as well as a station Manager.
The check-in and Ticketing staff are dedicated to QR but still employed by Swissport. It could well be that some of these have been made redundant or even taken voluntary redundancy.

 

[Jerry]

This is a very big assumption on his part.
They don't have any crew based at CWL. The ground staff are mainly Swissport, check-in & Ticketing/sales staff, and all ramp staff are Swissport.
QR have a small number of Supervisors & Duty Managers, as well as a station Manager.
The check-in and Ticketing staff are dedicated to QR but still employed by Swissport. It could well be that some of these have been made redundant or even taken voluntary redundancy.

From what he's told me he's been told by staff that have been made redundant that the route is ending. The route is still onsale so i think it's a case of wait and see. Personally i'm surprised that it hasn't at least been put back until June.