Wizz Air

[Jerry]

I agree with Mr Fenner.

Looking at the schedule it would be, sector length wise, able to fit into the morning departure slot on Tuesdays and Saturdays which is currently occupied by Mallorca.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Looking at the schedule it would be, sector length wise, able to fit into the morning departure slot on Tuesdays and Saturdays which is currently occupied by Mallorca.

Whilst Palma could more or less fill most aircraft from most departure points in the UK peak summer - come bleak winter I worry that they'd fill it in middle of winter from Cardiff. The market wouldn't there - and all they'd be doing is diluting the market at BRS if that exists at all.

LBA-PMI as the example, stops around early/mid November and does not return until mid/end February. And without sounding like a knob - the LBA catchment is much wealthier/bigger than Cardiff. A winter sun would be far better for return on investment for Wizz then a stab at Palma.

 

[Jerry]

Whilst Palma could more or less fill most aircraft from most departure points in the UK peak summer - come bleak winter I worry that they'd fill it in middle of winter from Cardiff. The market wouldn't there - and all they'd be doing is diluting the market at BRS if that exists at all.

Sorry i didn't add in the summer schedule. At the moment the summer schedule for Tuesday and Saturday is PMI then ALC then Faro, PMI is a morning departure. Winter on the same day has ALC and then Faro with also Sharm el Sheikh at 13.15 departure. There is no morning departure on that day in the winter.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Make sense. If an airline struggles to fill a PMI flight in the middle of summer from most places in the UK - then they should give up .

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Whilst Palma could more or less fill most aircraft from most departure points in the UK peak summer - come bleak winter I worry that they'd fill it in middle of winter from Cardiff. The market wouldn't there - and all they'd be doing is diluting the market at BRS if that exists at all.

easyJet operates Bristol-Palma right through the winter mainly at 2 or 3 x weekly in the 'dead months'.

PMI is a route that has traditionally done extremely well at CWL in summer, with capacity in the past far greater than the current provision or the provision in the years prior to the pandemic. There are a number of routes, particularly summer ones, that history suggests would take advantage of increased operations.

 

[Nuffsaid]

Good to see the W9 flights begin to appear on the departures board.

 

[Jerry]

Yep it is nice to see!

 

[Jerry]

Well only 4 days to go until Wizz starts at Cardiff Airport!

 

[geoff]

Let's hope it's the start of a long and large association with the airport.

 

[Jerry]

Let's hope it's the start of a long and large association with the airport.

Yes fingers crossed! I do hope that Wizz become Cardiffs version of Easyjet at Bristol!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Yes fingers crossed! I do hope that Wizz become Cardiffs version of Easyjet at Bristol!

That would be quite something -19 aircraft.

 

[Jerry]

That would be quite something -19 aircraft.

Yep that would be quite something but i don't think it would be at that scale! 3 based aircraft i think should be the goal.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Yep that would be quite something but i don't think it would be at that scale! 3 based aircraft i think should be the goal.

That would be an excellent beginning and who knows how things might develop over time? Touching on another active CWL forum, if Wales did become independent CWL would become a different animal as the national airport for a sovereign state. That would be an exciting prospect for the country, let alone those keenly interested in the fortunes of Welsh aviation.

 

[Jerry]

That would be an excellent beginning and who knows how things might develop over time? Touching on another active CWL forum, if Wales did become independent CWL would become a different animal as the national airport for a sovereign state. That would be an exciting prospect for the country, let alone those keenly interested in the fortunes of Welsh aviation.

I'd hope that in the medium term at least say the next 5 years that the plan would be to grow to at least to 3 based aircraft in the summer. Winter might be different, so i wonder if we could see something similar to TUI where in the summer it's 3 based but then gets reduced to 1 or hopefully 2 in the winter. A Wizz Air Wales would be nice! Will be good to see Wizz actually start flying passengers from Cardiff considering how the pandemic has postponed them.

 

[Cardiffbay]

Any expansion would be good. It’s interesting to think Cardiff now has 3 of the top 5 largest low cost carriers in Europe flying out.

 

[Jerry]

Any expansion would be good. It’s interesting to think Cardiff now has 3 of the top 5 largest low cost carriers in Europe flying out.

Easyjet and Eurowings being the ones not flying into it?

 

[Cardiffbay]

Easyjet and Eurowings being the ones not flying into it?

Some reports say Pegasus Airlines. I guess it’s what you count as European but Ryanair Wizz EasyJet and Veuling are the top 4

 

[Jerry]

Some reports say Pegasus Airlines. I guess it’s what you count as European but Ryanair Wizz EasyJet and Veuling are the top 4

I suppose it depends as to whether you count Turkey as European or not i suppose

 

[Jerry]

There was a post on social media yesterday stating that the seatmaps for the 1st 3 Wizz departures Lanzarote and Tenerife and Mallorca the day after were looking around 95% full. In a previous article Spencer Birns stated that in their first year they were looking at an average of 75%load factor.

 

[Tinkerman]

I came across that post too Jerry, a good start. One thing to bear in mind though is that as usual, the first few return legs are pretty empty …

That 75% must be the target that Wizz are looking for this Summer - Should in theory be achieveable.

I note that their pricing model differs a fair bit from FR/VY etc, with relatively frequent fluctuations in fare, and a reduced fare with only a few seats left.