Archive Flybe at Cardiff Airport

[Jerry]

Found a trip review online about a family of 5 using the new Cardiff to Rome service. It is partly sponsored by the airport as they had a few things free for the review! But it does give an indication of the experience of both airports.
http://cardiffmummysays.com/family-...-holidays-cardiff-rome-cardiff-airport-flybe/

 

[superking]

flybe to operate cork 3 times weekly in winter. The flights will be tues/thu and sun.

 

[Jerry]

At the moment those flights are on a Dash. Jersey is 3 weekly as well all in the evening but with LCY still not on sale but there is a poster advertising it at the airport as on sale after the 1st November it could change!

 

[Jerry]

Flybe Belfast City stats for April 2017 3883 average pax 55 LF 70%

 

[Jerry]

News

30 JUNE
Flybe's Cardiff to London City link to benefit rail passengers affected by summer rail disruption
Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline is highlighting the ease of flying to London this summer as rail infrastructure works are set to cause disruption on the railways during August and September around Cardiff, including the August bank holiday which is traditionally one of the most chaotic days to travel by road or rail.

Seats are available for booking at www.flybe.com with one way fares from £34.99 inclusive of taxes and charges.

There will be disruption to rail services running through Bristol Parkway from Saturday 19 August to Sunday 17 September as well as work over the August bank holiday from Saturday 26 to Monday 28 August at Cardiff, which will mean diverted London services and bus services between Newport and Cardiff.

The up to twice daily flights which depart from Wales’ national airport allows passengers to land in the heart of London’s Canary Wharf just over an hour after departing Welsh soil – ideal for commuters who need to get to business meetings without any impact from rail disruption.

SUMMER FLIGHT SCHEDULE FOR CARDIFF (CWL) to LONDON CITY (LCY)

For travel up to 27th October 2017

Monday – Friday:

Dep CWL 0745 Arr LCY 0900 Dep LCY 0930 Arr CWL 1030
Dep CWL 1555 Arr LCY 1710 Dep LCY 1740 Arr CWL 1840

Sundays

Dep CWL 1555 Arr LCY 1710 Dep LCY 1740 Arr CWL 1840

https://www.cardiff-airport.com/new...assengers-affected-by-summer-rail-disruption/

Well hopefully these disruptions will give the service a boost! Still no sign of whether the service will return in the winter. Also no sign of those charters that the new CEO mentioned a while ago and the winter schedule is still incomplete. Whether there will be new routes or charters this winter or whether Flybe will just consolidate for the winter is still unknown.

 

[Jerry]

Flybe Stats May 2017
London City 2258 average pax 24 LF 31%
Belfast City 3832 +4% average pax 55 LF 70%
Edinburgh 8036 +5% average pax 74 LF 63%
Glasgow 2058 -38% average pax 60 LF 77%
Guernsey 543 average pax 21 LF 29%
Jersey 1615 -4% average pax 62 LF 52%
Paris CDG 4959 +22% average pax 80 LF 68%
Berlin TXL 1264 average pax 49 LF 41%
Dusseldorf 234 -20% average pax 29 LF 37%
Munich 1254 -27% average pax 45 LF 38%
Cork 914 -8% average pax 57 LF 48%
Dublin 7643 -8% average pax 62 LF 52%
Milan 2387 +29% average pax 60 LF 51%
Rome FCO 1442 average pax 80 LF 68%
Verona 1130 +122% average pax 63 LF 53%
Faro 5873 the route is shared between them and Ryanair. +51%

 

[superking]

City airport is doing very good on its figures at 225851

 

[Jerry]

City airport is doing very good on its figures at 225851

Yeah exceptional! LOL.
I've corrected it now.

 

[Jerry]

Looking at the figures for May 2017 where do people think Flybe should concentrate their efforts at CWL for summer 2018?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Looking at the figures for May 2017 where do people think Flybe should concentrate their efforts at CWL for summer 2018?

It's difficult to assess things purely on loads. We don't know the individual route yields or the overall base yields.

The loads are good, or would be good, on a number of routes that are showing disappointing load factors because the E195 is too big an aircraft on them. Verona, Milan, Jersey, Cork, Munich and Dublin are some examples of this although if Ryanair was operating the latter the loads would be much higher. I would have thought that Berlin would have seen better loads. Certainly don't want Q400s on the likes of Verona, Milan and Munich though.

A 195 and a 175 would be a better option than the two 195s assuming that a type rating covers both.

On a positive note Rome is fine and should build further, as are Paris CDG, Scotland, and Belfast City. Guernsey isn't too bad either in my book given it's in its early days and the route hasn't been flown for many years. London City is not good but it really depends on what Flybe wants to do with the route. It might get a boost whilst more rail disruption takes place shortly.

Unless Flybe increases its CWL fleet numbers it presumably has two options for next summer: stick with what it is already operating for the most part or chop some routes or frequencies and introduce one or two or three new routes instead, or as well if some existing routes see frequencies reduced. The snag with the latter is that too sparse a weekly service can be counter-productive in itself.

 

[Jerry]

From what I've been told the type rating is the same for both aircraft.
Italy does seem to be doing well and Rome has got off to a good start so hopefully it'll go 3 weekly next summer and I'm wondering if there could be the possibility of an increase on Paris maybe if they can get the extra slots. I do believe the timing of that has really helped the route. I also wonder if they'll look at the South of France as well. Germany seems a disappointment to me but if they cut the frequencies then it could make it worse.

If they are to continue to expand or even keep the schedule as it is they'll need to keep the Dash at CWL or move an E175 here which depends on whether they'll keep LCY or not. It's a pity they don't have the E170 as that can be used at LCY. The only concern with the Dash is how much is it costing to overnight the crew from BHD and whether that makes it unprofitable. Hopefully we'll find out whether LCY is staying this month! If it doesn't then hopefully the 3rd aircraft will stay.

 

[Jerry]

With BRS and Easyjet I believe there is a growth related deal? If EZY hits certain targets then they expand the base and add extra aircraft? I wonder if the CWL Flybe deal could be changed and something similar could be done in the future. It could give the airport some stability then especially with the type of aircraft base at the airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

With BRS and Easyjet I believe there is a growth related deal? If EZY hits certain targets then they expand the base and add extra aircraft? I wonder if the CWL Flybe deal could be changed and something similar could be done in the future. It could give the airport some stability then especially with the type of aircraft base at the airport.

I don't know the details of the easyJet/BRS deal. There is probably a year or so left of the five-year agreement between the airline and airport and in the past three years an additional based aircraft has arrived each year. In the early days of easyJet at BRS there seemed to be an additional aircraft every year for several years until the recession stopped that progression. It's only in the past three years that the base aircraft growth has started again.

If Flybe did agree a growth-related deal at CWL it might not provide the stability sought if the targets were not met. In that sense a subsidised deal gives both the airport and the airline some form of certainty although clearly no airport can subsidise any airline indefinitely.

 

[CraigW92]

Flybes an interesting one, A few of the routes I personally have felt should have been ended a while back, MUC and ORK for example just haven't picked up at all really since they first started, the general consensus seems to be that the Cardiff base is performing well overall, it's been known for a while I think that it seems the E195 is too big for some of the routes, as mentioned above, one of each type would indeed look better from a load point of view, it could well be that the deal that was offered is offsetting the LF.

The E195 is fine for routes such as EDI, CDG, FCO and FAO, TXL has got off to a relatively slow start, GUR is to be expected, although hopefully this improves within the next few months, I think it's very important that CWL hold onto some sort of jet operation, the Dash is great for journeys around an hour, however a jet opens up more opportunities.

The Dublin LF in reality will be a bit higher as the Dash operates both the Saturday and Sunday rotations

LCY is one of those routes that you just never know, although the loads haven't been anywhere near good, it seems the outbound CWL and the evening inbound flight haven't been too bad, One of the things to increase passenger numbers to me was to offer passengers one day free parking at the airport, so for example if your driving from further afield like the valleys it wouldn't cost you as much as it would have otherwise.

As for next summer it remains to be seen , the dash could leave and we would be ack to 2 based AC, BHD could well go double daily, has been one of the most consistent performers, AMS could be added, Although with QR now starting next year, I wouldn't like to see a Kl reduction, or as Local has said there could be other routes added, although many of the southern French routes would see them up against EZY at BRS There were talks of BE doing some charter work from CWL either this winter or next summer, nothing seems to have developed for this winter so potential for next summer. Will certainly be interesting to see what BEs future plans are for both CWL and other bases.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think that's an accurate summary. The emphasis might alter though if a lo co based or even if Ryanair added several routes using its many bases overseas. Although arguably Vueling might be affected more as any lo co would surely be looking at a share of the sun routes, city destinations such as Rome and possibly Milan and Berlin might also be a consideration for a lo co, largely depending on which lo co it was.

 

[superking]

A post on the dried plum saying Stobart interested in buying flybe. Cant ever see that happening,as I got my thoughts on it. My thoughts would get me in trouble if I posted them on here,will just see what happens as time goes by.

 

[Jerry]

That's interesting! The Stobart Group does have the money to invest and they do seem to expanding into aviation. They own Carlisle airport and Southend Airport and Stobart Air. Rumours of new routes from London and maybe Dublin for Carlisle airport. They wouldn't even need to buy it they could become shareholders and invest in the business. Also another factor is that the Flybe brand itself is much better known across the UK than the Stobart Air brand. When people think Stobart they think trucks not planes. Could be possible in the future.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/stobarts-ceo-wont-rule-out-approach-for-flybe-35899792.html

 

[Jerry]

Flybe set to announce a new international partner airline. The airline is also looking at more partnerships with global airlines. Will be interesting to see if this has an effect on the winter schedule which is incomplete. The CEO has also said they will be concentrating on profitable routes in the future. LCY to be culled maybe?
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/busine...D=ios_WalesOnlineNewsApp_AppShare_Click_Other

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Growing its airline partnership programme seems a good route for Flybe to take, so long as it doesn't find itself on the wrong side of hard bargains. The more the partnerships, the more the choice for customers which is always a good thing - for the customer anyway.

 

[Jerry]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was KLM and possibly Delta as well.