Flybe

[Em0866]

Hi Local. It is a shame but I think they could have done better last year by announcing the flights earlier....they would have had many more pax using them had they not left it so late. Now, of course, they are concentrating on increasing their flights from BHX and also LCY too. To be honest, I am amazed they are still running the BHD route.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Hi Local. It is a shame but I think they could have done better last year by announcing the flights earlier....they would have had many more pax using them had they not left it so late. Now, of course, they are concentrating on increasing their flights from BHX and also LCY too. To be honest, I am amazed they are still running the BHD route.

Hello E m.

It does seem that Flybe is concentrating more and more on business routes to the exclusion of leisure ones. For example, this winter they've dropped their winter sun routes from Southampton and Exeter.

BHD is primarily a business route so that would fit into the airline's policy. If they did pull out I would guess confidently that CityJet would be very interested.

 

[Em0866]

I agree on the BHD route that CityJet would jump right in if Flybe pulled out. I have always thought that any growth at CWL will be a steady one, bit by bit....I am confident about this.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Cardiff will see a winter route to Geneva. I assume this is not a totally new service?

.......together with winter ski routes to Geneva from Cardiff and Inverness from December 20.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/ ... outes.html

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Cardiff will see a winter route to Geneva. I assume this is not a totally new service?

You're right.

Last winter Flybe flew to Geneva, Chambery, Lyon and Grenoble from CWL during the ski season. They were the first ski routes from CWL for several years but were announced quite late.

They were not particularly well supported and it was thought that they might all be axed this winter although a tweet on the CWL Twitter page last week said that there would be an announcement soon regarding the ski market. This is presumably it.

From memory GVA was the best supported and ought to do well. With easyJet flying from BRS up to 19 x weekly to GVA in the ski season plus charter flights it is a fair guess that some of this market comes from South Wales and should be sufficient to at least provide enough 'converts' to make a weekly flight viable from CWL.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Thanks for the info. Four down to just one is quite a drop, you would assume that with all the noises emanating from CWL at the moment these are pretty staple ski routes for such an ambitious airport. Will Chambery, Grenoble and Lyon be totally un-served for the winter? I've had a look on the Thomson and Thomas Cook websites and it appears they don't offer these routes.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The four new Flybe ski routes last winter were the first ski routes CWL had since Thomson axed their Chambery, Innsbruck and Geneva flights after winter 2010-2011.

So yes, at the moment Grenoble, Lyon and Chambery will not be served in the ski season of winter 2014-2015 with Flybe's Geneva the only ski route currently in prospect.

It's an ambitious airport to the extent that the Wales Government is doing all it can to show that its purchase of CWL was prudent and is bringing positive results, but CWL's problem has always been sustaining any sort of route network outside the peak summer sun seasons when loads are usually extremely high.

Short of a mass movement of people into Wales, especially South Wales, and a change in demographics CWL will continue to labour under the size and make-up of its primary catchment. Its various owners have recognised for many years that the airport needs significant use by people from outside South Wales but so far finding a way of bringing this about has not been found.

The airport was also unlucky in its low-cost airline partner because bmi baby was never amongst the front rank of this genre and after initial promise seemed to lose interest in CWL. On top of that its previous Spanish owners never seemed fully engaged with the airport which was the smallest in its UK stable.

Matters were exacerbated by the major recession although many believe that the fall from over 2 mppa in 2007 to under 1 mppa at one point was overdone and nowhere near represented where the airport should have been at that point and would have been with a more supportive owner and a more active low cost airline partner.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Dusseldorf

Flybe will operate a Cardiff-Dusseldorf service on Saturdays between April and October using an 88-seat Embraer 175 jet aircraft. This will effectively replace the Saturday Dusseldorf service operated by Germanwings that was withdrawn at the end of summer 2014.

As with Germanwings it appears to be aimed mainly at tourist traffic in both directions.

Not a huge announcement but very welcome and must give the CWL management hope that Flybe, that all but deserted the airport a couple of years ago, might be having second thoughts. It retained the daily Belfast City flight when it pulled everything else and now operates a weekly winter Geneva ski season flight as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-sout ... s-30722809

 

[superking]

Not a huge announcement but very welcome and must give the CWL management hope that Flybe, that all but deserted the airport a couple of years ago, might be having second thoughts. It retained the daily Belfast City flight when it pulled everything else and now operates a weekly winter Geneva ski season flight as well
not a very big announcement but im sure all welcome.
it seems like flybe has had a bit of change of heart about cwl.
it might lead to something else. they seem to be doing some weird stuff around at the moment..

 

[Em0866]

I hope the Flybe and CWL make a success of this route and hope Flybe can eventually and gradually rebuild their route network here. Interestingly I noticed that they are continuing with the JER flights each Saturday through the summer months too.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I hope the Flybe and CWL make a success of this route and hope Flybe can eventually and gradually rebuild their route network here. Interestingly I noticed that they are continuing with the JER flights each Saturday through the summer months too.

Indeed. I'd forgotten JER that was the other route along with BHD that Flybe kept on after they pulled the others.

 

[Em0866]

Yes, although it does not run over the winter months.

 

[superking]

flybe routes

reported on dried plum flybe starting 11 routes out of cwl later this year.
2 based aircraft. no link posted.
good news that. just what they needed.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

flybe routes

reported on dried plum flybe starting 11 routes out of cwl later this year.
2 based aircraft. no link posted.
good news that. just what they needed.

Very good news for CWL. Almost certainly the result of the Wales Assembly's multi million loan to support new routes because some of the routes are those Flybe pulled out of just over a year ago saying they were unprofitable.

The eleven routes are:

Cork - 2 x weekly from Sept
Dublin - 2 x daily from end of Aug
Edinburgh - 2 x daily from end of Aug
Glasgow - 1 x daily from end of Aug
Faro - 3 x weekly from Sept
Geneva - 1 x weekly from March (continuing the existing winter ski route)
Dusseldorf - 3 x weekly end of Aug to go with the already announced Sat rotation from May
Jersey - up to 4 x weekly - from May through to Sept (staggered)
Milan MXP - 3 x weekly from Sept
Munich - 5 x weekly from end of Aug
Paris Cdg - 1 x daily from end of Aug

It's a fair bet that CityJet will pull out of EDI and Paris Orly (in other words leave CWL altogether - they already have only a token presence with a Stobart ATR working for them) and it's unlikely that EIR and Flybe would compete on DUB at what would be 4 x daily.

MUC, MXP and an extended DUS are a surprise to me. BRS strugggled a bit with MXP with bmi regional even though bolstered by Augusta Westland business passengers. DUS also seems a bit of a gamble with an extended frequency and one can only think that there is to be a code share if MUC is to go 5 x weekly. I can't see CWL supporting a point to point service at that level of frequency.

 

[Em0866]

This is very interesting, of course this has yet to be confirmed.
This will be seen as good news for CWL. It's good to get these routes but they really have to make a go of it and get bums on seats, otherwise FlyBe will be saying cheerio! Both Flybe and CWL need to advertise these routes and help win back some of those passengers who have gone over to BRS. I hope that this will be successful and the start of getting those passenger figures increasing...slowly but surely.

 

[alphagolf]

If it turns out as mentioned, its great news for Cardiff, its about time something came out of the Welsh taxpayers money.

Like TheLocalYokel I am somewhat surprised at some of the destinations and frequencies, especially DUS, MUC & MXP. think it will be difficult for flyBe to compete with BMI Regional at Bristol, considering MUC being double daily M-F, MXP an odd one too as is DUS. But who knows it maybe able to drag enough Welsh passengers back over the bridge.

ORK, DUB, GLA, EDI, FAO, GVA, CDG & JER, I think these can work, but the word needs to get out to the people of Wales to ensure they are fully aware of these new flights. I am afraid the jury is out with the other 3 routes, but I sincerely wish Cardiff the very best of luck and hope this is the catalyst to a recovery in passenger numbers.

 

[tpm]

Will there be interlining in MUC, MXP, DUS, and/or CDG?

 

[Aviador]

Major boost for Cardiff Airport with airline Flybe to announce 10 new routes including to Munich, Paris and Milan]

 

[Em0866]

Glad this has now been confirmed. Both CWL and FlyBe need to advertise the hell out of these routes to get bums on seats and start to attract those Welsh passengers who have gone over to BRS back to CWL. I hope this is start of more good news to come in the months to come

 

[Aviador]

One thing that the airline has as an advantage with here is, as easy as it is to cross the Seven and fly from Bristol for the good folk of Cardiff it is for someone to make the same crossing the opposite way. So there's every chance Flybe will pick up some new custom from within the "natural" Bristol catchment area.