Cardiff Airport - General Thread

[TheLocalYokel]

I would expect more announcements this year although I would not like to give a timescale: could be next week, in a month or later in the summer/autumn but I'm sure there will be some.

Incidentally, speaking of Ryanair, I can't think that the CAA stats are correct for March - not the first time that the CAA stats have been wrong although of course they rely on the information from the airports.

March shows 1056 scheduled passengers on the TFS route which will all be Ryanair's as no other airline operates scheduled flight on CWL-TFS. I've checked with South Wales Aviation Group's site (thank you again SWAG for your excellent records) and find that FR rotations between TFS and CWL operated on four occasions in March - Mondays, 7th, 14th and 21st and Thursday 31st.

This makes eight legs/sectors which gives an average load of 132, load factor 69.84%. I can't believe the loads had slipped to that level.

 

[Aviador]

The Greeks are still in dispute with Ryanair so I'm not too sure we'll see anything else from them this year so far as Greece is concerned.

Jet2 is a possibility I suppose if they decide to venture away from their northern heartlands but that would need a change in business strategy as only a couple of years ago they said they were committed to being a "northern airline."

What is for sure is the airline industry has always been fluid so I would never say never.

War of words between Greek tourism officials and Ryanair
http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/War-of-words-between-Greek-tourism-officials-and-Ryanair

#Jet2Cardiff #RyanairGreece #routenews #routerumours

 

[Aviador]

Nearly forgot to say, welcome to Forums4airports Craig! I like your avatar by the way but those red engines would look nice at Cardiff.

 

[CraigW92]

I would expect more announcements this year although I would not like to give a timescale: could be next week, in a month or later in the summer/autumn but I'm sure there will be some.

Incidentally, speaking of Ryanair, I can't think that the CAA stats are correct for March - not the first time that the CAA stats have been wrong although of course they rely on the information from the airports.

March shows 1056 scheduled passengers on the TFS route which will all be Ryanair's as no other airline operates scheduled flight on CWL-TFS. I've checked with South Wales Aviation Group's site (thank you again SWAG for your excellent records) and find that FR rotations between TFS and CWL operated on four occasions in March - Mondays, 7th, 14th and 21st and Thursday 31st.

This makes eight legs/sectors which gives an average load of 132, load factor 69.84%. I can't believe the loads had slipped to that level.

Cobalt should well be the next to announce, press confrence this month wo that should get the ball rolling on that one, I would have thought perhaps Lanzarote and perhaps another so wish destination for Ryanair perhaps, although there's a host of routes that are not served well or at all currently.

I remember the stats have been wrong on the TFS route along with a few others in the past year or so. i did work out the LF to be into the 90s again in March although as you say I'd be fairly surprised if it had dropped to that level.

Was good to see some positive growth on the majority of routes last month, although Vuelings experiment with an earlier start a Palma service hasn't seen to be a positive one.

 

[CraigW92]

Nearly forgot to say, welcome to Forums4airports Craig! I like your avatar by the way but those red engines would look nice at Cardiff.

Many thanks Aviador , they would certainly be a positive
, would be nice to see some growth with regards to the holiday market, as I've stated before Thomson and Thomas cook have been extremely static, the Jet2 Holiday side of this would certainly change this.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Good to see two Thomson Boeing 737-800s back again for the summer with flights to Arrecife, Malaga, Larnaca and Palma today. Thomas Cook begins tomorrow with a Dalaman flight first thing. Their based aircraft appears to be a SmartLynx A 320 again, dressed in a basic Thomas Cook livery.

I read elsewhere that there was a non-based Thomson B 757 to Palma this weekend as a one-off additional flight but I can find no record of it.

I'm sure that TOM could have carried on with two 757s in summer as far as loads are concerned but I suppose that, as the type is leaving their fleet within the next three or four years, CWL is not the only base to see the 757 withdrawn.

Thomas Cook also took the decision to operate a 320 in summer in recent years (no winter TCX ops any more of course), albeit not one of their own, having operated one of their own A 321s for a summer season two or three summers ago.

 

[CraigW92]

Good to see two Thomson Boeing 737-800s back again for the summer with flights to Arrecife, Malaga, Larnaca and Palma today. Thomas Cook begins tomorrow with a Dalaman flight first thing. Their based aircraft appears to be a SmartLynx A 320 again, dressed in a basic Thomas Cook livery.

I read elsewhere that there was a non-based Thomson B 757 to Palma this weekend as a one-off additional flight but I can find no record of it.

I'm sure that TOM could have carried on with two 757s in summer as far as loads are concerned but I suppose that, as the type is leaving their fleet within the next three or four years, CWL is not the only base to see the 757 withdrawn.

Thomas Cook also took the decision to operate a 320 in summer in recent years (no winter TCX ops any more of course), albeit not one of their own, having operated one of their own A 321s for a summer season two or three summers ago.

Indeed it is good news, Thomas Cook started today I think yokel with a flight to Larnaca, it does look a lot better in my view than a plain white livery, we were quite unfortunate with regards to having an Avion express A320 a couple of years ago and the reliability was awful, it was not uncommon for there to hefty delays causing quite a bit of disruption, ironically I see Manchester has had a problem with there own based 320 from them today.

Indeed it did, G-BYAW positioned in on Friday evening from Birmingam and operated CWL-PMI-PMI-BHX I believe, although I'm unclear as to what the reasons were, the same did happen last year ( Credit Swag)

I think most people were extremely disappointed to see the 757 leave Cardiff with Thomson, I have had many other good flights flying to Majorca on a 757. We did have a mixed 757/737 base for a few years befoe the 757 was withdrawn, I think the hope was that perhaps we might have seen an additional 737 based or at least part based to operate increased frequencies on current routes and introduce new routes.

There's no doubt that Thomas Cook A321 aircraft are incredibly superior, having flown on G-DHJH to Las Palmas in November from Bristol I was very surprised at how comfortable the journey was, I always take the view that even though they don't operate one of the A321s here , Any Thomas Cook presence in some shape or form is better than having them not operate at all.

 

[superking]

re the 757 flight
it operated a 737 load of pax to pmi.it was done to cut out 2 positioning flights.so pax from cwl to pmi then bhx pax back,as this started earlier.makes sense to op empty planes around.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There's no doubt that Thomas Cook A321 aircraft are incredibly superior, having flown on G-DHJH to Las Palmas in November from Bristol I was very surprised at how comfortable the journey was, I always take the view that even though they don't operate one of the A321s here , Any Thomas Cook presence in some shape or form is better than having them not operate at all.

I flew on a TCX A321 to Fuerteventura in December last year. It was a good flight both ways.

I accept what you say about the current TCX presence being better than none at all but an A 321 would obviously be ideal. In the summer when TCX had a 321 at CWL and two 320s at BRS I know a number of people from the West Country who travelled via CWL as there was greater availability on some individual routes given the larger aircraft.

#ThomasCook #CWL

 

[CraigW92]

I flew on a TCX A321 to Fuerteventura in December last year. It was a good flight both ways.

I accept what you say about the current TCX presence being better than none at all but an A 321 would obviously be ideal. In the summer when TCX had a 321 at CWL and two 320s at BRS I know a number of people from the West Country who travelled via CWL as there was greater availability on some individual routes given the larger aircraft.

#ThomasCook #CWL

Absolutely, found the 4 hours flew by, good comfortable seats and decent leg room in row 12 as well, for £360 for all inclusive break it was a real bargain.

The A321 presence here a few years ago was announced very late in the day for that particular summer, the Thomas cook product for here was in real danger of being hurt beyond repair when we had the Avion aircraft, delays nearly every day made it looked very poor, thankfully this improved with the Smartlynx aircraft, although when booking I know a few people who are very anxious and reluctant as it isn't a Thomas cook aircraft so to speak.

Maybe one day we will see the return of the A321 and a longer period of operation rather than May to October only.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I remember the Avion Express aircraft causing a few problems.

Incidentally, in its first summer of operation at BRS the 321s were problematical too but I think that was more to do with crewing issues than the aircraft. Several other airlines had to be called in to operate on behalf of TCX that summer and there was a number of high profile delays where passengers were stranded abroad or in Bristol waiting to go on holiday for, in one or two cases, a couple of days.

#CWL # ThomasCook

 

[Em0866]

I flew back from Naples via BRS on Friday with TOM. Interesting to note that there were a number of Welsh accents I could hear on the flight and also in and around Sorrento too, where I stayed. I am puzzled why TOM does not operate flights to NAP from CWL on a weekly basis as a lot of Welsh pax holiday here. I know that we have one off charters with Newmarket Holidays from CWL. Maybe TOM are happy to expand at BRS knowing that pax from this side of the bridge will travel. A shame as I think this route would work from CWL, imho.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I flew back from Naples via BRS on Friday with TOM. Interesting to note that there were a number of Welsh accents I could hear on the flight and also in and around Sorrento too, where I stayed. I am puzzled why TOM does not operate flights to NAP from CWL on a weekly basis as a lot of Welsh pax holiday here. I know that we have one off charters with Newmarket Holidays from CWL. Maybe TOM are happy to expand at BRS knowing that pax from this side of the bridge will travel. A shame as I think this route would work from CWL, imho.

I trust you had a great time Em. Welcome back.

It does seem odd because the TOM Friday Naples rotation is operated by a non-based B 737-800 that could just as easily use CWL as BRS. The only thing I can think is that together with the TOM Monday Naples rotation which is operated by a based B 757 holidays can be taken that involve Monday one way and Friday the other.

TOM Monday and Friday NAP flights have operated for a number of years and I expected at least one to be axed, or possibly moved to CWL, when easyJet started its own NAP service a few years ago which still operates at 2 x weekly.

Welsh organisations seem to accept that many people from Wales or people visiting Wales use BRS as last year there was a large advertising hoarding on the main approach road promoting Wales as a holiday destination, and recently a similarly sized advertisement has appeared on the same road promoting the new Royal Mint visitor experience at LLantrisant.

Inside the main check-in hall are two advertisements, one large, advertising Cardiff University.

 

[Em0866]

Thanks Local. I had a wonderful time thanks, such a beautiful part of Italy.

As it happens I flew out on the 757 last Monday and flew back on Friday on the 737-800, which was based at EMA. I think the holiday companies and airlines know that people will travel to BRS from this side of the Severn which is a problem those at CWL are facing. With the recent rumours of a possible new operator and more flights, that would help bring back some of the estimated 1m pas back to CWL, not just from BRS but from airports further away too.

With NAP being served x4 from BRS I would assume that a lot of those pax would be those from this side. I think that it will take time to get airlines and holiday companies back but I think things are on the up.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

From next week the Friday Naples will be operated by a BRS-based B 738 so that answers the point I made about operating a non-based aircraft into CWL or BRS.

On the general point of concentrating on BRS, and not just with TOM, there are a lot of routes that might not be viable from BRS, CWL or for that matter EXT without help in the form of 'topping up' from neighbouring airport catchments.

Airlines probably go to BRS because it has the largest core catchment (of CWL, EXT and BRS) and therefore requires less 'topping up' on those routes that might require it, and it is geographically placed to attract passengers from both South Wales and Devon/Cornwall - CAA stats show that these counties provide one million annual BRS passengers, and we know about the well over one million from South Wales.

Another factor is that West Country residents have a number of choices besides CWL if they can't or won't use BRS: BHX, EXT, SOU (from some parts of the BRS catchment) and of course the Big Boy just along the M4 (which probably adversely affects BRS more than it does CWL).

As I suggested in the CWL CAA stats forum, the more services and frequencies that CWL can build across the board, the less the need for local people to use other airports. I know it's stating the obvious but it's also the only way forward.

 

[Em0866]

Yes you have hit the nail on the head there. The team at CWL have one hell of a job on their hands, but I think they will achieve this in time and will get back to 2m pax in due course. I think I have already said that if another airlines and/or holiday company set up a base here then it will show confidence in the airport to passengers and other airlines/holiday companies as well.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I meant to add this in my previous post: the thought has struck me that with a reputed £18 billion required to upgrade LHR and build a third runway a new airport on the Severn estuary would not cost that sort of money and would have the added advantage of being away from the crowded South East skies.

With the electrification of the GWR system currently under way the South East would still be comfortably in range for the London-centric world.

Not that I think a Severnside airport will ever happen though.

Incidentally, the delayed GWR electrification is now anticipated to be complete between London Paddington and Cardiff Central (I still think of Cardiff General which it was when I used the station quite regularly) via Bristol Parkway by the end of 2018, but the section from London to Bristol Temple Meads (it branches from the South Wales line at Royal Wootton Basset junction) isn't likely to open until two years after that, having originally been planned to be the first line to be electrified. Structural difficulties are being blamed.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Consultative Committee Meeting 10 May 2016

Anything of any significance discussed last night? There was speculation that some important news might be announced at the meeting. I can't find anything on the CWL official website.

 

[CraigW92]

Consultative Committee Meeting 10 May 2016

Anything of any significance discussed last night? There was speculation that some important news might be announced at the meeting. I can't find anything on the CWL official website.

Tends to vary how many actually go to these meetings , if the previous are anything to go buy it'll take ages to upload the notes onto the website, Only news around at the moment is the departure lounge relaunch which I think invitations are being put across Twitter.

There was said to be big news a few years ago in one of these meetings, turned out to be Flybe launching a weekly Düsseldorf taking over from the cut eurowings service, always cautious when these come around.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The CWL consultative committee meetings seem to embrace the public; from previous minutes I note that other people, as well as members of the committee, are permitted to ask questions. I believe that this is in the spirit of what consultative committees are meant to be.

Contrast that to those at BRS which although timetabled for at least a year in advance (they have four a year) are always held on a weekday afternoon when most members of the public are at work. The BRS website says that the public can attend - the wording is not exactly going overboard to say 'please come' - but questions are not permitted from the floor.

Reading the increasingly meagre BRS minutes I gain the impression that the consultative committee meetings there are like those of an agreeable club where outsiders, although put up with, aren't really wanted.