Cardiff Airport - General Thread

[Jerry]

The Champions League trophy arrived at Cardiff Airport from Switzerland yesterday by a SiAvia Embraer 145 which flew in from Zurich. The trophy will do a tour of Wales to build up to the Final on the 3rd of June at the Principality stadium which will be renamed the National Stadium of Wales for the final.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/champions-league-trophy-going-round-12927672

 

[Jerry]

So Summer 2017 has kicked off properly now!
We have the return of Thomas Cook and now a 2 based aircraft TOM schedule and 1 with a TUI Family Life livery. Flybe has expanded this summer with now a 3 aircraft and is operating Berlin in the summer for the 1st time and it's new route to Rome. Also we have it's new franchise partner Blue Islands who started flights to Guernsey today! Vueling will operate an increased schedule this year and will be joined by it's partner airline Iberia Express. Also today we saw the return of Norwegian today operating it's weekly TFS for TOM and also we a new airline at CWL. Eurowings will operate a weekly PMI for TOM. We also saw today the first A350 1000 flight to CWL for fuel testing at BAMC.
CWL has a good summer ahead of it with the Champions League final it's biggest highlight! Things are looking good for the airport and it's moving forward in the right direction!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Champions League Final

It's looking increasingly likely that it will be a Real Madrid v Juventus (Turin) final. Real beat city rivals Atletico 3-0 in the semi-final first leg yesterday and this evening Juve beat Monaco 2-0 away in their first leg semi-final.

Perhaps Wales will be supporting Juventus. John Charles, one of the country's greatest ever players, played for Juventus in the late 50s/early 60s, one of the first British footballers to play for an overseas club, and was an outstanding success. He was voted best ever overseas Juventus player by fans of the club in the late 1990s.

He was known as the Gentle Giant and was a gentleman on and off the pitch. I had the privilege of seeing him play when he was a Leeds United player before he went to Italy. I hasten to add I was a schoolboy then - I'm old but not that old - and I clearly remember him that day.

I'm well aware of that other player from Wales currently with Real.

This is probably the best outcome for CWL as Real Madrid and Juventus are both likely to bring huge support.

 

[Jerry]

Champions League Final

It's looking increasingly likely that it will be a Real Madrid v Juventus (Turin) final. Real beat city rivals Atletico 3-0 in the semi-final first leg yesterday and this evening Juve beat Monaco 2-0 away in their first leg semi-final.

Perhaps Wales will be supporting Juventus. John Charles, one of the country's greatest ever players, played for Juventus in the late 50s/early 60s, one of the first British footballers to play for an overseas club, and was an outstanding success. He was voted best ever overseas Juventus player by fans of the club in the late 1990s.

He was known as the Gentle Giant and was a gentleman on and off the pitch. I had the privilege of seeing him play when he was a Leeds United player before he went to Italy. I hasten to add I was a schoolboy then - I'm old but not that old - and I clearly remember him that day.

I'm well aware of that other player from Wales currently with Real.

This is probably the best outcome for CWL as Real Madrid and Juventus are both likely to bring huge support.

That's great news! Many will support Madrid because of a certain someone but the valleys has a strong Welsh Italian community so I've no doubt Juventus will get lots of support from the Welsh!

 

[Jerry]

There's an article in Wales Online today about what Cardiff Airport needs to do to make a success of the new Qatar service and potential upgrades for the future.
Improve the road access Five mile lane will be widened in the future with initial clearance works for the new road scheduled in January and in the future there could be the possibility of expanding the road from the M4 at Junction 34 down to 5 mile lane and then have that run straight to the airport instead so people don't have to go to Barry.
Rail Links the article suggests maybe diverting one of mainline London-Cardiff services straight to the airport via the Vale of Glamorgan line before rejoining the mainline at Bridgend. Also could there be a dedicated station built next to the Porthkerry Leisure Park and depends where any new terminal is built, (my suggestion) have a light tram service run from the station to the terminal.
Bus services maybe there could be new bus services from west wales maybe starting at Aberystwyth and stopping at Carmarthen, Llanelli, Swansea, Port talbot and Bridgend on the way. Maybe depending on what time the flights are but could there be a daily coach (or what days the service operates on) from Bristol for the Qatar service (my suggestion).
Run a marketing campaign throughout the west of England advertising Cardiff Airport over the bridge heavily to promote the new service and the services CWL already has.
Exploit Wales' ethnic diversity Wales has people from all over the world living here from a strong Somali community in Cardiff to 20,000 people of Indian heritage of who 10,000 work in health care.
Freight Use the new service to increase freight from the airport with maybe a new industrial buildings being built near the airport to handle and store that freight. Maybe making Cardiff Airport a free trade zone as well as the ports of South Wales which the airport can work with. Associated British Ports could invest in the airport or any new industrial sites.
Expand and improve the facilities at the airport if the airport continues on it's upward trajectory then a new terminal may need to be built which will need significant investment from the likes of Qatar Airways or the Qatar investment bank. In the short term could there be new airbridges? Expanded or revamped pier? Expanded executive lounge and departure area? Maybe a new food outlet? Expanded check in?
Air Passenger Duty it would be a help.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/busine...-airport-needs-make-12979291#comments-section

 

[Scottie Dog]

Question on Rail Travel from Cardiff

I hope somebody may be able to answer a question?

My sister is flying in from Amsterdam on the afternoon flight on Saturday 1st July and needs to get to Carmarthen. Looking at onward travel I see that you can apparently either get a bus into central Cardiff and then the train, or alternatively use a shuttle bus to Rhoose station and then get a train via Bridgend. Does anyone have any local experience as to which is best?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Jerry]

Does anyone have any local experience as to which is best?

I've never used the train to get to the airport but there is a train every hour from the airport to Bridgend which takes about 30 mins and then I believe there is a train to Carmarthen every hour from there. The train company is Arriva Train Wales. Hope that helps.

 

[CraigW92]

Personally think the best option would be the Cardiff Airport express (T9) and then from central Cardiff it's literally a 2 minute walk to Cardiff central from where she could take the Great Western service down to Carmarthen:

For example on a schedule as follows:

Dep AMS 16:25 - Arr CWL 16:45

T9 Cardiff airport express - 17:00 / 17:20 - busses depart every 20 minutes in the summer right outside the terminal building - ticket cost would be £7 one way or £10 return

A 40 minute bus ride will then arrive in central Cardiff at around 17:40/ 18:00

A few minutes walk from the bus stop to Cardiff central station where the train would depart at either :

Carmarthen 18:04
Carmarthen 19:04

Always found the bus to be very reliable - I wouldn't recommend Arriva trains to anyone, have a habit to cancel trains or delay them at very short notice !

 

[Jerry]

The finalists for the Champions League final on Saturday 3rd June has now been decided!
Real Madrid will play Juventus. Both teams have a welsh connection, modern and old. Gareth Bale plays for Real Madrid and will hopefully start in the final and the great John Charles (Il Gigante Buono-The Gentle Giant) played for Juventus between 1957 and 1962 making 155 appearances and scoring 108 goals.
Hopefully this will mean as well for the aviation fans that CWL will see a great range of airlines. Rumour has it that between 1am and 1pm on 3rd June there will be 100 flights arriving.
There will also be a massive security operation in effect in Cardiff itself very similar in scale to the NATO summit and that was massive!
It's going to be a great weekend for Cardiff and Wales!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

100 flights in 12 hours? Where are they going to park them all?

 

[Scottie Dog]

Personally think the best option would be the Cardiff Airport express (T9) and then from central Cardiff it's literally a 2 minute walk to Cardiff central from where she could take the Great Western service down to Carmarthen:

For example on a schedule as follows:

Dep AMS 16:25 - Arr CWL 16:45

T9 Cardiff airport express - 17:00 / 17:20 - busses depart every 20 minutes in the summer right outside the terminal building - ticket cost would be £7 one way or £10 return

A 40 minute bus ride will then arrive in central Cardiff at around 17:40/ 18:00

A few minutes walk from the bus stop to Cardiff central station where the train would depart at either :

Carmarthen 18:04
Carmarthen 19:04

Always found the bus to be very reliable - I wouldn't recommend Arriva trains to anyone, have a habit to cancel trains or delay them at very short notice !

Thanks you CraigW92 for your reply and detailed suggestion.

Unfortunately my sister now travels on a Canadian passport and so will probably need some extra time getting through Border Control but hopefully she may make the 1904 train.

Thanks again

Scottie Dog

 

[Jerry]

100 flights in 12 hours? Where are they going to park them all?

I assume most will depart for elsewhere or back to Madrid and Turin. Unless the aircraft are based at CWL I don't think any will be allowed to park there. I'm not sure but I do wonder if a lot of the business jets will be parked at St Athan?

 

[Red Flyer]

Jerry Is that information from someone who actually knows or pure speculation on your part?

 

[Jerry]

Jerry Is that information from someone who actually knows or pure speculation on your part?

What part are you referring to?
The 100 flights is information from someone who is knowledgeable about Cardiff Airport but like i said it is a rumour. And would equate to 50 aircraft.
The non based aircraft not being allowed to stay is my speculation but I believe that to be reasonable as CWL only has 16 stands and the BAMC parking.
Also i believe St Athan was used for business jets during the NATO summit?
If I'm wrong about anything then I'll happily be corrected!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Right. You said in your earlier post that 100 flights would be arriving. Taking into account biz jets around 50 arrivals would not be unrealistic but even then CWL might struggle to park them all, so I can see why you suggest St Athan for any overspill.

Addendum

I have a notion that UEFA demands separate airports for charter fights for the respective teams. Whether St Athan would meet that criterion I don't know. I doubt that it would have room though and there might be other considerations. Probably wouldn't apply to biz jets though so they could probably use St Athan from Spain and Italy for the match.

 

[Jerry]

I'm also wondering if airports like Swansea or Gloucester could also be used for the business jet side? Not sure though on the how much capabilities Swansea has to handle them though.

 

[Red Flyer]

It looks very much as though any charter flights with Juventus fans have been allocated CWL with charter flights with Real fans allocated BRS

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm also wondering if airports like Swansea or Gloucester could also be used for the business jet side? Not sure though on the how much capabilities Swansea has to handle them though.

I'm happy to be corrected but I believe that both Staverton and Kemble will both be used for biz jet parking

 

[Aceshigh]

Brize ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I see that the UEFA Women's Champions League Final is to be played on Thursday 1 June at the Cardiff City Stadium. The finalists are both French teams: Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain.

Now there obviously will be only a tiny fraction of the interest in this compared with Real Madrid v Juventus but CWL might expect at least two flights bringing the respective teams and possibly some supporters. Whether supporters will come on special aircraft might be unlikely but some will probably use the regular services.