Cardiff Airport - General Thread

[Jerry]

Unless something dramatic happens it's going to be a glum lot of Juve supporters heading back to Turin.

Yes 3-1 at the moment. From a welsh perspective hopefully Bale will get on the pitch and get to play in his home final.
He did get to play in the final, he's come on with 12 mins left. So he's got 12 minutes to score!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Yes 3-1 at the moment. From a welsh perspective hopefully Bale will get on the pitch and get to play in his home final.

He's on now.

 

[Jerry]

Well the Champions League is over and looking at some posts online CWL had a very busy early hours of the morning and at one point had about 6 aircraft in the hold due to ground congestion. Apart from that CWL and BRS have done extremely well handling the amount of traffic they have had over the last couple of days without causing major disruption to their normal operations. Well done to the staff of both airports and well done to Real Madrid becoming the first side to lift back to back Champions league trophy's in 27 years and their 12th European Cup title.

 

[Jerry]

News

8 JUNE
Cardiff Airport reflects on success of UEFA Champions League Final
In what has been one of biggest events to ever come to Wales, Cardiff Airport is reflecting on an incredibly busy and successful Champions League Final weekend.

The excitement began on Friday 2nd June, with the arrival of Juventus and Real Madrid to Wales – including sporting legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Welsh football hero Gareth Bale.

The next two days saw a 300% uplift in air traffic activity around the skies of South Wales, with 380 additional flight movements operated by charter airlines including Alitalia and on scheduled airlines Vueling and Ryanair, while KLM increased the size of their aircraft to manage demand.

Juventus fans were welcomed to Wales through a specially built facility known as ‘Terminal 2’ with flights jetting in from the early hours of Saturday morning and continued right through to just a couple of hours before kick-off. Real Madrid fans also flew into Cardiff on scheduled services operated by Vueling and Iberia Express, as did a number of VIPs on private aircraft.

Deb Barber, CEO of Cardiff Airport, said: “Having had a few days to reflect it’s amazing to think what we as a city have achieved. As Wales’ national airport we welcomed 21,000* travelling fans in a very short amount of time, not to mention the teams themselves and a number of VIPs.

Working in partnership with UEFA, Football Association of Wales, South Wales Police and with the cooperation and hard work of our team, we were able to deliver a successful and safe event. The Champions League final has demonstrated just what we can deliver as the national airport of Wales, and we as a team look forward to future opportunities and an exciting year ahead.”

The UEFA Champions League Final in numbers:

Air traffic and passengers

300% uplift in air traffic around the skies of South Wales

380 additional arrivals and departures

21,000* travelling fans

2 Champions League Final teams Juventus and Real Madrid
22,800 watched live on Facebook as the teams arrived in Cardiff

1 Champions League Trophy

Transport

3125 T9 Cardiff Express Bus fares

318 journeys on the 905 Rhoose Train Station shuttle

800 taxi journeys

Food and drink

3,105 pints of lager

1,635 sandwiches and baguettes

1,349 bottles of water

770 croissants

749 cups of tea
334 shots of espresso

Tax and duty free items

620 souvenir keyrings and magnets
328 Welsh dragon cuddly toys

18 bottles of champagne – one to each of the ladies’ winning football team

To watch the video of the teams arriving visit

*Passenger figure quoted is approximate and does not include any additional passengers who travelled to Cardiff on regular scheduled services

DOWNLOAD THE INFOGRAPHIC HERE

 

[Jerry]

View attachment 5363

 

[Jerry]

View attachment 5363
Infographic about the Champions League weekend.

 

[Jerry]

Devolving APD to Wales could be back on the political agenda again after this election. An article in the Guardian has said that one of the DUP's conditions to back the Conservative's in government would be the abolition of or the reduction by 50% of Air Passenger Duty in Northern Ireland.
DUP sources said the list of demands would be similar to its 2015 “Northern Ireland” plan, when the party laid out its price for supporting either a minority Tory or Labour administration. That included more Treasury cash for Northern Ireland’s schools and hospitals. Also among the DUP’s conditions will be at least a 50% cut or the total abolition of air passenger duty in Northern Ireland.
If that happens then the calls for Wales to get even just Long Haul APD devolved may well become louder especially now Qatar Airways will be launching flights in 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/10/theresa-may-dup-deal-snag-tory-rebellion

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Devolving APD to Wales could be back on the political agenda again after this election. An article in the Guardian has said that one of the DUP's conditions to back the Conservative's in government would be the abolition of or the reduction by 50% of Air Passenger Duty in Northern Ireland.
DUP sources said the list of demands would be similar to its 2015 “Northern Ireland” plan, when the party laid out its price for supporting either a minority Tory or Labour administration. That included more Treasury cash for Northern Ireland’s schools and hospitals. Also among the DUP’s conditions will be at least a 50% cut or the total abolition of air passenger duty in Northern Ireland.
If that happens then the calls for Wales to get even just Long Haul APD devolved may well become louder especially now Qatar Airways will be launching flights in 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/10/theresa-may-dup-deal-snag-tory-rebellion

Don't forget that long haul apd also applies to flights using hub airports such as, for example, CWL-AMS-LAX. This test booking I made shows the breakdown of the overall fare (see below). The only way to avoid it is to book separate sectors so that CWL-AMS would attract the short haul rate and AMS-LAX would be free of UK apd. The snag there is if the first flight is late or cancelled the passenger has no comeback for missing the AMS-LAX sector and booking two separate sectors might not save money anyway. Furthermore, the passenger have to 'arrive' at AMS, collect bags and then later check in as a new passenger on AMS-LAX.

Ticket price 702.00 Carrier-imposed international surcharge169.00 UK air passenger duty 75. 00UK international/domestic Airport Passenger Service Charge 21.39 Security charge 10.00 Airport Passenger Service Charge 9.40 US customs user fee 4.30US international transportation tax 28.40 US APHIS fee3.10 US INS user fee 5.50 US A passenger civil aviation security service fee 4.40 USA passenger facility charge 3.50 Price 1,035.99

I have read arguments that because BRS has no long haul flights (well, it has now with the TUI transatlantics) it would not be adversely affected if long haul apd was devolved to Wales. Those arguing that seem to ignore the long haul routes via AMS, DUB, BRU, FRA and MUC and also the fact that a more generous long haul apd regime in Wales would make it even more difficult for BRS to get any direct long haul routes.

I'm not saying that is or should be a concern for 'Wales' but it is an extremely relevant part of the BRS argument that apd (long haul or all of it) should not be devolved to Wales, an argument that some on other aviation boards don't seem able (or want) to grasp. If I was debating the topic I could make strong arguments for either case.

£75 (£150 for premium passengers and rising to £78/£156 from April 2018) is a significant amount especially if a couple are travelling, and a nil rate in Wales might have ramifications for other English airports as well as BRS.

 

[Jerry]

One of the reasons why i haven't given WOW a try is because it would require me checking in again in the US with no guarantees if i miss the flight with KLM/Skyteam there isn't that worry.
As for APD my personal opinion about whether Wales will get it or not is changing. I think Wales is slowly on the road to Home rule and with it's new tax department will have control of APD and other taxes hopefully sooner rather than later but probably later.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

One of the reasons why i haven't given WOW a try is because it would require me checking in again in the US with no guarantees if i miss the flight with KLM/Skyteam there isn't that worry.
As for APD my personal opinion about whether Wales will get it or not is changing. I think Wales is slowly on the road to Home rule and with it's new tax department will have control of APD and other taxes hopefully sooner rather than later but probably later.

I suspect that you may be right. Wales will get more and power fiscal powers in the years ahead as will Scotland (to try to head off any call for independence) and Northern Ireland (as a price to be paid for propping up May's disastrous decision to go to the country as well as a nudge to the complex and delicate balance to be kept between loyalists and those wanting a united Ireland). It would therefore be difficult to leave out Wales in this move to fuller self-governance.

That leaves by far the largest constituent country with no government of its own other than the UK Government, with MPs from all the Home countries having a say in that even when it involves purely English matters as would be the case if APD was devolved to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It's a crazy, pseudo, quasi federal system but with only part of the whole having powers to regulate itself on many matters.

Of course, the more successful that CWL becomes the more the Welsh Government would lose from the Westminster block grant as a sum equal to the amount the Welsh Government could have raise in APD would be deducted from the Westminster block grant.

One thing that strikes me is that so long as CWL remains state owned it will be easier for opponents of devolved APD to cry that the airport owner was in the immensely advantageous and anti-competitive position of being able to set its own APD rates. A completely privately-owned CWL would at least not have that possible obstacle.

 

[Jerry]

By Long Stay Car Park 3 there is a sign, that i'm told has been there for a while, saying the land has been acquired by GroupFirst. I googled them and they seem to own lots of business parks, storage sites and residential sites across mostly the North but they also seem to own 3 airport parking sites at Luton, Gatwick and Glasgow under the ParkSafe brand. So it could be possible that the airport could get another car park which if it keeps expanding like it is it will need.
View attachment 5510

 

[Jerry]

Looks like Cardiff Airport are pushing offers on 10 of their routes with an article by Wales Online.
London, Tenerife, Berlin, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, Faro (Flybe) and Guernsey are all being advertised as under £50 one way. Milan is also advertised but at £3.49 more.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/busine...u-can-fly-cardiff-13286627#ICID=FB-Wales-main

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I suspect it's just Trinity Mirror indulging in cheap and easy journalism. Trinity Mirror owns so many regional and local papers now that they have to fill their space - increasingly on the web as print editions become fewer and fewer, as they are with all newspaper groups.

They employ many young journalists who are often given tasks to trawl the Internet to see what they can come up with, frequently by looking at social media sites and making 'stories' from what they come across.

The Bristol Post, also part of the Trinity Mirror group, sometimes highlights cheap flights from Bristol Airport in an identical format to this 'article'. As I said, it's an easy way to fill space. Do some test bookings, find some cheap flights and build an article around it.

 

[Jerry]

Someone posted this
'Some 'exciting' news to come soon.'
on the dried fruit forum Cardiff thread earlier. Intriguingly vague!

 

[superking]

Someone posted this
'Some 'exciting' news to come soon.'
on the dried fruit forum Cardiff thread earlier. Intriguingly vague!

that poster comes up with quotes like this now and again. Better off finding yr own news more reliable.

 

[Jerry]

that poster comes up with quotes like this now and again. Better off finding yr own news more reliable.

 

[Jerry]

Someone posted this
'Some 'exciting' news to come soon.'
on the dried fruit forum Cardiff thread earlier. Intriguingly vague!

The poster has now deleted his posts but not before he replied to someone that there was exiting news due soon for CWL. Make of that what you will!

 

[superking]

He has more than likely reading Wikipedia or had some dreams while asleep lol.

 

[Tinkerman]

I see, well if this poster is as informed as he likes to think he is, then it could possibly only mean two things. One of which being QR and the other being BE, although i would have thought the former is somewhat more likely given the fact that the launch of the route is to occur sometime next year.

QR need to get the route out there now and marketed with a big hoorah from the airport, advertising throughout the whole of Mid/South Wales and the South West including Bristol, and even north up the M5 to Worcester and beyond.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

As described as "exciting news" I would hope it's more than QR release, as we already know QR is coming. Exciting would either mean more from a current carrier that no-one would be expecting, or a new carrier/route network.
FR? Norwegian LH? Might not even be Airline related, could be building works to do with the Terminal.