Cardiff Airport - General Thread

[Jerry]

How Welsh Government ownership of Cardiff Airport could be its pandemic saviour

Coronavirus and its aftermath will present the greatest ever challenge to the commercial aviation sector

www.business-live.co.uk

Interesting questions from the article.

"Can Cardiff Airport rise to the challenge of rebuilding confidence in air travel and being an exemplar airport for safe capacity?

Airlines are desperately looking for a lifeline, can Cardiff Airport be an unlikely provider?"

This is the gist of the article.
"I think Cardiff Airport should be exploring this possibility. With some imagination and ingenuity, Cardiff could offer certain advantages. Firstly, it’s owned by the Welsh Government, so they should be able to work in conjunction with Public Health Wales to offer pre-boarding testing – either remotely or on-site. Secondly, there are no night-time curfews at Cardiff, so with the support of the Welsh Government, additional night-time operations may be possible.

Thirdly, the airport has experience of creating additional temporary terminal facilities around major sporting events, and it also has the land space to do so. Finally, it is already under utilised."

 

[TOM100]

Having thought about this I cant really think what benefits for airlines WG ownership will bring other than survival of the airport. The same airline economics will exist and other than ‘route support’ not sure there is anything else ? No night time curfews are not new and every airport will be (in all likelihood) to do health checks. Airports will adapt like they did to liquid restrictions.

 

[Jerry]

Having thought about this I cant really think what benefits for airlines WG ownership will bring other than survival of the airport. The same airline economics will exist and other than ‘route support’ not sure there is anything else ? No night time curfews are not new and every airport will be (in all likelihood) to do health checks. Airports will adapt like they did to liquid restrictions.

Yep I've been thinking the same. I think his assumption is that the big airports won't be able to adapt to any potential health checks needed. I don't see why they wouldn't adapt. I don't see the likes of Easyjet being forced to spread out to smaller airports either.
It's most likely that airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet will retreat to the bigger airports.
I do think the article does reflect that people can't understand why airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet and BA don't either have a base or operate flights from Cardiff and that people do seem to try and clutch at straws in the hope that they will one day setup at the airport.
Cardiff's future success will most likely reside with TUI, Loganair and Eastern Airways and maybe Vueling.

 

[TOM100]

I do hope tho if there is anything to exploit to ensure the future growth of the airport they explore it.....like you say airlines splitting operations will cost ££‘s. I will continue to try and use CWL as it’s size will hopefully mean a post pandemic better (easier) customer experience (if their sometimes abrupt security staff don’t go too OTT)....,

 

[TOM100]

I just hope somebody comes back soon with CDG and an AF codeshare as I took 6-8 of these a year !

 

[Jerry]

Fingers crossed we'll see Dublin, Paris and Belfast back by Summer 2021.

 

[geoff]

Having thought about what the future holds for CWL, their first priority must be the return of Paris, Dublin, and Belfast, as Jerry mentioned above, Loganair have built up their services at BHD, could they be persuaded to operate a route to CWL? If Air France didn't want to operate the Paris route from CWL, perhaps Eastern could give it a try, also the Dublin route if there are no others interested. If Eastern were to base a second J41 at CWL, it would be the ideal aircraft to operate to CORK and JERSEY and perhaps build up the frequency on those routes. There is certainly a good opportunity for them to establish themselves at CWL in the future, that is of course if they are still in existence after the end of the pandemic.

 

[Jerry]

I personally just wonder if the airport would prefer to try and get multiple carriers over multiple routes so the airport isn't as vulnerable in the future.

Something like Aer Lingus regional for Dublin, AF HOP for Paris, Blue islands for Jersey, Eastern/Loganair for Belfast. Something like that may well take more time to negotiate than just a basing deal with one airline but could be more sustainable in the long term. Assuming all the airlines survive!

 

[Jerry]

Interestingly this article was written by a member of the team that attracted BMIbaby to Cardiff a long time ago!

How Welsh Government ownership of Cardiff Airport could be its pandemic saviour

Coronavirus and its aftermath will present the greatest ever challenge to the commercial aviation sector

www.business-live.co.uk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Interestingly this article was written by a member of the team that attracted BMIbaby to Cardiff a long time ago!

How Welsh Government ownership of Cardiff Airport could be its pandemic saviour

Coronavirus and its aftermath will present the greatest ever challenge to the commercial aviation sector

www.business-live.co.uk

Where did you find that out, Jerry? I’ve been digging around to find out what aviation industry experience he has and couldn’t find any. Several websites point to his present senior position with a brand agency, and previous senior posts with Visit Wales, Welsh Tourist Board and the Welsh Government where one website described him as a former adviser to a WG first minister.

In his article, he seems to be saying merely that the aviation scene is likely to be different post-COVID19 and that CWL’s government ownership should place it in a good position to co-operate with the health authorities should an efficient passenger testing regime there be an enticement for an airline or airlines who might be finding other airports over burdened in that regard.

In particular, he is suggesting that easyJet might find itself overwhelmed at BRS if social distancing causes problems and might look to spread its load to other airports, and that CWL should be looking to become involved.

I can't see what relevance his other points have to do with WG ownership.

He mentions that CWL has no night-time ‘curfews’ so with the support of the Welsh Government there might be a possibility of additional night-time operations. If there is no night-time movement restriction that is self-evident whoever owns the airport. I assume he was pointing a finger at BRS’s night-time restrictions, but in his scenario some flights would have been moved from there to other airports including CWL so the BRS night-time movement limit would have become less operationally acute.

Mr Pride also thinks that CWL’s experience of creating additional temporary terminal facilities re major sporting events with the land to do it would also be a plus. If he regards airport social distancing as a temporary phase, which it might well be, would airlines go in for the huge task of shifting presence to other airports for perhaps a few months?

Of course CWL needs to secure its future and, as been noted by other members, there are a number of essential routes that need to be brought back into the fold as well as trying to look for other opportunities. However, I can’t see that Mr Pride has added anything concrete to that aim, although at least he has given us something to talk about.

 

[Jerry]

Where did you find that out, Jerry?

Facebook, the author posted the article to a group.

 

[Jerry]

Obviously this could all change but these are the dates i've found that the individual airlines will start back up at CWL.
Eastern Airways look like they are due to start both Anglesey and Teesside/Aberdeen on the 15th June.
Vueling are down to start all 3 routes on 1st July.
Ryanair are down to start on the 6th July but will only operate 3 out of 4 routes.
KLM will return on the 4th July.
Qatar Airways won't return until 26th October.
It looks like TUI are down to start on the 12th June.

 

[geoff]

I wonder if the airport management have had the opportunity to speak to any airlines during the lockdown, and will announce something when things start to get back towards normality.

 

[Jerry]

I'd be surprised if they weren't engaging with airlines but whether airlines are interested?

 

[Jerry]

Cardiff Airport - Complaints Policy & Procedure – CWL

The official Cardiff Airport website for live flight information, news, airport parking, offers, booking flights & holidays.

www.cardiff-airport.com

 

[Jerry]

 

[Foxlimayankee]

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/202...alth-coronavirus-airlines-airports-focus.html

As being discussed in the Bristol thread, this could be an interesting opportunity for CWL. With the current state of Aviation demand, and regional economies being hit hard, this could be marketed by the Airport in a certain way to gain public support, by giving an Airline a good deal to help boost the local economy. Before I would never have thought EZY would appear at CWL. But given all Airlines desperation at the moment, anything is possible. If the deal is right and CWL could offer lower costs than BRS to support routes that would be viable from both, then it could well happen. EZY will never leave BRS but it could have a small CWL base to compliment the BRS operation, offered at lower cost.
That being said, if I was CWL I'd avoid EZY as they would soon up sticks and go back to BRS at the end of the deal and when the market returns to decent levels. CWL should definitely be targeting Ryanair and even Wizz & Norwegian.
I do wonder, with WG government backing, if CWL is better placed than most privately owned Airports in this situation.
Time will tell.

 

[Jerry]

Letting airlines land for free may be the only way to attract them.

 

[TOM100]

I think that would be a price worth paying in the short to medium term to keep the airport a viable, going concern and attempt to maximise ancillary revenue until they get back to critical mass.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Letting airlines land for free may be the only way to attract them.

You may be right there Jerry. The likes of FR and EZY dont need any kind of marketing budget. They market themselves. A social media campaign will be enough to get word out there, which is free. If any other Airline came in, such as Wizz or Volotea, then they would need a hefty marketing campaign like Vueling did when they started.
FR are fickle, I dont think they are dedicated to BRS at all. I'm sure with the right deal they could grow at CWL and now might be the time to do it. We dont know what levels TUI and Vueling will return at and FR will pull the numbers back in.
So it's either a case and sit and wait for growth to return, and that wait for any new carriers or routes could now be years, or effectively pay FR to come in and at least get passengers and terminal revenue moving again. Even if that's just a temporary investment until a few years down the line where the Airport can start bargaining with other carriers and diversifying again. FR are best placed to prove a market, then if they go again, CWL will have access to demand figures to put to other Airlines.