Cardiff Airport - General Thread

[arjay]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

O.K. here goes, this is my first blog and it's nice to know that a Cardiff Airport forum exists but I must tell you I am not only frustrated but angry at our local airport and I firmly beleive it can be classed as a National disgrace......heard that somewhere before ? Well I have been emailing a person by the name of Spencer Birns for about 8 months trying to gleen information as to whom is replacing BMIbaby and all I have had is a load of old nonsense about the management being in negotiation with a number of airlines to replace them, until finally I called Jason Mohammed of BBC radio Wales' phone-in and he invited me to take part in a live debate on air which I accepted. On the day, we had Mr. Birns and a Mr. Horn actrually debating what I had called a natinal disgrace live on the radio and between myself Mr. Horn and the rest of the listening Welsh public we tore into Cadiff airport and Mr. Birns and he had very few answers.
The points I raised were :-
Why have we no one to replace BMIbaby from 31st October 2011 ?
Why do we have to fly 500 miles east in order to go west of Cardiff ?
Whose idea was it to build a 1/4 mile long walkway to the west end of the airport therefore blocking all the fantastic view of the runway from the lounge and causing senior citizens and people with young children grief to get to and from aircraft ?
Why do we not use airbridges especially when it is pouring down with rain ?
Where is the legacy of the Ryder cup with visitors coming into Cardiff airport from all over the world, especially the USA to play golf in Wales ?
Why did we rebrand the airport to Maes Awr Caerdydd when most of the rest of the world and probably half of Wales do not know what it means ?
Why have Thomson airways now doubled their prices after 31st October ?
Why can we now only go to Spain for a week or a fortnight ?
Etc. Etc. Etc.
No real answers were forthcoming and that is why I can persist in saying this is a national disgrace and an atrocious way to treat the Welsh public who now have to travel to other airports such as Bristol to get away.
Oh and now in the last few days the fantastic announcement that they have secured a deal with Vueling to Barcelona.....from next March. Wow and yippee !! Much too little too late as far as I and most Welsh travellers are concerned. What about Malaga, Majorca, Alicante, Faro, Murcia and all the other places we like to go ?
Finally I am waiting patiently until the date of the next meeting to be posted on their website when I suggest we all turn up and have a vote of no confidence in the management of our NATIONAL DISGRACE !
Yours frustrated....ARJAY.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Hi Arjay

Thank you for making a post here. Your contribution to the forum is most welcome, even the odd rant. You Welsh lot are certainly passionate about your local airport and good on you!

I posted this in the Bmibaby thread just a day or so ago which is my theory as to why the airport is struggling to replace lost flights.

"It sounds more like a problem of leakage to other airports, people are like sheep and they don't like change. If the good folk of Cardiff haven't had much choice over recent years, people will have been driving to the likes of Bristol or Birmingham to catch flights. The longer this goes on the harder it will become for Cardiff airport to claw back passengers."

If airlines are choosing to operate from alternative airports there's not much anybody can do to alter this other than to take the campaign straight to them. As with all airports, the airport marketing team will always be in constant dialogue with various airlines. The trouble is, if those airlines already serve airports nearby the airport will struggle to persuade them to up sticks and operate from a different airport. This is probably why recent route out of Cardiff have come from 'new' airlines, or at least new to the region.

If people start to make good use of the new routes, new services will come and existing airlines in the region may reconsider their stance on operating from Cardiff airport.

 

[News Guru]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

[textarea]Welsh Government want Cardiff – China flights

The Welsh First Minister, Carwyn Jones, is looking to establish a direct air route from China to Wales, walesonline reports. Mr Jones, who last month headed a Welsh Government trade mission to China, said a direct link is vital in order to maximise Chinese investment opportunities into Wales, while also supporting Welsh businesses seeking to grow exports.

Although only at an early stage – which includes identifying potential airlines to operate such a route – Mr Jones said it was possible that a service could be established without the need for Government subsidy.

Walesonline also report that a number of airlines have been in discussions with the Welsh Government over it providing a financial commitment – which would get around state aid rules banning direct funding to airlines – to help underwrite any potential losses in the first few years while seeking to build up passenger numbers. These include US airline Delta for a Cardiff Airport to JKF Airport in New York scheduled service and airline Kingfisher for a route between India and Cardiff. Emirates has also been in talks, but it is understood it is seeking an up-front commitment of £5m.

Source[/textarea]

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Whose idea was it to build a 1/4 mile long walkway to the west end of the airport therefore blocking all the fantastic view of the runway from the lounge and causing senior citizens and people with young children grief to get to and from aircraft ?
Why do we not use airbridges especially when it is pouring down with rain ?

I thought for a moment you were talking about Bristol Airport.

I believe I heard the broadcast you speak of and Spencer Birns certainly struggled to to give any factual answers. Like many of his calling he is a master of spin and did manage to drop in two or three beauties - one I remember was telling us the number of departures that day when in fact the figure he gave was that for departures and arrivals - but in reality the hand he had to play was incapable of being defended.

He had nothing positive to say or, at least, if there was something it would probably have been commercially confidential - he may well have known about Vueling for instance.

Jon Horne, a previous MD at CWL, came across as far more realistic, though in fairness he wasn't constricted by being a current employee, and recognised that CWL, especially in straitened economic times, will suffer because of the size and wealth (lack of it) of its catchment.

It does seem a major surprise though that no carrier has come in to take up at least the sun routes vacated by bmibaby.

There is currently a vague rumour about Flybe. This is an airline I have contended for a long time has the right size of aircraft for routes that CWL currently lacks but ought to have - ought to despite the problems of catchment quantity and quality I previously referred to.

Great to hear from you on this forum arjay.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

It's great when airport companies hire managers and directors who haven't a clue what is going on and it's even better when politicians try to pretend that they understand the aviation industry."Flights to China"

 

[tleeds]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

It is indeed great news for the airport.

Like I said in the Manchester Airport forum, Monarch have finally decided to pull their finger out and start searching for routes that could work for them... :good:

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Looks like Monarch are to start once weekly CWL-SFB from May 28th.

Is this in anticipation of a Westminster government announcement on Tuesday that APD regulation is to be devolved to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with the result that the Assembly Government could slash long haul rates making such routes very attractive to carriers?

I've heard one or two whispers (though not from previously reliable sources) that this may be the case.

Florida has always proved popular in the past when operated from CWL.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

The UK government has decided that it will not devolve APD regulation to Wales, Scotland or Northern at the present time but hasn't ruled out doing so in the future.

It seems then that the Monarch route to SFB stands entirely on its own merits which is a positive sign that CWL can attract such routes without help from the public purse.

This is much more satisfactory than relying on the begging bowl.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Cardiff - the city and airport

Some welcome good news for CWL in the past few weeks re Vueling starting on Barcelona, Monarch commencing a Sanford, Florida route and Thomas Cook doing Mahon (all new for next year) but the fact remains that the airport is still in need of a massive stimulus if it is to get anywhere near the 2 mppa it featured only four years ago.

There is no doubt that the city of Cardiff has improved itself out of all recognition over the past 20 years and is now one of the places to visit in the UK, but much of this has been based on its position as Wales's capital and funding provided with that in mind, frequently from the public purse or massive lottery grants.

The news today that the eight English core cities (Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle) are to be given a high degree of autonomy in the future as to how they levy business taxes (which they will keep in the entirety) and plan and spend money on projects large and small made me wonder whether if Cardiff was an English provincial city without the trappings of capital status it would be a core city.

Broadly, it's on a par with such as Coventry and Leicester in terms of size and neither are core cities.

I wonder if this points up an unrealistic attitude on the part of many aficionados of CWL in that they seem to base their arguments on the capital city status whereas the airport is actually seen by the world at large as somewhere serving a region of the UK that is neither populous, nor especially prosperous.

It's perhaps noteworthy that all the core cities except Sheffield have airports that are considerably busier than CWL.

I compare CWL's catchment with that of South West England (Devon and Cornwall). Neither area could be thought of as economically prosperous and feature large tracts of rural communities, interspersed with pockets of relative urban prosperity such as Cardiff itself and Exeter.

South Wales' population is about one third larger than South West England and Cardiff a bit less than one third larger than Plymouth (the South West's biggest city), so it may be no coincidence that CWL currently handles about one third more passengers than the combined total of the South West's two airports (Exeter and Newquay).

Furthermore, in the 'good times' Exeter and Newquay, with a small contribution from Plymouth City Airport, handled a total of 1.5 mppa between them when CWL was handling 2 mppa - that 'third' difference again.

Food for thought?

 

[News Guru]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

[textarea]Book details Cardiff Airport history

A book has been released detailing the last 70 years of Cardiff Airport through photographs. 2012 is the 70th anniversary of the first operations at the Vale of Glamorgan airfield and 'Cardiff Airport At Rhoose: 70 Years Of Aviation History' by Geoff Jones was published last month. It is the first dedicated photographic history of Cardiff Rhoose Airport.

The airport began life as wartime satellite airfield RAF Rhoose, officially opening on April 7, 1942. Home of Cambrian Airways and used by a varied mix of international airlines, the airport has been continually upgraded since civilian flying began in 1952, it has grown to become one of the UK’s major civil airports handling around 1.5 million passengers a year, and is ranked approximately 20th amongst UK commercial airports.

Aircraft maintenance has always been a vital part of the airport’s activity and BAMC is one of the largest buildings in South Wales and can accommodate four Boeing 747s at one time. It is not only aircraft that comprise this airport’s lively history; many people have shaped it, including workers, travellers and even rugby celebrities.

Source[/textarea]

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

A lot of books depicting the history of local airports are becoming available at the moment. They give a great insight into how the airports got the where they are today which can be difficult particularly for some of the younger members of the forum to even imagine. It would be interesting to see a book depicting the future of our airports over the next 70 years.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Rumours doing the rounds that a significant announcement will be made about Cardiff Airport within the next two days.

Will it be a replacement for baby or at least baby's routes? Or perhaps the airport being put up for sale? Or something else?

Any takers?

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Hi Local! Happy New Year to you! It is the first I have heard of it.....but I have been out of the loop for a long time now.....will be interesting to see if anything comes of it....we'll keep our eyes and ears peeled!

 

[bluebird94]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

An announcement regarding this is due to be announced either today or tomorrow

We are to believe that its a new carrier and also heard the word 'routes' flying about

Potentionally this could help the summer 2012 figures compare slightly to summer 2011 now that Baby have gone

Lets wait and see :drinks:

 

[pug]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

We are to believe that its a new carrier and also heard the word 'routes' flying about

Hasn't it already been announced at some enthusiasts convention? And therefore it cannot be anything of commercial sensitivity at this late stage...

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

I've been checking the drop downs on all the usual airline websites and there's nothing showing as yet. I've tried Easyjet, Ryanair, Jet2 and also Vueling seen as though they've already announced BCN from CWL. I thought maybe they'd shown more interest in operating other Spanish routes from there but nothing.

 

[pug]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Vueling to ALC and PMI, both 3xweekly.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Vueling to ALC and PMI, both 3xweekly.

Not quite the big announcement I thought we were being lead to believe but it's great news all the same. Hopefully the new flights with Vueling will put a stop to the long term decline in passenger numbers the airport has seen over recent years. Vueling and the airport are going to have to be quick to get promoting the flights at this late stage before the summer season kicks in during May.

Edit: I understand the flights are going to start later in the summer so there should be ample time to ensure bookings.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Hi Local! Happy New Year to you! It is the first I have heard of it.....but I have been out of the loop for a long time now.....will be interesting to see if anything comes of it....we'll keep our eyes and ears peeled!

Hello Mate. Good to hear from you again and a Happy New Year to you.

I posted elsewhere on this site that this is good news in that Vueling will be a better bet than baby ever was and if they are supported might develop a route network in the years ahead, especially if the economic gloom does begin to lift at some point.

My only surprise is that it took so long for someone to fill the gap vacated by baby in the main summer sun and sand routes.

Now that someone looks as though it could be a winner if its reputation is to be believed and I see no reason why it shouldn't.

I have to say that for personal reasons I was hoping that Emirates might have been the subject of the strong rumours about an announcement but with BHX up the road it's probably not feasible at the moment.

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Great news for CWL...it may not be much but it's a start....let's hope this is the start of a turning point for the airport