Cardiff Airport - General Thread

[Aviador]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

I'm half expecting Ryanair to announce some flights from Cardiff airport to keep the Bristol airport management on it's toes.

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

It would be interesting to see what this news will be on the 25th. We all have our own idea what it could be, but we have to sit and wait it out.....unfortunately!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

I'm half expecting Ryanair to announce some flights from Cardiff airport to keep the Bristol airport management on it's toes.

It's difficult to see which routes could run in tandem from both airports without dilution of the overall returns.

Ryanair used to fly CWL-DUB against the BRS-DUB.

There is a possibility, I suppose, that some routes could be moved from Bristol. The downsizing of the BRS base obviously makes this an easier proposition for Ryanair if it was so minded.

It would probably want some summer sun routes from CWL, as would Jet2 another rumoured incomer, but both would cut across Vueling which is regarded in Wales by most who have used it as having a superior product to either Ryanair or easyJet.

What does seem certain is that any low-cost airline move into CWL in any significant presence would need a large financial encouragement from the new owners.

If Ryanair ups sticks and moves lock stock and barrel across the Severn a situation could arise where Vueling moved in the opposite direction.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

If Ryanair does set up at CWL I would expect something similar to what we've seen between the Northern airports such as LBA vs DSA with DSA picking up flights to the Spanish hotspots such as ALC. I could be way off the mark and like EM0866 says we won't know until the 25th, assuming there is some truth in the 'rumour'!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

If Ryanair does set up at CWL I would expect something similar to what we've seen between the Northern airports such as LBA vs DSA with DSA picking up flights to the Spanish hotspots such as ALC. I could be way off the mark and like EM0866 says we won't know until the 25th, assuming there is some truth in the 'rumour'!

Some posters on the Wales sites say the rumoured news is linked to a meeting involving the Wales travel trade and others with a professional interest in the wellbeing of the airport.

These meetings apparently take place every few months on Thursdays at a Cardiff watering hole (hence their name Thirsty Thursdays) and in the past year the meeting has been given advance notice of one or two positive moves re the airport.

The 25th is the date when Thomson is due to announce its summer 2014 programme so that's another connection with 25 April.

It might all turn out to be nothing or something relatively minor that will disappoint some airport followers but it seems certain that CWL will see a substantial increase in traffic in the next couple of years.

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Not long to the 25th now, the waiting is nearly over. I hope it's not an anti-climax!

I have seen adverts of the Thomson S14 launch on the 25th....and they have already said that there will be new destinations from LGW on the 787.....Puerto Vallarta (also from Manchester) and Mauritius from LGW only. Maybe there is something in the offing with at least one new destination from Thomson from CWL.....but as I said before, we have to wait.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

If it is Thomson-related, I still believe it might be connected with long haul.

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Well let us hope so.

Thinking back to way back when, I remember when Air Europe used to fly their 757s from CWL to Orlando (MCO) and if memory serves me well there was one weekly flight and 2 fortnightly flights. I think it was after Air Europe went to the wall Britannia Airways took it over. This makes me think that if Thomson do announce a long-haul, perhaps a safe bet would be to start it off on a fortnightly basis. Easier to fill as most of those who go to the likes of Florida, for instance, tend to go for 2 weeks rather than one.....at least that is my theory.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Thinking back to way back when, I remember when Air Europe used to fly their 757s from CWL to Orlando (MCO) and if memory serves me well there was one weekly flight and 2 fortnightly flights. I think it was after Air Europe went to the wall Britannia Airways took it over. This makes me think that if Thomson do announce a long-haul, perhaps a safe bet would be to start it off on a fortnightly basis. Easier to fill as most of those who go to the likes of Florida, for instance, tend to go for 2 weeks rather than one.....at least that is my theory.

Looking back over the past 20 years there were many years when CWL had two Florida flights each week in summer, occasionally three. For example, in 1997 Airtours (now absorbed into Thomas Cook via MyTravel along the way) had two rotations each week in peak summer along with a weekly rotation from Britannia.

Travel City Direct used an Air Atlanta Boeing 747 in peak summer on some occasions as well.

2008 was the last year in which CWL had regular summer Florida flights (apart from last summer's short Monarch/Cosmos season). Following the First Choice/Thomson merger the CWL Thomson flights to Florida and the Caribbean were stopped but the Bristol ones, originally by First Choice when it was separate, have continued.

If CWL is to get some long haul TOM flights the obvious destinations are Florida and the Caribbean. The merged (with First Choice) TOM flies from BRS to Sanford, Florida and Cancun, Mexico in summer.

The TOM B 767s used on the routes can reach Sanford non-stop from BRS, other than in exceptional weather conditions, but always land at MAN outbound to take on fuel (but not passengers) on the Cancun route.

It was thought that the B 787 would be able to fly both routes easily non-stop from the BRS runway but because the immediate future of the 787 may now not be as clearcut as was originally anticipated it's possible there may have been a review of arrangements going forward.

If so, flights could be switched to CWL. I have heard no compelling rumours to back up this suggestion, and I imagine the BRS management would be doing everything to ensure the routes are kept, but if the supposed news is 'big' for CWL as is rumoured and relates to TOM I can't think of anything else that would fit that bill.

We could all be wildly off track and find that the news, if there is news to be told on or around 25 April, has nothing to do with TOM or even CWL's route network.

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

I flew to SFB from CWL on Airtours 767. But the last time I flew to Sanford I flew from LGW with Thomson in 2011.

Odd that how I have seen that from BRS they more or less know what the new flights TOM will be flying to and yet there is nothing, so it seems, from CWL. This makes me feel a little uneasy that there is nothing in the offing for CWL.....I just hope that I am wrong.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

The 'big' news to be announced on 25 April that many have eagerly awaited turned out to be something of a disappointment for most people.

A number of non-executive directors for the airport company was announced:

http://www.tbicardiffairport.com/en/new ... board.html

Half a million quid is to be spent sprucing up the airport:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22299911

Thomson seems to have pulled its BRS long-haul weekly charters (Sanford and Cancun) in summer 2014 though they will operate in summer 2013.

That might put CWL in a stronger position to look for an operator to such destinations.

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Hello Local

It was a bit of an anti-climax of a thing, but maybe we are expecting too much too soon perhaps???? Still I think that schedules can change for S14 at this early stage, but I would not expect any major changes to TOM.

I was surprised that TOM had pulled the SFB and CUN flights from BRS, so it does leave a gap in the market for South Wales, The West and South West England with a trek to BHX or LGW to these destinations at the moment.

I think now is the time for this Board to come up with a strategy of some kind and how they will address the issue of increasing flights from CWL. Not an easy task but they should now knuckle down and get on with it. The purchase of CWL by WG was by public money so they need to show their worth and get on with the job.

Tarting up the interior over 3 years is probably a good thing, but I would have hoped that they would have got new flights/operators through the door first before they did that. Perhaps it's a chicken and egg situation though.

It will be very interesting to see what will happen in the next weeks and months to come.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Hello again E m.

I'm sure that negotiations continue out of the public gaze with airlines and tour operators.

Jon Horne, and even the sometimes naively optimistic First Minister, have said that nothing can be done in a hurry.

2014 is the obvious target to be working towards and it will be a major surprise if it does not build on the relatively modest gains in place for 2013.

Operators have to be convinced that a market exists at CWL and aren't likely to be rushing in like headless chickens, even if the WG provides some real route support in the early years.

I mentioned recently the possibility of the TOM haul-flights stopping at BRS and the obvious next step was for them to operate from CWL: obvious to those of us who don't have to run airlines and tour companies that is, which includes me. A theoretical opinion is light years away from the reality of hard-edged business of course.

I don't know whether the pull-out of TOM long haul at BRS (it seems to be a fact) is for commercial or operational reasons, or perhaps a mixture of both.

It certainly leaves a gap in mainland UK west of London and south of Birmingham.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

[textarea]Cardiff Airport CEO vows to stop the rot

The new CEO of Cardiff Airport has vowed to recapture some 1.5 million passengers lost to its rivals by boosting the gateway's route network and renewing its customer service offering.

Jon Horne, who has been at Cardiff for less than a month, told Airport World his immediate priority was to stop the airport hemorrhaging passengers to rivals such as Bristol and Birmingham by opening a dialogue with airlines and passengers to find ways to improve its commercial offering.

“We are losing some 1.5 million of our catchment flying from other airports, they are doing this because the choice of destinations hasn’t existed here. We are seeking to redress that, it’s not a five month job, but I am confident that with time we will entice people from the local area to choose Cardiff,” Horne tells Airport World.

The airport saw traffic decline to just over one million passengers in 2012, down 200,000 on 2011 and from a peak of 2 million in 2007.

Horne revealed that the “lion's share” of the traffic leakage was going to Bristol.

He said it was “fundamentally important” to convey the message that following its acquisition by the Welsh Government, Cardiff is “open for business, and its interests are aligned with those of Wales.”[/textarea]

Full report at: http://www.airport-world.com/home/gener ... rdiff-boss

Jon Horne was running the airport from 2001 until the autumn of 2007 (CWL's best ever year at 2.1 mppa) so he knows what can be achieved but also that it will be a hard slog.

In the master plan for the airport published in his previous time at CWL it was recognised then that too many passenger journeys were leaking to other airports and the master plan looked at ways of redressing this.

Even in 2007 around 700,000 passengers were leaking to BRS and this seems to have risen to around one million in 2012.

It's really journeys not individual passengers because most people fly return journeys and some fly more than once from other airports which reduces the number of individuals who have to be tempted back to CWL by more than half the headline figure.

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

Hi there Local

I think those with common sense know that it will take time to start to get people to re-use CWL....at least of those who have gone to BRS or BHX. To be honest I can see why they went further afield as there are more choices available to PAX from those airports. Let's hope that from now on we will see a slow and steady increase in pax from CWL.

 

[Em0866]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

The Dusseldorf flight has arrived and departed. The incoming flight was full of press and travel reps, from what I can make out, who will be taken on a week long tour of Wales. I wonder how many were on the return flight? And what will the incoming load be next Saturday? We'll have to wait and see.

I remember CWL has a DUS flight years ago with Manx on a J31, which operated for a couple of years. I hope this service will continue though as there is a market, especially for inbound.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

I believe the route is aimed primarily at German tourists visiting Wales. Being weekly it will be of limited value for business travel in either direction though there ought to be some leisure travellers using it from Wales to visit Germany.

Newquay and Inverness have had similar LH Group flights from DUS for a number of years. The Newquay route was increased to 2 x weekly (Wed and Sat) for the peak summer (July-August) in 2012 but it seems to have reduced to just Sats for summer 2013.

In 2011, when 1 x weekly, the DUS-NQY route carried 2,270 passengers which increased to 3,378 in 2012 with the additional peak summer weekly rotations.

The Eurowings CRJ 900 seems to have 86 seats of which 22 are business class. I'm not certain this seating arrangement applies to the weekly DUS-UK flights though I assume it does.

Looking at 2011 when NQY-DUS was 1 x weekly the monthly loads seemed to be in a band of 50-80 with late spring/early summer more lightly loaded as one might expect of a predominantly leisure route.

The yield is what counts of course. I don't know how much publicity the route has been given in Germany.

Unless it falls flat on its face (unlikely!) I would guess that the route would be given a couple of summers to build.

Exeter has a summer Saturday Flybe route to Dusseldorf obviously aimed at leisure travellers too.

Perhaps strangely Bristol has no DUS route (it did have until 2007 with BACon) and the new bmi regional routes from there go to Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover and Munich daily (2 x daily on FRA and HAM) except on Sats as they seem to looked on as business routes.

With Bath, The Cotswolds and Bristol itself (an increasingly popular tourist destination) I'm surprised someone has not recognised the German liking for South West England and Wales and set up a Saturday leisure flight. At least it gives CWL a chance to market itself for the Bristol city region tourist market as well as for Wales.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

First Minister: tax powers could be in Wales bill

The First Minister Carwyn Jones says he's been given assurances that the Wales bill announced in the Queen's speech could be expanded to include the devolution of 'minor taxes' such as Air Passenger Duty and Stamp Duty which would allow the Welsh Government to borrow money for large-scale projects.

Full report at: http://www.itv.com/news/wales/update/20 ... -minister/

It's all a bit vague. 'Could' is the word which is always a bit wishy washee.

Also this week the Commons Transport Select Committee said it wants the goverment to carry out an objective analysis of the impacts of introducing differential rates of APD. I take this to mean across the UK generally and not just in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland vis-a-vis England.

They also want to see an APD ‘tax holiday’ for a 12-month trial period for new services operating out of airports outside the southeast and a fully-costed study of how far APD impacts on the UK economy with the aim of significantly reducing or abolishing APD if it's found to be harmful to the UK economy.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

A couple of items have appeared in the news in recent days re CWL and its attempt to rebound.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23209696

In summary the Wales First Minister says he has met some commercial operators re buying a stake in the airport and has found 'interest' in this market place. He's talking about a private sector partner buying half the airport with the Wales Government (WG) retaining the other half.

His original idea was for an experienced private operator to run the airport on behalf of the WG, but it seemed no-one emerged when the purchase was completed in March leading to an 'arm's length' company being set up by the WG to run it.

At that time it was hinted that the search would go on for a private sector partner.

The FM also hinted that the WG has ambitions to 'draw large airlines back to South Wales' which seems a case of stating the obvious.

http://www.walesairforum.co.uk/Archive/ ... irport.pdf

The Welsh Conservatives have published a 47-page document titled A Blueprint for Cardiff Airport.

I have ploughed through it but in all honesty it's mainly hot air and somewhat simplistic in approach, and can be summarised by listing the five measures they say would increase the airport's value, increase passenger numbers and deliver profits:

Airlines An Airlines Director should be appointed to promote the airport

APD If devolved they would consult on the best way of reducing APD to lower prices and improve the competitiveness of the airport which would attract new airlines and new routes

Marketing An effective marketing campaign should be initiated targeting specific countries, with China mentioned later in the report

Infrastructure They seem to be stuck on this beyond suggesting an improved bus service

Freight Prices should be competitive and businesses should be helped with the transfer of freight to the benefit of the Welsh economy

As can be guessed from this brief summary the Blueprint offers no radical solutions and it seems to concentrate on ways to turn the airport into an attractive target for the private sector to retake ownership. Perhaps surprisingly for the Conservatives the report is keen on Wales having a reduced APD which in effect would mean public money being used to to combat the private sector at neighbouring airports such as BHX and BRS which are profitable.

The report also looks at case studies involving Bristol, Liverpool and Southampton airports as well as the London scene. BHX is virtually ignored which I find extremely surprising given that it is CWL's second closest neighbour after BRS and an airport that would be the major rival in CWL's attempt to become some sort of extension of LHR.

All in all a very disappointing report that adds almost nothing to the debate.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Cardiff Airport - Main Thread

[textarea]

Could Cardiff Airport form a new UK hub alongside Birmingham and Heathrow?

The team behind the bid to integrate Cardiff, Birmingham and Heathrow airports into a new national hub will today submit their multi-billion pound vision to the commission charged with investigating aviation capacity.

The authors claim their proposal for linking the airports with a high-speed road and rail network could generate 55,500 jobs and help re-balance the UK economy.

Under the plans submitted to Sir Howard Davies’ Airport Commission, Cardiff Airport – which was bought by the Welsh Government in March for £52m – would have 20 million passengers a year by 2040.

Making the case for Cardiff’s airport to be expanded to become the “South West National Airport” and linked to an envisaged High Speed 3 rail network, they state: “Cardiff is the optimal location. There is minimal resistance to development and wide support for expansion offering considerable advantages in cost and procurement whilst, after considering local multiplier effects, development based on the HS3 scenario could generate an estimated 55,500 jobs.”

The project is backed by entrepreneur Rudi Plaut, economist Brian Morgan, transport experts Stuart Cole and Martin Evans, and management consultancy Mandix.

They argue that “shortage of airport capacity in the southeast has opened a unique window of opportunity” to create a “triangular hub”.

The “western gateway” proposal would involve £18bn investment in rail infrastructure between London and the Cardiff region and be accompanied with £6.5bn of improvements to the airport, rolling stock and connections.

Construction is expected to take at least 15 years on top of the planning phase.[/textarea]
Full report at: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... ew-5144093

This is now the 'worked up' submission of the Western Gateway plan that first came into the public domain last October and was reported on at that time in this forum.

The most obvous change is that the would-be promoters have now decided to include BHX within a triangular scheme also involving CWL and LHR.

The original statement described an initiative that would have seen CWL as LHR's Atlantic Terminal. BHX would have been an obvious competitor, one in a much more favourable position than CWL. The Western Gateway people now seem to be trying to put themselves alongside BHX as a member of a team rather than as an opponent. I doubt that the BHX management will feel the need to become involved as they hold all the trump cards in a fight between them and CWL to become a sort of LHR overspill.

The Western Gateway Group acknowledges their plan might not see the light of day so have included a secondary suggestion that would 'only' cost £3 billion and would see CWL handling 8 mppa instead of the 20 mppa under the full-blown Western Gateway idea.

Looking at the proponents of the scheme they are all experienced people in various professional fields. Given their backgrounds it really is surprising that they have committed so much time, and presumably some expense, in putting together such an unlikely scheme.