Cardiff Airport - General Thread

[TheLocalYokel]

It's encouraging.

I note that they hope to explore the possibility of linking the airport with West Wales. Probably need to get above 2 mppa before a West Wales service becomes viable as it's likely they'd have to find a commercial operator rather than run it themselves as they do the T9.

I saw the comment of the Economic Secretary that they are pushing CWL as an airport for the South West as well as for Wales. I wonder if they will see if they can get someone to operate to Bristol. It's never been done and they might need a unique selling point such as a ME service if they are to convince a bus operator that a feasibility study is worthwhile.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Great news. If my rough maths work is right, 39600 users over Jul-Sep. According to stats Jul-Sep saw 485298 passengers, which makes 8% of those using the T9 bus. Also starting to sense of bit of media spin and CWL now moving towards being a "Wales and the Southwest" Airport, where we normally see BRS being the Airport of "The Southwest and Wales"

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Not just me that noticed that then TLY!

 

[Jerry]

Yeah the am

Great news. If my rough maths work is right, 39600 users over Jul-Sep. According to stats Jul-Sep saw 485298 passengers, which makes 8% of those using the T9 bus. Also starting to sense of bit of media spin and CWL now moving towards being a "Wales and the Southwest" Airport, where we normally see BRS being the Airport of "The Southwest and Wales"

Yeah I did notice that. Sometimes the Southwest does get mentioned but other times it doesn't in these press releases but like TLY said for CWL to appeal to Southwest passengers then it will a unique draw like an ME3 service or North America and at the moment that's not there. With West Wales I think the rail link could be promoted a bit more unless they could persuade one of the commercial operators to run one of Swansea to Cardiff services via the airport.

 

[Jerry]

It's encouraging.

I note that they hope to explore the possibility of linking the airport with West Wales. Probably need to get above 2 mppa before a West Wales service becomes viable as it's likely they'd have to find a commercial operator rather than run it themselves as they do the T9.

I saw the comment of the Economic Secretary that they are pushing CWL as an airport for the South West as well as for Wales. I wonder if they will see if they can get someone to operate to Bristol. It's never been done and they might need a unique selling point such as a ME service if they are to convince a bus operator that a feasibility study is worthwhile.

I wonder if they could run a bus service from the airport to Cardiff city centre then to Cribbs causeway shopping centre into Bristol city centre and back. Essentially just piggybacking on a Cardiff to Bristol service.

 

[Jerry]

It's encouraging.

I note that they hope to explore the possibility of linking the airport with West Wales. Probably need to get above 2 mppa before a West Wales service becomes viable as it's likely they'd have to find a commercial operator rather than run it themselves as they do the T9.

I saw the comment of the Economic Secretary that they are pushing CWL as an airport for the South West as well as for Wales. I wonder if they will see if they can get someone to operate to Bristol. It's never been done and they might need a unique selling point such as a ME service if they are to convince a bus operator that a feasibility study is worthwhile.

I wonder if they could run a bus service from the airport to Cardiff city centre then to Cribbs causeway shopping centre into Bristol city centre and back. Essentially just piggybacking on a Cardiff to Bristol service.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I wonder if they could run a bus service from the airport to Cardiff city centre then to Cribbs causeway shopping centre into Bristol city centre and back. Essentially just piggybacking on a Cardiff to Bristol service.

There hasn't been a Cardiff-Bristol bus service for decades, apart from National Express and Megabus, and I'm not sure if you can buy Cardiff-Bristol-Cardiff tickets on those as they are essentially London services that serve Bristol and Cardiff. I suppose the rail connection is frequent and relatively quick and might be the reason for the lack of a bus service.

There is an hourly bus service between Bristol bus station, Cribbs Causeway, Chepstow and Newport operated by First Bristol double deckers (the Severn Express) but I can't see that one going all the way to CWL. I sometimes use it to access Cribbs Causeway from the centre of Bristol (it's much quicker than the various city buses to Cribbs as it uses the M32, M4 and M5) and it seems that the majority of passengers travel between Cribbs and the Chepstow area for shopping.

So for a CWL-Bristol bus service to work there really would have to be a particular attraction to make it viable.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

When First operated the Cardiff-Newport-Bristol Airport service I believe that stopped at UWE, but not the bus station. The current National Express to Bristol Airport bypasses the city centre and goes direct to the Airport after stopping at Newport. I don't think there's sufficient demand for a bus service from Cardiff-Bristol, which wouldn't warrant an extension to CWL. I think that CWL needs to grow considerably to support any more public transport services. I do however believe that more could be made out of the current transport infrastructure that's on offer. The T9 needs to continue to grow slowly, just as CWL itself is, but is sufficient as it is. If anything services should be reduced when there's no flights to avoid the "ghost bus" perception and save money. The train needs to be advertised more. CWL is accessible even if via 1 or 2 changes. There's a good level of services from West Wales to Bridgend (or Cardiff), and from the Valleys and East Wales into Cardiff to connect with either T9 or stay on the train to Rhoose. Heathrow isn't easily accessible by the train, either change onto a coach at Reading or go into Paddington and back out of London on the Heathrow express, yet still does well. Many people I know that travel from Gatwick use the train, change at Reading and GWR service over to LGW. Working with Arriva/GWR on timings to improve connection possibilities, work on providing the free shuttle bus and better advertising then the train could compliment the T9, especially from the West.
I've just been reading up on NAT services, the current operator of the T9. They are introducing a local Bridgend-Cardiff service that runs along the coast from Bridgend, Llantwit, Rhoose and Barry, but only stops at the HI Express, and not CWL. Although a bit around the houses, it's still potential access for Vale of Glamorgan. NAT seem to be growing services in South Wales so would be interesting to see if they can come up with some kind of network including CWL

 

[TheLocalYokel]

When First Greyhound started its route in 2013 between Swansea, Cardiff, Newport and Bristol Airport it did operate (as you say) via the UWE campus in north Bristol but then called at Bristol country bus and coach station on its way to the airport. Part of the rationale was to use it as a bus service between the cities of Cardiff and Bristol as well as an airport service, but it seems the cities link never caught on. The Bristol bus station stop was then axed as was UWE later on. It was a tortuous route and must have taken for ever from Swansea.

The current National Express route to Newport and Cardiff is much quicker so long as traffic congestion doesn't put in an appearance.

I've been looking at the T9 timetable and see it operates every 30 minutes. I thought it was more frequent than that at one point. The city terminus seems to be at Customhouse Street. How far is that from Cardiff Central Station and Cardiff bus station?

The reason I ask is that when I tried a test booking on Rail Enquiries from Bristol TM to Cardiff Airport the all inclusive ticket routed me to Cardiff Central (CDF), then a change of train to Rhoose Cardiff International Airport (RIA) with the final hop on the shuttle bus to the airport terminal. How frequent are the trains to RIA? I had a feeling they were every hour.

If it was possible to route from Cardiff Central to CWL via the T9 with an all-inclusive rail ticket (as happens with the Bristol Airport Flyer where at least two thirds of its custom seems to come from rail travellers at Temple Meads - the Bristol Flyer also allows through tickets via National Express and local bus services) as an option to rail to RIA that would provide greater flexibility for people travelling to and from CWL.

I had to edit this before posting because I had typed Cardiff General Station each time. Shows my age and memories of when I used Cardiff General quite often.

 

[Jerry]

I believe the first train leaves Cardiff at 05.41 and the first train departs Rhoose at 06.11 then it's every hour until the final departure at 22.41 from Cardiff and 23.30 from Rhoose.
The old bus station that used to be in front of the train station has been knocked down and the whole area is being redeveloped with offices a new BBC hq and other stuff also a bus interchange is going to be put in place as well.
At the moment it's all bus stands around the corner literally 5 mins walk. Every time I go into Cardiff city centre something is different it's changing so much.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thanks, Jerry. Rail connectivity with the T9 wouldn't work at the moment then.

 

[Jerry]

Thanks, Jerry. Rail connectivity with the T9 wouldn't work at the moment then.

You can buy the tickets for the T9 on Arriva Trains website also but to me it's a case of either or. If i was to use public transport to get to the airport then I would have to take a bus to the city then either i would catch the train or bus. The part of Cardiff i live in doesn't have a train station so like many the car is the best option for me.

 

[CraigW92]

Newly appointed CEO Debra Barber talked briefly on Radio Wales this evening, 9:55 to 17:30, a few interesting points, if anyone is interested in a listen, link is below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08f0hss

 

[Jerry]

That was a good interview. I like the fact that Iberia Express and Blue Islands came to the airport and not the other way round and that the airport is attractive to airlines. Hopefully more to come for 2017 and 2018!

 

[Jerry]

A review of Cardiff's executive lounge on Head for Points. Looks quite nice from the photos!

Review of the Executive Lounge at Cardiff Airport
17 FEBRUARY 2017 BY ANIKA 9 COMMENTS
This is our review of the Executive Lounge at Cardiff Airport.

A few weeks ago we asked for your help in completing our collection of UK airport lounge reviews, which you can find on the ‘Favourites’ page here. HFP generally does not accept third-party reviews. There is zero chance of Rob or myself making it to most of the missing UK lounges, however, so we were happy to take some help here.

We currently have reviews of:

Heathrow: Club Millesime T5 Arrivals, British Airways Concorde Room T5, British Airways Galleries First T5, British Airways T5 Arrivals, Aspire T5, Plaza Premium T4, Etihad T4, SkyTeam T4, Qatar Airways T4, Cathay Pacific T3 (and video and video), American Airlines T3, British Airways Galleries T3, Club Aspire T3, Emirates T3, No 1 Lounge T3, Virgin Atlantic T3, Aer Lingus T2, Plaza Premium T2, Plaza Premium T2 #2, Plaza Premium T2 Arrivals, Lufthansa T2, Air Canada T2, United Airlines Business and First T2, Singapore Airlines T2

Gatwick: No 1 Lounge North, My Lounge North, My Lounge North #2, No 1 Clubrooms North, No 1 Lounges South, No 1 Lounges Clubrooms South, British Airways South

Other: London City: First Class / Private Jet Terminal (and a video) London Luton: Aspire London Stansted: Escape London Southend: SkyLife Belfast: British Airways Birmingham: No 1 Lounge, Aspire Bristol: AspirePlus Edinburgh: No 1 Lounge, British Airways, Aspire Isle of Man: Rendezvous Lounge Leeds Bradford: Yorkshire Premier Liverpool: Aspire Lounge

(We’re not looking for further volunteers at the moment as a few people have offered to write pieces. Once those are in we will do a list of all the remaining gaps.)

Reader Nathan kindly sent in some photographs and a brief review of the Executive Lounge at Cardiff Airport:

“The Executive Lounge at Cardiff Airport is located just off the main seating area tucked away in the left hand corner through double doors.

The opening hours are 05:00 – 21:00 daily (except for Saturdays Nov-May when the closing time is 17:00).

The lounge has one area to the left and another to the right. On the left side is an area with small tables and chairs.

If you want to do some work you can use one of the little desks. There are plenty of plug sockets available for use and free Wi-Fi.

There is a selection of newspapers and magazines.

If you turn right at the reception desk you enter the more relaxed and comfortable sofa area, with TVs showing the news on (this is a stock photo):

Both areas join to their own snack bars that have a good selection of nibbles: pastries, crisps, cereal, fruit, yoghurt and cakes. The rocky road and Welsh cakes are excellent. Note that the food is the same at all times of the day so don’t expect anything special at breakfast or early evening. The coffee machine and soft drinks fridges are also here.

The alcoholic drinks have recently changed to bar service and the bar is in the area with the tables. The service has been prompt during the visits I have made since it changed from self-service.

The selection is good and features the normal range of spirits but I particularly like its selection of spirits from the Penderyn distillery in the Brecon Beacons. I am partial to the single malt and my wife loves the Merlyn (a Baileys-type drink). There is also a selection of wines and locally sourced Glamorgan beers.

Entry can be gained with either a Lounge Club card (comes with American Express Gold, two free entries included) or a Priority Pass card (comes with American Express Platinum, unlimited free entries). You can also pay on the door or book in advance.

Conclusion

Though the lounge is small by comparison to some reviewed on HFP lately, it has never been busy when I have been there. When I was there at 6pm on a Friday there was only one other person in the lounge. This is likely due to how quiet Cardiff airport is in general.

I like the theming within the lounge with some Welsh history and a lot of large advertisements for the Penderyn distillery – although this is personal taste. The staff are very friendly.

There are toilets attached to the lounge so you do not have to go back to the main concourse. They could, to be honest, do with a bit of a face lift.

There are flight information screens within the lounge.

The dress code is smart casual. I have been to the lounge in tailored shorts and a t-shirt many times and never had any problems. I have also been in as a group the staff have been happy to keep serving us despite having more than the two drinks they recommend.

It would be nice if there was a larger selection of food and maybe a hot dish. But the nibbles are nice, especially the rocky road!”

Thanks Nathan. If you want to pre-book paid access to the lounge, you can do so via the Lounge Pass website here.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

How many lounges are at CWL now? If one of the MEB3 set up they'd be looking for a lounge that served a range of food including hot meals - or the passengers would anyway. It's unlikely that a MEB3 would set up their own lounge, at least initially.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Newly appointed CEO Debra Barber talked briefly on Radio Wales this evening, 9:55 to 17:30, a few interesting points, if anyone is interested in a listen, link is below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08f0hss

Ms Barber gave a solid review of the current state of matters at CWL. Given the nature of the programme many listeners would have been looking at it as a business prospect rather than as aviation followers. Her analogy of the roles of airport MD and airport CEO was interesting. I know she retired from the RAF with senior rank (group captain) but I believe her expertise was in air traffic control rather than leading aircraft formations herself. Nevertheless, it was a simple yet neat description of the change in roles she has recently undertaken, and she was asked the question in the first place by the radio presenter.

I noted what I had already understood to be the case in that the loans to the airport company from the Welsh Government are commercial ones and are being repaid on that basis. They are factored into the airport’s rolling 2-year business plan allied to 5-year projections and a 20-year forecast. She is not concerned about the current mounting losses and anticipates a return to profitability along the lines of the business plan, although no timescale was given. In fairness, she was not asked about timescale.

I found the comment about knocking five minutes of airport journey times leading to a 2.7% increase in passenger numbers intriguing. I suspect this is a mathematical conclusion and I wonder whether it happens every time in real life.

The lifeblood of airports is obviously airlines, as they generate passengers, and someone who I believe is hugely responsible for CWL’s recent successes with new airlines is Spencer Birns who was deservedly promoted to airport commercial director in the recent past. He continues as lead for airline development, a job he has done for many years. I don’t know him but those who do tell me he is extremely hard-working and a great asset to the airport. He must have found it immensely frustrating working under the limits set by the previous owners.

 

[Jerry]

How many lounges are at CWL now? If one of the MEB3 set up they'd be looking for a lounge that served a range of food including hot meals - or the passengers would anyway. It's unlikely that a MEB3 would set up their own lounge, at least initially.

I believe there is only the one with a £20 entry fee. I'd have thought that if a ME3 started flying that the airport would arrange for a service just for the ME3 passengers.

 

[Jerry]

I'm not sure if this will effect the CWL-VLY flights but the Van Air Europe flights from the Isle of Man have been grounded and a Titan 737 is covering them for tomorrow. Apparently their flight to Belfast today had to turn back to IOM and they've been grounded at least temporarily. CWLs website does say check in as normal.

 

[Jerry]

It looks like North Flying are covering the Anglesey route for City wing at the moment.