It could be it operated but flightradar just hasn't registered it?
 
Don’t forget there is currently a French Air Traffic Control strike that began yesterday and will finish tomorrow.

Duration of the strike is 35 hours If I recall correctly.

Many of the Tui delays and other operators in fact can be attributed to that if the aircraft has operated to/from France or was due to overfly it’s airspace. Also surrounding airspace would become congested and likely to pick up Air Traffic Control Restrictions.

As for Flightradar24. You shouldn’t always trust it when it comes to schedules.

There is perfectly good Cardiff Airport website for live arrivals and departures. There is also a South Wales Aviation Group (SWAG) which logs 99% of aircraft movements accurately but is run by volunteers so can get it wrong from time to time.

If I hadn’t commenced my full summer schedule yet then I would do exactly what TUI are doing by reducing the use of ASL airlines to a minimum to reduce the cost of leasing the aircraft.
 
TUI have swapped today’s CFU and NBE around as additional passengers are shipped down from MAN to head to CFU.
 
Not a good sign then as shows our CFU wasn’t full.

Don’t think they can just bring the departure forward for NBE mind as can’t ensure all passengers have been advised.
Looks like they have. According to FR24 and SWAG NBE departed at 06.15 but according to the airports departure board they will operate Zakynthos and Corfu together.
It's quite possible this was planned in advance so passengers were notified.
 
According to TUIs timetable, the rest of May NBE departs at 0600. Was today's schedule supposed to be different?
CFU is also an afternoon departure.
It's still early in the season. Greece tends to attract fairly decent loads but not full this time of May as can be shown by both the CFU and ZTH taking additional MAN passengers.

CFU and ZTH are both now twice weekly, which I'm not sure if they were previously with the just 2 based aircraft? I could be wrong.
 
According to TUIs timetable, the rest of May NBE departs at 0600. Was today's schedule supposed to be different?
CFU is also an afternoon departure.
It's still early in the season. Greece tends to attract fairly decent loads but not full this time of May as can be shown by both the CFU and ZTH taking additional MAN passengers.

CFU and ZTH are both now twice weekly, which I'm not sure if they were previously with the just 2 based aircraft? I could be wrong.
Yes both were 1 weekly last year.
 
Just seen an interesting little fact about the TUI base at CWL which is a 3 aircraft which i think shows the commitment from TUI to CWL.
It's bigger than quite a few bigger airports.
Glasgow 1 757 and 1 737
Stansted 1 737 and 1 A320 (Titan)
Luton 1 757
Edinburgh 1 737
Aberdeen 1 737 (Sunwing)
Belfast 1 737 (Sunwing)
Dublin 2 737 (Sunwing)
Newcastle, Doncaster and East Midlands all have 3 based 737s like Cardiff.
One downside is that it does seem to be the largest base without summer long haul.
 
TUI has expanded quite a lot recently over a number of bases. DSA has always been similar in size to CWL, except from they have now got long haul back. EDI I think only opened a few years back and TCX/LS are the dominant ones at GLA. I've always been surprised by the size of TUI at GLA as it's the main holiday airport for Scottish travellers.

What it does highlight however is that if you class South Wales and the Southwest as one catchment, TUI are very dominant as between BRS, CWL and EXT there are 8 short haul aircraft base, which is one more than BHX and 1 less than MAN & 2 less LGW. The only real Tour Operator competition is TCX with 4 aircraft between BRS and CWL.

With CWL being mentioned as one of the now larger bases without long haul, I thought i'd look into the figures and how they compare with 2007.

Cancun
Back in 2007 7633 passengers used to CWL service, the second lowest in the country with 1113 using BFS. DSA which had the same frequency carried 10149. (Bearing in mind the CWL service was split with DUB in 2007)
In total 349,880 people flew to Cancun in 2007 from the UK.

In 2018 13923 passengers used the BRS service, so near double what CWL carried in 2007.
Interestingly 846871 people flew to Cancun from the UK in 2018. Well over double that of 2007.

LGW, MAN and BHX have all over doubled their passengers on the route. CUN is now flown from 11 UK Airports whereas in 2007 it was 9.
VS stopped flying to CUN in 2019 which has likely left a big gap, but it's clearly Cancun has become more popular recently and there could be potential for it to return.

Orlando
Back in 2007 17,774 used CWL's service and 16849 used BRS service.
In 2006 CWL carried 38,080 passengers with no service from BRS.
Interestingly BHX only carried 14,006 passengers and DSA 10,634.

In 2018 10,504 used the BRS service.

In 2007 1,041,246 flew to Orlando Airport (MCO) and 837,837 to Sanford (SFB) giving total carried to Orlando at 1,878,983.
In 2018 1,482,725 flew to Orlando Airport (MCO) and 166,928 to Sanford (SFB) giving total carried to Orlando at 1,649,653

As you can see, although Orlando is a much bigger market than Cancun, there has been a decline in travel to Orlando since 2007. The drop in passengers using SFB is likely due to Travel City Direct/XL going out of business and TCX switching to MCO. 2018 give's a view of what TUI carry to Orlando, being the only UK operator now to Sanford.
I'm hoping someone can confirm as I thought TCD, MON and TOM were flying to SFB in 2006 & 2007? Which puzzles me why 2006 was so much higher than 2007.

In the grand scheme of things, it would be nice to think CWL and BRS could each support a weekly Orlando service. Running for 22 weeks from May until end of Sept is only just over 13,000 seats. Although if TUI were to increase SFB it would make more sense to double frequency from BRS and utilise the aircraft better than on long haul and being able to offer 10-11 day holidays.
 
I didn't realise that Edinburgh was such a new base! I know that it has a limited long haul programme from TUI 4 Orlando and 4 Cancun returns I believe. If TUI do continue to expand especially if they want to add more Orlando flights to the Southwest then maybe CWL could persuade them to add them to CWL instead of BRS.
Short haul wise though it might be a few years off or if TCX withdraws maybe sooner, maybe we'll see a 4th based aircraft eventually.
 
I didn't realise that Edinburgh was such a new base! I know that it has a limited long haul programme from TUI 4 Orlando and 4 Cancun returns I believe. If TUI do continue to expand especially if they want to add more Orlando flights to the Southwest then maybe CWL could persuade them to add them to CWL instead of BRS.
Short haul wise though it might be a few years off or if TCX withdraws maybe sooner, maybe we'll see a 4th based aircraft eventually.

The Edinburgh TOM base is fairly new – I believe they first based one of their own 737s in 2014. However, a summer service was provided some years prior by the likes of Astraeus, Monarch, and latterly Sunwing; with a (part-based) winter service being provided by TOM themselves. There is now a permanently based 737 year-round but the offering is still pretty limited for such a large airport (probably due to the presence of RYR/EZY/Jet2). TUI are a fair bit larger at GLA (where there is a similar sized Jet2 operation as well as TCX but less from EZY and very little from RYR), especially with regards to long-haul, but still not huge. I, amongst others, do truly believe a more generous l/h offering from EDI would do very well (especially to SFB) but TUI do seem reluctant for now.
 
TUI has expanded quite a lot recently over a number of bases. DSA has always been similar in size to CWL, except from they have now got long haul back. EDI I think only opened a few years back and TCX/LS are the dominant ones at GLA. I've always been surprised by the size of TUI at GLA as it's the main holiday airport for Scottish travellers.

What it does highlight however is that if you class South Wales and the Southwest as one catchment, TUI are very dominant as between BRS, CWL and EXT there are 8 short haul aircraft base, which is one more than BHX and 1 less than MAN & 2 less LGW. The only real Tour Operator competition is TCX with 4 aircraft between BRS and CWL.

With CWL being mentioned as one of the now larger bases without long haul, I thought i'd look into the figures and how they compare with 2007.

Cancun
Back in 2007 7633 passengers used to CWL service, the second lowest in the country with 1113 using BFS. DSA which had the same frequency carried 10149. (Bearing in mind the CWL service was split with DUB in 2007)
In total 349,880 people flew to Cancun in 2007 from the UK.

In 2018 13923 passengers used the BRS service, so near double what CWL carried in 2007.
Interestingly 846871 people flew to Cancun from the UK in 2018. Well over double that of 2007.

LGW, MAN and BHX have all over doubled their passengers on the route. CUN is now flown from 11 UK Airports whereas in 2007 it was 9.
VS stopped flying to CUN in 2019 which has likely left a big gap, but it's clearly Cancun has become more popular recently and there could be potential for it to return.

Orlando
Back in 2007 17,774 used CWL's service and 16849 used BRS service.
In 2006 CWL carried 38,080 passengers with no service from BRS.
Interestingly BHX only carried 14,006 passengers and DSA 10,634.

In 2018 10,504 used the BRS service.

In 2007 1,041,246 flew to Orlando Airport (MCO) and 837,837 to Sanford (SFB) giving total carried to Orlando at 1,878,983.
In 2018 1,482,725 flew to Orlando Airport (MCO) and 166,928 to Sanford (SFB) giving total carried to Orlando at 1,649,653

As you can see, although Orlando is a much bigger market than Cancun, there has been a decline in travel to Orlando since 2007. The drop in passengers using SFB is likely due to Travel City Direct/XL going out of business and TCX switching to MCO. 2018 give's a view of what TUI carry to Orlando, being the only UK operator now to Sanford.
I'm hoping someone can confirm as I thought TCD, MON and TOM were flying to SFB in 2006 & 2007? Which puzzles me why 2006 was so much higher than 2007.

In the grand scheme of things, it would be nice to think CWL and BRS could each support a weekly Orlando service. Running for 22 weeks from May until end of Sept is only just over 13,000 seats. Although if TUI were to increase SFB it would make more sense to double frequency from BRS and utilise the aircraft better than on long haul and being able to offer 10-11 day holidays.

You will know better than me I'm sure that in the 80s and for much of the 90s CWL had a generally larger Thomson presence than BRS. Furthermore, as you have stated, until the mid 'noughties' there were far more summer long haul leisure routes from CWL and at times BRS had none.

Things began to change when First Choice began their summer transatlantic programme from BRS with, from memory, Florida, Cuba (Varadero) and Dominican Republic the original routes.

When Thomson and First Choice merged the emphasis of the new group switched more to BRS especially with summer long-haul. Even the notorious TUI B 767 heavy landing in 2010 at BRS that caused 'substantial damage' to the airframe, and which the subsequent AAIB enquiry found was one of a pattern of 767 heavy landings on runway 09, did not lead (as many thought it might) to TUI abandoning its summer long haul programme at BRS. Even with 767s having to take on fuel at another UK airport, usually MAN, on outbound flights to Mexico the summer transatlantic flights continued for another three years until the 767s began to leave the TUI fleet.

After a barren 2014, 2015 and 2016 TUI resumed its summer long haul BRS flights with the B 787-8 in summer 2017, despite the outbound Cancun needing a fuel stop at times before leaving British shores. Past history shows that CWL can support such summer transatlantic flights in terms of filling seats. Tui's reasons for relying exclusively on BRS from Severnside for summer long-haul despite that airport's operational constraints might be regarded as abstruse, yet they must have a sound commercial reason. I just can't fathom what it is.
 
Tui's reasons for relying exclusively on BRS from Severnside for summer long-haul despite that airport's operational constraints might be regarded as abstruse, yet they must have a sound commercial reason. I just can't fathom out what it is.

It is a puzzling one but I think a possible reason would be the (possible?) ability to achieve higher yields out of BRS even where CWL can fill seats. Also, BRS is the larger base and TUI seem to be keen on using the 787 on short-haul out of BRS (not even done at BHX) so it would probably operationally preferable to keep it there – with regards to the physical airframe and the crews (although I’m not sure how TUI crew the BRS 787 flights). Just my thoughts of course.
 
I think with BRS for TUI they probably feel it's a big enough and valuable enough market and a market that they have to serve in case their competitors move in.
With CWL I always get the feeling that airlines don't see it that way and that they know that people from Wales will quite happily travel long distances to catch their flights so will go to the airlines without the airlines going to them.
As a general note about CWL I also get the feeling that lots of people prefer to go to England because they consider CWL inferior and English airports as superior because they are bigger and the constant comparison with BRS is an example of that.
 
I think with BRS for TUI they probably feel it's a big enough and valuable enough market and a market that they have to serve in case their competitors move in.
With CWL I always get the feeling that airlines don't see it that way and that they know that people from Wales will quite happily travel long distances to catch their flights so will go to the airlines without the airlines going to them.
As a general note about CWL I also get the feeling that lots of people prefer to go to England because they consider CWL inferior and English airports as superior because they are bigger and the constant comparison with BRS is an example of that.
I agree with your thoughts that TUI might be wary of someone like Jet2 looking at BRS. However, the substantial increase at CWL this summer, including an additional based aircraft, must show that TUI regards CWL as an important market too.

Foxlimayankee pointed out in a recent post that TUI has a dominant position in south west Britain with a total of eight aircraft based at CWL, BRS and EXT this summer (nearly nine if the 5 out of 7 day B788 is included). That compares with four Thomas Cook based aircraft, with none at all at EXT.

How many of the winter long-haul cruise and other Caribbean flights from CWL each winter are for TUI rather than TUI being a carrier for a cruise ship operator or operators? With that holiday sector CWL sees more flights than BRS which again might be surprising given the large number of older and comfortably off people residing in the West Country who have the time, means and desire to travel for leisure purposes.
 
TUI usually have 4 or 5 flights for their own cruises from CWL, operating to Montego Bay, and Barbados, they operate a further 4 for P&O. I think BRS became more prominent for long haul when TUI took over First Choice, and the then ceo of First Choice, became CEO of Thomson, mainly because First Choice had operated from BRS for a lot longer than they had from Cwl, and had a bigger presence there.
 
TUI usually have 4 or 5 flights for their own cruises from CWL, operating to Montego Bay, and Barbados, they operate a further 4 for P&O. I think BRS became more prominent for long haul when TUI took over First Choice, and the then ceo of First Choice, became CEO of Thomson, mainly because First Choice had operated from BRS for a lot longer than they had from Cwl, and had a bigger presence there.
Thanks for that. I agree about First Choice and BRS long haul. I made the same point in my post #433 above.
 
However, the substantial increase at CWL this summer, including an additional based aircraft, must show that TUI regards CWL as a
I was more referring to the long haul side. Short haul wise TUI do seem happy with CWL. I think what helps is the popularity of cruises in the area. Hopefully they'll keep growing the short haul side.
As for Jet2 if/when they end up in the area it'll interesting to see if they create new customers or just steal other airlines customers and how TUI would react.
 
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A family of 4 flew back from Heraklion with TUI on 4th June but there autistic son unfortunately was left behind ill after being taken ill without their knowledge. It seems that the mother thought their son was at the front of the aircraft after being taken away to see the doctor. It was only when they got to Cardiff that they realised he'd been left behind.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/...mooOKIGEf9zYOpnUzijdkZYglyDuEpQt9766eDtXgtnGY
 

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9 trips in 9 days done 70 miles walked and over 23-00 photos taken with a large number taken at 20mph or above. Heavy rain on 1 day only
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