Archive Eastern Airways at Cardiff Airport

[geoff]

Jerry you are correct, I agree with your views on Eastern possibilities.

 

[geoff]

I see that the Eastern aircraft that took the Dragons to Dublin earlier has returned to CWL empty, and is parked on the South side, must be taking Cardiff City to Manchester tomorrow, to play against Blackburn. The sporting fixtures have certainly generated some air traffic this weekend.

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

Aircraft handled by Global Trek Aviation.

 

[geoff]

Global Trek seem to have been very successful in the handling of aircraft, for sport teams, most of which used to use the main terminal.

 

[Jerry]

I see that the Eastern aircraft that took the Dragons to Dublin

That is surprising as they usually use Bristol i believe, hopefully we'll see more Dragons charters!

 

[geoff]

Jerry, perhaps it's because of the reduction of flights at BRS, and inconvenient flight times, let's hope they use CWL more in future, because the Dragons tend to use scheduled flights mostly.

 

[Jerry]

Yes could be Dublin at BRS is only daily i think at the moment and they might want to keep the players in their bubble as much as possible and a private charter may well help with that more than a scheduled flight.

 

[Jerry]

Yes could be Dublin at BRS is only daily i think at the moment and they might want to keep the players in their bubble as much as possible and a private charter may well help with that more than a scheduled flight.

 

[Starflyer]

BHD being announced tomorrow, apparently. J41.

 

[Jerry]

Not surprised and good news of course but personally I was hoping for Aer lingus.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

If BHD is a success then hopefully Eastern will sit up and realise the potential in CWL. They are already starting to feel the pinch of competition against loganair and cutting back which may free up aircraft.
Hopefully prices aren't too eye watering though if the J41 is being used!

 

[geoff]

I wonder if it will be the aircraft used on the Valley service, do they have any J41 aircraft based at BHD? There is no competition for them at CWL, let's hope the route is a success.

 

[Jerry]

Timings here

https://twitter.com/x/status/1313574397312151554

 

[Jerry]

It looks like Monday to Thursday it's in the middle of the Anglesey flights on Friday it's after the evening flight and well Sunday it's the only flight the aircraft operates.
It'll be interesting to see if the aircraft and crew are actually based in Cardiff ormaybe rotated via say Southampton.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

So it could be said that this route is indirectly based on a lack of APD, ie the aircraft is at CWL to operate the PSO Anglesey service which doesn't attract APD. Were that not the case there would almost certainly be no Anglesey service, no aircraft at CWL to operate to BHD, ergo no BHD service.

There is an argument there that CWL might use to their advantage if they do so skilfully.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

So it could be said that this route is indirectly based on a lack of APD, ie the aircraft is at CWL to operate the PSO Anglesey service which doesn't attract APD. Were that not the case there would almost certainly be no Anglesey service, no aircraft at CWL to operate to BHD, ergo no BHD service.

There is an argument there that CWL might use to their advantage if they do so skilfully.

It makes sense to utilise the aircraft. Previously it was said the WG weren't keen on the VLY operator utilising the aircraft for other commercial gain not linked to the PSO, which also could have had an impact on OTP should the aircraft be delayed on the non PSO route.
Now i wouldn't be surprised given the current situation that the WG and CWL have actively encouraged the use of the aircraft.

I would imagine that 2 sets of crew are now required, and based on the job advert discussed before, that they are now CWL based crew rather than positioned in. However I don't think the same crew could work all flights during one day, so would require the 2 sets of crew to operate say VLY & BHD in the morning and the other crew VLY in the afternoon, thus not fully utilising one set of crew. Chance for another late evening flight maybe? They have the crew, they have the aircraft....

 

[Jerry]

That's actually a good point about no APD being an enabler of the route.

 

[Jerry]

They have the crew, they have the aircraft....

Evening slot could be ideal for Glasgow?

 

[Cambrian]

A J41, shades of the old Manx airlines in the 1990,s.

 

[Starflyer]

More than just shades of Manx Airlines - they're the same airframes! Manx's G-WAWR is still flying as G-MAJD with Eastern and G-MAJA which was with Manx for a bit is still flying under its original registration with Eastern.