Helvetic Airways

[TheLocalYokel]

I thought it had been 3 flights per week from the beginning?

The route started as Cardiff-Zurich last April at 4 x weekly and ran at that schedule right through last summer but the loads were extremely low.

When the winter schedules started in November it was reduced to 3 x weekly.

Loads were still very poor so at short notice Helvetic added a Bristol stop in both directions from early December.

 

[big g]

Not the daily they were hoping to go to, but glad they will be sticking around for the summer. The route is slowly getting off the ground, but I guess the winter is a tough time to start for any airline.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

January 2012

CAA stats now available for the first full month of the extended route - the inclusion of BRS in both directions.

477 passengers travelled between Zurich and Bristol with 251 travelling between Zurich and Cardiff. This is a total of 728 travelling between Zurich and Severnside.

Not fantastic figures but January is invariably a poor month for UK air travel and there are certainly signs for optimism.

 

[Aviador]

Not a great figure from Cardiff but the airline seems to be committed to the continuation of the route via Bristol. At the end of the day, who cares if it's via Bristol , it's a valuable route and Cardiff airport needs to go all out to support it.

 

[alphagolf]

Not a great figure from Cardiff but the airline seems to be committed to the continuation of the route via Bristol. At the end of the day, who cares if it's via Bristol , it's a valuable route and Cardiff airport needs to go all out to support it.

It will be interesting too if BRS can build on its figures in the coming months:

December - 343
January - 477

Lets see if we can hit the 600 mark in February!!

Talking of Zurich does anyone know how many pax are using the Blue Islands service via Jersey, pax numbers to Jersey are doing really well since Blue Islands came on board, Jan 2011 - 1,165, Jan 2012 - 2,008! Are all the additional pax just Jersey or is there a substantial amount connecting to other destinations in Jersey? Just a thought if anyone has any info!

alphagolf

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I understand that Blue Islands are doing well generally from BRS with conjecture that equipment might be upgraded and/or additonal rotations provided.

I have no idea how many passengers carry on to Zurich.

 

[big g]

The Blue Island is operating 99% on most flights with a majority of pax for JER but pax for ZRH is very low.

I guess the direct flight from to from BRS-ZRH doesn't help but the Helvetic is slowly getting round the business comunity, just need them to code share with Swiss to offer onward connections and strengthen the Star network alongside SN Brussels.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The Blue Island route - change at Jersey - to Zurich seems to take about three and a half hours in total.

There's also KLM and AF, I suppose, by changing at AMS and CDG respectively, or easyJet to GVA and on by train.

Before easyJet began the Geneva route my wife and I once travelled there and back from BRS via AMS with KLM. It meant a couple of hours stopover at AMS but was better than flogging up to Heathrow where the road journey would have eaten up most of that two hours anyway.

Blue Islands are showing fully booked today and Sunday on their BRS-JER leg, and on a random day I checked in early March on one of the two rotations that day.

As for Helvetic codeshare with Swiss, I understand that frequencies might have to be increased for that to happen which might not be out of the question in the future if the route is well supported.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Helvetic between Zurich and Bristol February 2012

CAA stats how that 611 people flew the route in February plus 330 between Cardiff and Zurich.

The combined total of 941 was up from 728 in January with the ratio of 'Bristol' passengers to 'Cardiff' passengers roughly in similar proportions in the two months under review.

If the route can build steadily I see no reason why the combined monthly load factor can't get up to around 75% later in the summer.

The February total would need to rise by about 77% to reach a 75% load factor - up from 36 to 64. The Helvetic F100s on the route are now 85-seaters following the launch of the business class programme.

 

[big g]

60 pax on the outbound yesterday, it's getting there!

 

[Aviador]

60 pax on the outbound yesterday, it's getting there!

Was that just the Bristol load then I take it? Good to see the route building some momentum.

 

[big g]

60 pax on the outbound yesterday, it's getting there!

Was that just the Bristol load then I take it? Good to see the route building some momentum.

No, 23 CWL 37 BRS, but improving loads.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

2012 to date Zurich-Bristol-Cardiff

The first full four months of the 3 x weekly Helvetic route to CWL taking in BRS both ways en route have seen the following loads on the 85-seat F100 (business section reduces the normal 100-seat capacity).

I've shown the monthly passenger loads in three columns, on the left between BRS and ZRH, in the middle betwen CWL and ZRH, and on the right the combined load.

January 477 251 728

February 611 330 941

March 554 285 839

April 639 345 984

The April figure gives an average combined load of just under 38/load factor of just over 44.5%.

The winter and early spring have revealed a pattern of passenger numbers roughly 2:1 in BRS's favour which is probably not a surprise given the make-up and size of the respective catchments. It will be interesting to see if summer alters this load balance in any way.

It would also be fascinating to learn how the progress to date of the combined route, plus forward bookings, relates to the airline's business plan for it, not that we shall ever know.

 

[conns757]

Helvetic on sale for BRS ZRH this Winter.

Times show to/from ZRH and no time to go over the water.

cons

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Many thanks for that conns757.

Very good news for BRS but not, it seems, for CWL.

I can't find the English edition of Helvetic's website at the moment, only the German one (Helvetic AG) which appears to show the flight arriving at BRS from ZRH at 1810 and departing for ZRH at 1850.

A test booking for CWL seems to show no flights after October although my German is pretty limited.

 

[Aviador]

Helvetic Airways will probably think they will be able to keep the majority of the Cardiff based passengers even by operating just from Bristol and they're probably right. The route has performed much better from Bristol. I presume just by operating the flight into Bristol will make it cheaper for them too which will in tern help them to improve the routes yield.

 

[alphagolf]

Many thanks for that conns757.

Very good news for BRS but not, it seems, for CWL.

I can't find the English edition of Helvetic's website at the moment, only the German one (Helvetic AG) which appears to show the flight arriving at BRS from ZRH at 1810 and departing for ZRH at 1850.

A test booking for CWL seems to show no flights after October although my German is pretty limited.

Bottom of the booking page, click on the UK flag to switch to english!

alphagolf

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Bottom of the booking page, click on the UK flag to switch to English!

Thank you, alphagolf.

June figures for ZRH were BRS 829 and CWL 402 - a combined load factor of 55%.

This year the monthly totals are - left to right: BRS CWL Combined:

January 477 251 728

February 611 330 941

March 554 285 839

April 639 345 984

May 707 387 1094

June 829 402 1231

In 2011 when the route was CWL-ZRH with no BRS stop the best month for passenger figures was July when 1131 were carried. In June 2011 773 passengers travelled. It must be remembered though that last year it operated 4 x weekly whereas the combined route this year operates 3 x weekly.

1231 against 773 is progress especially in view of the reduced weekly rotations this year (though the additional costs of a double drop must be factored in of course) but CWL actually performed worse this June than last, even taking into account the fewer rotations, with the route mainly driven by BRS, as has been the case all year.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

July 2012

CAA stats show the loads continue to build though one would hope so in the main summer months.

In July 986 passengers flew between BRS and ZRH and 536 between CWL and ZRH, giving a total of 1522. This gives an overall load factor of 69% and is slowly reaching the sort of load factor I mentioned in my post in March this year - see quote.

If the route can build steadily I see no reason why the combined monthly load factor can't get up to around 75% later in the summer.

The monthly passenger figures this year are (BRS, CWL, Total):

January 477 251 728

February 611 330 941

March 554 285 839

April 639 345 984

May 707 387 1094

June 829 402 1231

July 986 536 1522

The CWL sector increased by over 33% compared with June whilst the BRS sector increased by 19%. The combined load increased by 24%.

 

[tpm]

Flew with Helvetic to Zurich and back for the first time (Fri/Wed). Very pleasant experience, cheerful crew. Drinks and snacks were extra, but at fair prices. About 50 pax each way.

Bit of an odd airline though, how Bristol fits into their route network is a bit of a mystery to me. They "fly to places that still want to be discovered", where the "beer is served warm", etc. They made nice little booklets for their destinations (Cardiff/Wales, Inverness/Scotland, Shannon(?)/Ireland, Apulia). Didn't see one for Bristol / the South West though. Fleet is 6 Fokker-100, they must be doing a lot of charter / private charter work on the side (or maybe their scheduled ops are on the side).

And they seem to have moved the language selector on the website to the top right corner now (I sent them an e-mail about that a few months back) :s_thumbsup