Ryanair

[Jerry]

I'm genuinely surprised by this as i was fearing they would drop it due to the low prices i've seen on the route but it looks like Malta will continue into winter 2020/21 operated by Malta Air. Nothing onsale but the schedule is loaded up in the app!

 

[Jerry]

Malta is now onsale for the winter 2020/21
Wednesday MLA-CWL 15.30-17.55 CWL-MLA 18.20-22.45
Sunday MLA-CWL 07.40-10.05 CWL-MLA 10.30-14.55
Flights are operated by Malta Air.

 

[Jerry]

Although Cardiff wasn't mentioned in the dried fruit forum post I referenced in the Exeter forum could Ryanair be an option for Cardiff to takeover Belfast as well as an option for Dublin?

 

[Jarvo]

As far as Dublin is concerned, surely FR would be the only real option. 1x daily return on their 189 seat 737 is just under 138k seats for sale. I haven't got the time right now to work out/ find 2019's figures but for 2018 on Wiki it's just under 108k... Which would surely increase when the FR factor is taken into account. Could be a nice sure bet for the airline considering their presence at DUB already wouldn't mean much accommodation would need to be made to set the route up.

 

[Jerry]

I really do hope Ryanair picks up Dublin as it would be great to see more of them at the airport. A daily evening flight would do well i'd have thought. Yes there would be loss of connectivity through the Aer Lingus codeshare but KLM and Qatar Airways may well pick up some of that slack (Etihad codeshare often appeared on the Flybe flights).

 

[aviatorconcorde]

People in my workplace love Ryanair and love going to Dublin as it’s so close. I’m sure it would be a success.

 

[Jerry]

All Ryanair routes from Cardiff are now suspended until the 1st May.

 

[Jerry]

I'm not surprised by it but Ryanair have now cancelled my flight to Barcelona for the end of April. Disappointed as i was really looking forward to flying with them from Cardiff finally, but it's understandable. Maybe i'll rebook for October or look at Malta for the winter.

 

[geoff]

Jerry as you have mentioned a couple of times lately, you were worried that FR might be one of the carriers that would leave CWL in the future if things get any tougher for the air industry, after O'Leary's comments on the BBC yesterday, I am inclined to agree with your worries. His forecast of 3000 redundancies, and closure of both UK and European bases the future doesn't look bright. I think Faro might go, as they were going to close that base previously and then changed their mind I don't know how many planes they have at Malaga or Barcelona, but those routes could be in danger of being lost also.It is certainly going to be a very tough job getting back to anywhere near where CWL's figures were before the pandemic, we can only hope for the best.

 

[Jerry]

I suppose we can only hope that they don't do a complete withdrawal from the airport but it is something that I fear.
Faro and Malaga are probably the most under threat as Faro is a small base and Malaga is only June to September but Vueling would still be on the route hopefully so it might help them.
Barcelona and Malta I hope will have the best chance of remaining.
Passenger numbers wise all the progress since 2013 will be wiped out although the airport itself might be in a better position than back then without a big list of investment to undertake.
I suppose for the management it'll be a case of what strategy they employ to get the airport back on course and if they can actually attract airlines new and current to add routes and add frequency on current routes to build the passenger numbers back up in the aftermath of all this.

 

[geoff]

Being Government owned CWL could well be in a better position than some of the smaller privately owned airports, let's hope for the best.

 

[Jerry]

Being government owned does give them I think more security but will it help in attracting airlines or getting an airline like Ryanair not to cull everything and leave? I don't think it will personally. And of course there's always the question of how much more money can the Welsh government loan to the airport for things like route development especially in what will most likely be a recession in the future and coming up to an election where I can imagine the Tories especially will make any extra money into a weapon to beat Labour with.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Looking at the flight schedules and what is on sale for the rest of the year;

Malta returns 25th Oct until 24th Mar
Barcelona returns 7th July until 24th Oct
Faro returns 3rd Jul until 23rd Oct
Malaga returns 3rd Jul until 31st Aug as twice weekly, the Wednesday flight appears to be cut.

All other flights not included but previously released are shown as sold out.

No sign of any summer 2021 yet

 

[TOM100]

Very short AGP season

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

I would argue that even that is optimistic.

 

[Selig]

I had an e-mail this morning from Ryanair that they are starting flights again, commencing July 1, with a 1,000 flights daily across Europe, subject to government restrictions being lifted.
There are 27 flights resuming from Bristol, but only 1 flight survives from Cardiff, which is Faro.

 

[Jerry]

Yet Barcelona and Malaga are still onsale. Part of me is surprised that they haven't cut everything.

 

[Selig]

Faro is twice weekly, starting Fri Jul 3 and Mon July 6, ending Fri Oct 23.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Watching MOL's press conference he said bases inc UK are under review and they are talking to airports to achieve deals, he went onto say they would expand at new or existing bases (especially those where they have been affected by other airlines going bust) if deals can be done.

Above is a recent post in another airport thread on F4A. It sounds as if Ryanair is making itself available to the highest bidders.

 

[Jerry]

So a case of can't the airport write a big enough cheque if they are minded to try and keep Ryanair.