Cardiff: Route Development & Rumours

[Jerry]

Italy does seem to be a focus for the airport. Just seen on Twitter that the airport development team (i assume its them) are heading to Italy with @KLM UK alongside @visitwalestrade and @investwales t
oo attend a UKinItaly (UK embassy) event to promote ways of travelling to Wales by air. Maybe some more Italian routes in the future!
https://twitter.com/Cardiff_Airport/status/1006568312875175936?s=19

 

[Jerry]

Cardiff is on a list of 18 potential domestic airports that Easyjet would consider offering from Heathrow if/when Runway 3 gets built.
http://www.anna.aero/2018/06/14/eas...nference-18-domestic-destinations-identified/

 

[aviatorconcorde]

Cardiff is on a list of 18 potential airport that Easyjet would consider offering from Heathrow if/when Runway 3 gets built.
http://www.anna.aero/2018/06/14/eas...nference-18-domestic-destinations-identified/

Mixed feelings on this, as a stand alone route to Cardiff this would never work. I imagine Easyjet are smarter than this though and have plans to put an interlining feed agreement in place (Emirates, Star Alliance and Skyteam carriers possibly?).

 

[Jerry]

Mixed feelings on this, as a stand alone route to Cardiff this would never work. I imagine Easyjet are smarter than this though and have plans to put an interlining feed agreement in place (Emirates, Star Alliance and Skyteam carriers possibly?).

They said that they would introduce Worldwide by Easyjet to allow onward connections to non OneWorld carriers. I would love to see Easyjet flying into Cardiff but i doubt it'll ever be from Heathrow.

 

[Jerry]

Mentioned in this article that Primera Air are possibly looking at an airport to the west for transatlantic flights. Cardiff? Or Bristol? Though 'to the west' could mean Dublin! Lol
https://www.ttgmedia.com/wtm/wtm-insights/primera-air-taking-off-with-confidence-14885

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Mentioned in this article that Primera Air are possibly looking at an airport to the west for transatlantic flights. Cardiff? Or Bristol?
https://www.ttgmedia.com/wtm/wtm-insights/primera-air-taking-off-with-confidence-14885

After the problems there have been at BHX, would CWL (or BRS) want the possible hassle?

 

[Jerry]

After the problems there have been at BHX, would CWL (or BRS) want the possible hassle?

I doubt it very much! Also transatlantic wise i'm not sure they'd be right for CWL with a lack of connections. Though it would be interesting to see if the LR version would have the range for Orlando.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

The main issues at BHX are the poor planning of their late aircraft deliveries which basically shot their schedule to pieces. Hopefully lessons would be learned and once deliveries arrive things will improve. Also the way they have handled the situation afterwards hasn't painted them in a good light at all. That being said, one would hope they reign it in and look to improve things as things settle down. From what I've read the CDG and STN operation has been fairly stable, with the exception of the National 757 reliability issues.
Would they be good for CWL? Possibly, if the operation ups it's game and improvements are made to Customer Service.
They do mention that BHX is still going to be happening in 2019, along with STN ops and a growing CDG schedule (LH)
Other forums are slating that Primera won't return to BHX as they've burned themselves out completely and may not recover from that. That could well have impacted the Wales and Southwest catchment they may have used them at BHX. Given that Norwegian have certain areas of the UK and Ireland covered from a low-cost long haul, with the Midlands, South Wales and Southwest pretty much uncovered, it would be bizarre for them to switch further South.
The question would be, BRS or CWL? BRS for catchment, CWL for operational capability. I would be interested to know how the A321 would perform off BRS' runway.
As for connections, I can't see any legacy Airline that would come to CWL given the reduction in UK regions so options would be limited. JetBlue would be good, but they are rumoured to be interested in premium heavy routes.

 

[Jerry]

I suppose from CWL's view they may be the only option they have, obviously if they've been approached, to attract a transatlantic route and there is also the potential that they could add to some of the european sun routes as well. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

 

[Marko1]

Hmmm Bristol is mentioned in the article but I'm not sure about this one. Maybe JetBlue may be better

 

[Jerry]

Hmmm Bristol is mentioned in the article but I'm not sure about this one. Maybe JetBlue may be better

Yep by the person who wrote it. BRS would be the favourite naturally.
I think IF JetBlue launched TATL they may well just go to the traditional markets rather than opening up new routes.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Yep by the person who wrote it. BRS would be the favourite naturally.
I think IF JetBlue launched TATL they may well just go to the traditional markets rather than opening up new routes.

I think that Bristol was probably the favourite for Qatar in many people's eyes but it didn't work out that way so a Severnside TATL route might go to CWL as well. An airline with connectivity in North America, really meaning a legacy carrier, would obviously be far the best option but, as Foxlimyankee points out, they have receded in the English regions including at BHX so smaller airports such as CWL or BRS would likely be a long way down any pecking order.

I'm not sure that a point to point service to the New York area would be particularly attractive to customers whether from CWL or BRS.

 

[Jerry]

I'm not sure that a point to point service to the New York area would be particularly attractive to customers whether from CWL or BRS

I think it would be partially attractive for some for the convenience. From the Welsh governments point of view it would also need to be attractive to American and maybe if Canada is included Canadian tourists whereas at the moment Primera is virtually an unknown over there. In the ideal world Delta I'd have thought would be the prefered option but if the airport does want trans Atlantic routes they may have no other option but Primera would be a gamble.

 

[Jerry]

LCC or Transatlantic?
What do people think is more important for the airports future? There is a social media group that i post on regularly and a lot of the time transatlantic routes come up and get debated and it gets me wondering which is the more important goal. 1 or 2 transatlantic routes potentially coming to a daily flight but giving Wales better connections to the US and attracting tourists or a base from an airline like Vueling or Ryanair that might be more holiday focused but would provide an extra 3 flights a day at least better passenger numbers increase and the potential of a few European city routes in countries that might be more aware of Wales.

 

[Sean123]

Good question Jerry, for my own preference I'd like to see more choices & frequency on leisure routes so it's the lcc for me!

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

LCC or Transatlantic?
What do people think is more important for the airports future? There is a social media group that i post on regularly and a lot of the time transatlantic routes come up and get debated and it gets me wondering which is the more important goal. 1 or 2 transatlantic routes potentially coming to a daily flight but giving Wales better connections to the US and attracting tourists or a base from an airline like Vueling or Ryanair that might be more holiday focused but would provide an extra 3 flights a day at least better passenger numbers increase and the potential of a few European city routes in countries that might be more aware of Wales.

For the economy I would suggest the trans Atlantic route with a wide body as would open up Wales with a direct US link.

Airport wise I would say a LCC with one aircraft providing up to 3 flights a day. This would provide greater number of jobs, the greater number of boost in passenger numbers. It may also lead to further expansion from said airline or others in competition. It may also provide a better desired effect in European airlines taking note and potentially adding new routes from Cardiff.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

If the airport was in the private sector the owners would be looking at footfall, footfall. They would need it to feed their ancillary revenue streams such as car parking and retail. With CWL being government-owned their owners take a wider view and, partly for party political reasons, look upon the airport as a driver of the Welsh economy as well as a facility that they hope will eventually become profitable.

A daily transatlantic rotation would provide less revenue for the airport than three or four Ryanair, Vueling-type daily rotations.

If I was the owner of CWL in the private sector I would value a 3-4 aircraft Ryanair base as far more important than transatlantic and would even trade it for the Qatar route because the former would make more money for my airport. I'd like both of course but if it was one or the other which is what is being asked here.

Whether the WG will ever sell a majority share, or even the entire share, into the private sector looks unlikely at the moment but situations change and political administrations change.

I appreciate that there is something of a nationalist (in a positive sense) perspective to this because every country wants to put its best face to the world and a thriving airport with a decent network is usually part of that countenance.

If the WG is prepared to finance long-haul routes as well as looking for an important low-cost partner then fine, if that is what it wants to do. I doubt that a private sector owner would be able to do that at CWL though.

Addendum

Just read your post, mathers, after I submitted mine. I think that in essence we are saying the same thing.

 

[StanMan]

So, to summarise Mathers response to Jerry's question,the answer is 'both please'!
Seriously, Mathers response is quite correct - the different markets are almost certainly to have quite different drivers and impacts.
Any short term long haul option probably has to be the USA or seasonal to Canada but I guess the question is where is the next expansion market that an could LCC serve from Cardiff that would be a commercial success? Another holiday destination such as Croatia or somewhere such as Poland / Latvia where there would be more of a market from EU workers and their families?
The success (or otherwise) of the Doha service may dictate ......

 

[Jerry]

Both would be nice!
I do think though that LCC expansion is more important at the moment to increase the airports numbers to get back over the 2 million passengers mark again and make it more profitable as a business as well. Tinkermans post on the General thread is intriguing and I'm really hoping it's something new from either Ryanair or Vueling rather than the rumoured 4th aircraft from Flybe.
Expansion wise i think there can be more frequencies added on the Spanish routes and the Italian routes and Southern France is something that is missing from the airports route network. Eastern Europe might be tricky but i think Prague and maybe Krakow may possibly be future targets for the airport. Another area where the airport only has chartered flights is the Greek islands.

 

[superking]

Forget the Greek islands in the winter,as just about every thing shuts for 6 months of the year from the end of October. The 1 destination that does well all the year round is Athens,and that does well from all the airports in the UK that operate flights there.LCC flights is the answer as the charter flights don't seem to grow much.I don't know which LCC would operate these flights from CWL.Easy would be a no,but I would never rule out FR for doing some thing like that. They never fail to surprise people in what they do or how they do things.