Cardiff: Route Development & Rumours

[Severn]

Talking about a potential route from Cardiff to Paris, I put together a table with the weekly departures from all UK airports to Paris airports (CDG, ORY, BVA) during a week in August 2025. This might give an understanding of where CWL stands vs other airports in terms of size and which potential operators there are.

 

[Jerry]

That chart definitely shows the challenge CWL will face in getting Paris back. Only realistic options there are Ryanair and Air France.

 

[StanMan]

Although very unlikely, in terms of options, let's not forget that Vueling has a base at Orly and serves around 20 destinations from there including LGW and DUB. Just sayin'!

 

[Jerry]

Although very unlikely, in terms of options, let's not forget that Vueling has a base at Orly and serves around 20 destinations from there including LGW and DUB. Just sayin'!

Well they did operate the route before and weren't that successful on it. Though if I remember correctly like Eastern Airways the lead up to the route was short.

 

[Nuffsaid]

A CDG route needs onward connectivity. Air France or Hop are the only options available and with easyJet over the bridge mopping up most tourists it’s going to have to be them.

 

[Jerry]

A CDG route needs onward connectivity. Air France or Hop are the only options available and with easyJet over the bridge mopping up most tourists it’s going to have to be them.

Which would be a big task for the Welsh government. I do also wonder if the whole Eastern Airways Orly debacle won't help with persuading them. Also when it comes to onward connectivity Air France might just prefer to funnel that through Amsterdam.

 

[Em0866]

For what it's worth, I think Vueling on the Orly route the 321 was too big and with Eastern the fares were probably too expensive. A smaller aircraft to CDG it should be but as has been said easyjet across the channel is killing off any hope of a successful reintroduction onthis route.

 

[Jerry]

For what it's worth, I think Vueling on the Orly route the 321 was too big and with Eastern the fares were probably too expensive. A smaller aircraft to CDG it should be but as has been said easyjet across the channel is killing off any hope of a successful reintroduction onthis route.

Easyjet is a big massive problem for Cardiff it's them more so than Bristol Airport that are the challenge but Flybe did show that there was demand for routes like Edinburgh and Paris even with a strong Easyjet presence and I do think that today's events show why Wales needs its own direct connections to Europe and European hubs.

 

[Em0866]

Easyjet and BRS are the problem, they go hand in hand imho. CWL have an uphill struggle to get CDG and other routes back that have not yet returned. I really hope some of those routes do reappear but passengers in South Wales these days tend to look at BRS which includes easyjet and other airlines without considering CWL. That's the other problem.

 

[Jerry]

other airlines without considering CWL.

That is partly down to CWL not having the routes or the frequency on some of the routes it has. It's a catch 22 problem.

Bristol and Easyjet aren't going away and will always be a preferred option by many but if CWL doesn't have the routes it can't offer an alternative to the people that want to fly from Cardiff and to people who want to fly into Wales from abroad.

 

[Jerry]

This is data from the ONS concerning international visitors to Wales in 2023
"Wales received 892,000 visits in 2023, down 13% on 2019 but up 30% on 2022, whilst spend reached £458m in 2023, down 11% on 2019, but up 16% on 2022. Wales remains the only UK nation to not recover spend figures from 2019."
Top 5 countries for Visit and Spend to Wales for 2023
CountryTotal visits (000)Total spend (£m)
Irish Republic 142. 47
USA. 109. 68
Germany. 102. 43
France. 67. 25
Australia. 54. 37
For 2024 so far
"

• Inbound visits to Wales reached 445,000 visits from Jan-Jun 2024, up 10% vs 2023 but still 4% below 2019 levels.
• Inbound spend to Wales reached £203m, up 8% vs 2019 and up 7% vs 2023."

International inbound visits and spend to Wales [HTML] | GOV.WALES

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) collects information about passengers entering and leaving the UK, and has been running continuously since 1961.

www.gov.wales

 

[Red Flyer]

Interesting reading all the experts commenting about how or what the airport should be doing. Maybe now is the time to apply for the chance to put all these ideas into practice.

 

[Jerry]

Interesting reading all the experts commenting about how or what the airport should be doing. Maybe now is the time to apply for the chance to put all these ideas into practice.

Are we not allowed an opinion as aviation enthusiasts? Enthusiasts that want Cardiff Airport to do well by the way and be thriving. And lets be honest the conversation isn't about fanciful routes like Istanbul or airlines like Delta coming to Cardiff it's more about essentially the basics many believe that the airport should have ie a daily flight to Edinburgh and Paris 3 daily to Amsterdam being restored and a low cost airline on Mallorca and hope that Cardiff can get back above the 1 million passenger mark. I'm sorry if you feel people shouldn't be hoping or expecting for that to happen.

 

[Starflyer]

Maybe now is the time to apply for the chance to put all these ideas into practice.

Now there's a loaded statement if ever there was one.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Interesting reading all the experts commenting about how or what the airport should be doing. Maybe now is the time to apply for the chance to put all these ideas into practice.

This is an enthusiast site, consisting mainly of people that want CWL to do well and grow.
Surely no-one can deny why questions can't be asked about why CWL is one of the few airports that haven't recovered since covid in the way other Airports can, especially when such popular routes are now a shadow of what they were (EDI & AMS), or non-existent (PMI with a low cost & CDG).

 

[Starflyer]

All very fair questions.

Tomorrow's another day, so let's see what that brings.

 

[Jerry]

All very fair questions.

Tomorrow's another day, so let's see what that brings.

Is that a hint that something is going to happen CWL wise?

 

[Jerry]

This is the part about route development from the Welsh government subsidy submission

 

[geoff]

I hope CWL can persuade KLM to reinstate the overnight Amsterdam flight, and work hard to re establish a route to Paris CDG, that would be a good boost to their forward looking ambitions.

 

[Jerry]

I hope CWL can persuade KLM to reinstate the overnight Amsterdam flight, and work hard to re establish a route to Paris CDG, that would be a good boost to their forward looking ambitions.

Well considering they both fit into both categories I'd expect they would be priorities. It'll be interesting to see what sort of scheme they put in place.