Cardiff: Route Development & Rumours

[Samdorob]

On paper the route didn’t do well. I’d put that down to price, frequency and timings. If we had something that replicated the Belfast route (price & frequency) it would probably do well.

 

[Jerry]

On paper the route didn’t do well. I’d put that down to price, frequency and timings. If we had something that replicated the Belfast route (price & frequency) it would probably do well.

The comparison with Belfast was stark.

 

[CAN&I]

Aer Lingus Regional have at least offered decent timings and competitive pricing compared to options at Bristol. Loganair, on the other hand, positioned itself as a more "premium" product with the pricing to match.

The irony is that the route was starting to find a market despite its lousy timings and was up by 9% over 2025 as opposed to falling by 20% during 2024, but this was as a result of more sale offers and less tinkering with the route and reducing capacity over the summer months in 2025 compared with 2024. Unfortunately the price point where customers showed interest was not at the level Loganair wanted to offer long-term. The same could be said of the short-lived Eastern Airways route to Paris Orly. Premium products just don't work from Cardiff where an abundance of low-cost options are available elsewhere.

Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus have demonstrated that there is a market at Cardiff provided its served the right way. Even if the timings are not great, customers will hold their noses provided the fares meet expectations. More people appear to be willing to to justify the inconvenience of a late departure for the sake of a £20 seat, far more difficult to do so when you're forking out £150+ each way.

The problem is there is only Aer Lingus and Ryanair who could reasibly offer such a route today. Its not unreasonable to assume that given the options at Bristol, a CWL-EDI route would not appear highly on either airlines' priority lists right now.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus have demonstrated that there is a market at Cardiff provided its served the right way. Even if the timings are not great, customers will hold their noses provided the fares meet expectations. More people appear to be willing to to justify the inconvenience of a late departure for the sake of a £20 seat, far more difficult to do so when you're forking out £150+ each way.

This hits the nail on the head.

CWL was obviously way down the priority list of Loganair routes. Jonathan Hinkles publicly stated that CWL was just simply not bringing the money in to operate profitably for an airline like LG. But i'm not convinced they really gave it a proper go because they were so focused on cherry picking Flybe and eventually Blue Islands routes. Historically the numbers stack up on CWL-EDI but the timings LG offered simply weren't attractive when EZY offer so many options from BRS.
It seems EZY are likely trying to push LG out of SOU and they may struggle even more to compete on regional routes against the big boys. It could mean that they could be persuaded to come back as possible future route options diminish.
EI could be persuaded to operate some kind of W pattern such as BHD-CWL-EDI-CWL-BHD, but not sure how their financials are doing to risk it as well as aircraft availability.
If, and the usual big IF, Ryanair do add more or even base then a route like EDI would fit in well with their schedules and can be operated by the same crews on a double sector like CWL-ALC & EDI. It adds the complications of UK based registered aircraft though. It would give FR the opportunity to compete with EZY BRS-EDI.

I wonder if consolidation of regional flying with happen even further with an EI-R and Loganair merger/buyout.

 

[Jerry]

Qatar Airways Doha route started in May 2018 but hadn't even been going 2 years before it was ended due to the pandemic. It did well in the summer months less so in winter. It's a shame they haven't returned. I doubt it will tbh but hope to be proved wrong or that in the future a different airline will take on a ME3 route.
Simply Flying Article

The article mentions a load factor of 59% but it also needs to be mentioned that popular destinations like Dubai weren't available atm due to dispute and blockade Qatar was under.

In the 20 months the route operated it saw 167,276 passengers use it.

 

[Jerry]

Cardiff Airport’s growing connectivity recognised by Routes World

Cardiff Airport’s growing connectivity recognised by Routes World – Airport World

airport-world.com

 

[fly4gigs]

Well hopefully this leads to more routes... lol