Qatar Airways

[Jerry]

Very unusual for an airline CEO to come out and say this. Looks to me it’s something to get more leverage off the Welsh government for a better deal/package.

I would not be surprised at that plus it is good advertisement for the route especially the mention of cheap prices. I've seen mixed reports online stating poor loads and good loads but from what i can gather the afternoon flights seem to the busier ones.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

With some of his off the cuff comments the CEO seems to be the airline version of Donald Trump in that he says one thing then condradicts himself. If the passenger loads are less than anticipated then, yes, it might be a public attempt to pre-warn the WG that there could come a time when they ought to look at the deal again. He probably believes, no doubt correctly, that the WG will do anything within reason to ensure the route's success as it is such an important milestone in the airport's resurgence.

Having worked so hard to get the route they simply cannot afford to lose it. A successful MEB3 route could open the door to all manner of other things.

 

[Cardiffbay]

With some of his off the cuff comments the CEO seems to be the airline version of Donald Trump in that he says one thing then condradicts himself. If the passenger loads are less than anticipated then, yes, it might be a public attempt to pre-warn the WG that there could come a time when they ought to look at the deal again. He probably believes, no doubt correctly, that the WG will do anything within reason to ensure the route's success as it is such an important milestone in the airport's resurgence.

Having worked so hard to get the route they simply cannot afford to lose it. A successful MEB3 route could open the door to all manner of other things.

As somebody who has worked closely with Qatar Airways they will always try and turn stories and use anything in their power to try and get better deals. As we know their loads are low across their network. Sounds like a bit of Michael O’Leary tactics where any news can be spun into advertising.

 

[Jerry]

With some of his off the cuff comments the CEO seems to be the airline version of Donald Trump in that he says one thing then condradicts himself. If the passenger loads are less than anticipated then, yes, it might be a public attempt to pre-warn the WG that there could come a time when they ought to look at the deal again. He probably believes, no doubt correctly, that the WG will do anything within reason to ensure the route's success as it is such an important milestone in the airport's resurgence.

Having worked so hard to get the route they simply cannot afford to lose it. A successful MEB3 route could open the door to all manner of other things.

It could be just a shot across there bows and a chance to get some publicity for the route! I noticed he said 'not performing to expectations' and not that the route is performing poorly, and then added the positive of the cargo and the article then said there were cheap flights available compared to other UK airports.
Another thing that i just thought of is if Qatar were going to cut the route would they advertise it and would they add flights in April and May?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It could be just a shot across there bows and a chance to get some publicity for the route! I noticed he said 'not performing to expectations' and not that the route is performing poorly, and then added the positive of the cargo and the article then said there were cheap flights available compared to other UK airports.
Another thing that i just thought of is if Qatar were going to cut the route would they advertise it and would they add flights in April and May?

As somebody who has worked closely with Qatar Airways they will always try and turn stories and use anything in their power to try and get better deals. As we know their loads are low across their network. Sounds like a bit of Michael O’Leary tactics where any news can be spun into advertising.

The only thing that strikes me about the Qatar CEO going publlc is the fact that it might put off one or two people from booking if they think there is the slightest chance of the route either being axed or cut back. If the real intention is to get a better deal the CEO could have made his views known to the WG privately.

News can be distorted in the mind of the recipient and potential passengers, especially those who have no special interest in aviation, might read the comments in the local press - I suspect the press will pick it up - and think the route is performing poorly and wonder about its future prospects, so is that sort of publicity for the route a good thing?

It's human nature that people focus on bad news and often ignore or discount the good, as has been the case in another aviation website where the good cargo performance of Qatar at CWL has largely been sidelined in posters' comments. I've suggested before that the Qatar CEO seems something of a loose cannon with some of his remarks. He's the CEO though and I'm not so let's hope he knows what he's doing with these comments.

 

[Jerry]

I've just been informed that in the ACC meeting Spencer Birns has said that the Qatar CEO has been misquoted.

 

[aviatorconcorde]

I've just been informed that in the ACC meeting Spencer Birns has said that the Qatar CEO has been misquoted.

Really? How?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

With some of his off the cuff comments the CEO seems to be the airline version of Donald Trump in that he says one thing then condradicts himself.

I've just been informed that in the ACC meeting Spencer Birns has said that the Qatar CEO has been misquoted.

If that's true it's certainly Trump-like.

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

I've just been informed that in the ACC meeting Spencer Birns has said that the Qatar CEO has been misquoted.

Unless I missed as was using phone to make notes I didn't hear that unless it was mentioned in conversation at the end.

He did say that last week has been very good however other weeks not so good.

He did relate Qatar to what happened to Vueling where he said it was slow to increase to desired levels

 

[Jerry]

Really? How?

I have no idea. I was just told that.

 

[Jerry]

Cardiff Airport has reported in response to the Independents article that last week it sold 1500 of it's 1750 seats to Doha.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Where was this reported?

 

[Jerry]

Where was this reported?

At the bottom of the article.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44864963

 

[aviatorconcorde]

A source tells me todays CWL-DOH may only have about 4 free seats in Y. Business only has a handful of seats occupied mind.

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

It was mentioned in the launch of the Master Plan

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Which makes the CEOs comments even more suspicious. They did something similar with Airbus during the A350 delays, so wouldn't surprise me if it's just a point scoring tactic. I've heard from several different sources that it's popularity is building quite well. It's the June & July stats that will give a better reflection. I've tried pricing up a few flights recently and noticed comments on social media, that the route is often more expensive than many other UK QR routes. I'm sceptical of getting ahead of ourselves but also realistic in giving the route time to grow, but I genuinely believe it's not doing as bad as many are making out and hopefully in time those that have criticised and been negative about the route will change their opinions and be more supportive.

 

[Jerry]

Really? How?

I saw a comment earlier on saying that the CEO said that the route hadn't met expectations but that he feels that the expectations for the route may have been too high and it was the latter part of the quote that was left out.
Looking at the airports latest news release they rank the Doha route as the 3rd most popular route if that is correct then Julys figures should be very good!

 

[Barry Man]

Waite for August the bookings look very good

 

[Jerry]

Waite for August the bookings look very good

Thats excellent news!

 

[aviatorconcorde]

I saw a comment earlier on saying that the CEO said that the route hadn't met expectations but that he feels that the expectations for the route may have been too high and it was the latter part of the quote that was left out.
Looking at the airports latest news release they rank the Doha route as the 3rd most popular route if that is correct then Julys figures should be very good!

I saw that article, is it just listening to the top 10 routes that happen to include Doha? I didn’t see any numbering.