Qatar Airways

[Jerry]

CWL now appears on the drop down of Virgin Holidays website showing packages with QR flights to the Far East!

That's great news!

Shame flights don’t appear on virgin to go the other way to Orlando and Las Vegas.

One step at a time!

 

[Jerry]

Looking at the drop down and Virgin Holidays are selling packages to Singapore, Malaysia, Borneo, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang, Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Maldives, Dubai and Oman. Some of the flights to these destinations are with KLM.

 

[kraktoa]

Until the CAA release Mays stats we won't know and that should be roughly around July time i'd have thought.

From my contacts in Cardiff

The loads are low. 100 to 150

 

[Jerry]

From my contacts in Cardiff

The loads are low. 100 to 150

Can those be considered low though for a new service to an airport like Cardiff? Even Heathrow will have flights in which the aircraft are half empty and i think it was posted earlier on in the thread that in some months Manchester averaged around 150 i believe.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I would have thought 100 to 150 are the sort of figures that would satisfy this airline at this stage of the route's gestation. Obviously we don't know the yield and the fares might have been low but, as Jerry says, other larger and more established Qatar Airways airports in the UK have sometimes seen these sorts of loads. The cargo is of course another factor to be considered and anecdotal evidence suggests this is quite decent in capacity.

 

[Jerry]

Obviously we don't know the yield and the fares might have been low

I have seen lot's of cheap fares about with people saying they got Perth for £600 round trip and Bangkok for £400. A round trip to Doha seems to be around £500.

 

[Bcn_boy]

On my last flight to jFK from LHR on Virgin we were 26 in economy/premium cabins on an A330. That was in September. 100 to 150 is not bad for a fledgling route and it will grow given time. Lack of Awareness is always an issue.

 

[Tinkerman]

Without saying too much ...

QR, CWL and WG are more than happy with how the route has started. The numbers quoted above are excellent for this route which has been in operation for all of 2 full weeks, and some have been even more than that in terms of LF.

Some posters on this forum seem to ‘Have it in’ for this service from the outset for seemingly various reasons. But from the upper echelons of key design makers within Wales, i can say that this route is here to stay.

 

[Cardiffbay]

Without saying too much ...

QR, CWL and WG are more than happy with how the route has started. The numbers quoted above are excellent for this route which has been in operation for all of 2 full weeks, and some have been even more than that in terms of LF.

Some posters on this forum seem to ‘Have it in’ for this service from the outset for seemingly various reasons. But from the upper echelons of key design makers within Wales, i can say that this route is here to stay.

I remember a few years back being on an etihad a330-200 with 10 in bussines and 20 in econermy from Abu Dhabi to Male. This was an established route during the high season to the Maldives (January). I can’t understand people judging Doha to Cardiff route on 2 weeks worth of flights.

 

[kraktoa]

I have received some clarification. The first week was around the 40 to 60 mark.

Second week has crept up to 100. One flight went to 150.

Lets see if CAA bear this out.

 

[Tinkerman]

I have received some clarification. The first week was around the 40 to 60 mark.

Second week has crept up to 100. One flight went to 150.

Lets see if CAA bear this out.

It’s meaningless at this early stage - For CWL to be getting 100-150 passengers and really great cargo loads at this early stage, it’s really quite a feat when compared to QR’s other UK serviced as of late.

QR are happy, CWL are happy, WG are happy. Happy days.

 

[Jerry]

I have received some clarification. The first week was around the 40 to 60 mark.

Second week has crept up to 100. One flight went to 150.

Lets see if CAA bear this out.

Well that's good! It's going up! Should be 250 by August!

 

[mathers_wales_uk]

I can't see how continuous reporting of the figures is helpful for the service.

I agree with Tinkerman that people need to be more positive regarding the route rather than the negativity. We were all worried with the technical glitch but all should be ok now.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

I'd also be curious to know the sources of these figures.
- Insiders at the Airport that really shouldn't be releasing such information?
- Everyone seems to know someone going on these flights who are walking up and down counting numbers?
- Someone that happens to be at the Airport flying somewhere else and counts a rough figure?
Lets wait for the real stats. Although even then it won't be a true reflection with the start of the month likely bringing the average loads down.

The constant nit picking and searching for something negative against the route is getting irritating now. I've said it before and i'll say it again. The media watch these forums. Start posting about low loads and quoting figures and there'll soon be a Walesonline article about the routes failure, wasted money, WG involvement, WG Airport ownership, underfunding elsewhere, the schools and hospitals that are losing out.... if you get my drift.

 

[Jerry]

With a service like this there will be a lot of curiosity and gossip about how it's doing through online entuiasts and from staff that see it day to day. Long haul services seem to generate a different interest and no doubt envy as well and you just have to see some of the debates on this forum to see that.
I noticed yesterday while spotting at the airport that there was a decent crowd for the 787 landing and departure while no one seemed that bothered about the Flybe E175 or a KLM one or a Thomas Cook A321!
The route will take time to mature and I've no doubt it is here to stay and people will need to get used to seeing a long haul scheduled service at CWL and the array of connections available to them via Doha.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

With a service like this there will be a lot of curiosity and gossip about how it's doing through online entuiasts and from staff that see it day to day. Long haul services seem to generate a different interest and no doubt envy as well and you just have to see some of the debates on this forum to see that.
I noticed yesterday while spotting at the airport that there was a decent crowd for the 787 landing and departure while no one seemed that bothered about the Flybe E175 or a KLM one or a Thomas Cook A321!
The route will take time to mature and I've no doubt it is here to stay and people will need to get used to seeing a long haul scheduled service at CWL and the array of connections available to them via Doha.

In fairness Jerry, I don't think there are any posters on F4A who wish the service ill, at least not from any of the many posts that have been made. I accept this isn't the case on every aviation message board where there have been some quite vicious comments at times.

 

[Jerry]

In fairness Jerry, I don't think there are any posters on F4A who wish the service ill, at least not from any of the many posts that have been made. I accept this isn't the case on every aviation message board where there have been some quite vicious comments at times.

I'm not saying that there is any like that on F4A just making a general point about how long haul seems to be viewed and talked about differently than short haul routes probably because they generally are considered an airports marquee service you only have to look at the posts concerning BRSs long haul aspirations which leads to the runway extension debate but Easyjets Athens service doesn't generate the same amount of debate. Cardiffs new Venice route as an example gets a lot less attention than the Doha route.

I will say though I'm guilty of being envious of DSA getting an Orlando flight! Lol.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I'm not saying that there is any like that on F4A just making a general point about how long haul seems to be viewed and talked about differently than short haul routes probably because they generally are considered an airports marquee service you only have to look at the posts concerning BRSs long haul aspirations which leads to the runway extension debate but Easyjets Athens service doesn't generate the same amount of debate. Cardiffs new Venice route as an example gets a lot less attention than the Doha route.

I will say though I'm guilty of being envious of DSA getting an Orlando flight! Lol.

Fair enough. I take your wider point now.

 

[Jerry]

No doubt the first of many Qatar Airways 787s that i'll take pictures of, first one is A7-BCF from Friday.
View attachment 8724
View attachment 8725
View attachment 8726

 

[Jerry]

My first video of a Qatar Airways 787 from Friday.