Qatar Airways

[Jerry]

Qatar Airways carried 55,568 passengers through the airport in 2018 averaging 132 passengers per flight and a 52.3% load factor.

 

[Jerry]

Nice little article advertising Wales and the Qatar Airways route in Australia!
https://www.escape.com.au/world/eur...QtqhrFzrYfzwRcHp2xTjaZnmZkL6OeAg4YS4ZlOl2xhxc

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Stats are out for January.
QR carrier 6614 passengers for the month. Not entirely sure what LF that is.
However January saw more passengers carried than in Oct(5817),Nov (5521) and Dec (6449)
December's LF was 58% so shouldn't be much different.
I would say that is a positive for the popularity of the route as January is usually a quiet month. There would be lots of students and Christmas travellers returning at the start of the month which may influence that.
In comparison BHX saw 11309 (up 4%) and EDI saw 12942 (up 11%)
Still a long way to go but not a bad start to 2019.

 

[alphagolf]

Stats are out for January.
QR carrier 6614 passengers for the month. Not entirely sure what LF that is.
However January saw more passengers carried than in Oct(5817),Nov (5521) and Dec (6449)
December's LF was 58% so shouldn't be much different.
I would say that is a positive for the popularity of the route as January is usually a quiet month. There would be lots of students and Christmas travellers returning at the start of the month which may influence that.
In comparison BHX saw 11309 (up 4%) and EDI saw 12942 (up 11%)
Still a long way to go but not a bad start to 2019.

Yes a good start to the year, my only worry is looking at the cargo stats it dropped off a cliff edge to just 33 tons, hoping that February turned out better from the cargo point of view.

 

[Pontyboy]

January is a quiet month and I hoped for around 6000 but wasn’t entirely sure it would be acheived. Pleasantly surprised to see it closer to 7000 and as January is historically the quietest month, it bodes well for February, March and April. Hoping by the time we reach the month of May, the route would have carried atleast 30,000 passengers.

 

[Jerry]

Hopefully February and March will be around the same or higher.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Were there any extra flights at the start of the month or was it every day except Wed and Sun as normal, making it 22 flights for the month?
I'm making that 59% LF.
February could be a bit more interesting as January may have had a lot of travellers returning after the Christmas period. January is also popular with UK travellers to Australia with it being peak summer time there.
As long as the route continues to grow as the quieter months now stay above 60% LF, we should see some good increases for the months leading up to summer and healthy figures during the peak summer months.
Hopefully the route can achieve 100K+ for the whole of 2019.

 

[Jerry]

Were there any extra flights at the start of the month or was it every day except Wed and Sun as normal, making it 22 flights for the month?
I'm making that 59% LF.

No it has been 5 weekly all the way through and will be until the last week of May I think.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've had confidence from the outset that this route would succeed, certainly in so far as loads are concerned. We never know airline yields and all manner of things can affect them but with the WG supporting it, both as airport owner and as the government, Qatar was always likely to be satisfied with the result. I'm not being wise after the event because on the day the route was announced I posted this in this thread, #7.

Incredible news for CWL. I can't see the route being anything but a success. It will raise the CWL profile to a substantial degree and will almost certainly be a catalyst for further growth, including new airlines.

I've long said that a MEB3 route from either CWL or BRS would be far more important than a NYC route and, until recently, I believed that BRS's larger and more affluent catchment would see it chosen. However, a few weeks ago I heard one or two comments from people who know a thing or two about the business that led me to think that perhaps CWL was in pole position after all. In fact, it was a bit more than that and a few weeks ago my alter ego hinted at a Qatar CWL route in the Dried Plum.

My suggestion was received with sarcasm and scepticism by one boorish DP poster (no surprise there) but I decided to bide my time as by then I was pretty confident (but not certain by any means) that he was the one who would look foolish in the end. And so it has proved.

Let's not mince words. This is a huge blow for BRS. I can't see two MEB3 routes from Severnside, not in the foreseeable future anyway.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Freight

I was interested in the comments of the CWL CEO when giving evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee about APD devolution. She explained that part of Qatar's reasoning for using CWL was the ability to uplift up to 12 tonnes of freight on each flight.

I've looked at the CAA Stats Table 13 Freight by Type and Nationality for the calendar year of 2018.

https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles.../Table_13_Freight_by_Type_and_Nationality.pdf

This shows that in 2018 CWL handled 1459 tonnes of freight in total.

It was made up of 1366 tonnes set down by overseas (ie non-EU) scheduled operators and 74 tonnes picked up by overseas scheduled operators.

In addition 6 tonnes were set down by UK charter operators and 13 tonnes picked up by overseas charter operators.

Qatar was almost certainly the overseas scheduled operator that carried most - perhaps all - of the freight in that category which shows that at present there is a lot more freight being brought in than taken out. I wonder what most of it is.

 

[mullion]

Fruit and veg? or maybe hi-tech from far east

 

[Jerry]

From what I've been told it's mostly food. From crisps to seafood to dairy products from Welsh SMEs.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

From what I've been told it's mostly food. From crisps to seafood to dairy products from Welsh SMEs.

Most of the freight seems to be inbound. I presume that Welsh SMEs would generate mainly outbound goods. Mullion has come up with what seems a likely suggestion but I wondered if there was a particular commodity or business type that would need a lot of inbound freight into South Wales.

 

[Jerry]

Most of the freight seems to be inbound. I presume that Welsh SMEs would generate mainly outbound goods. Mullion has come up with what seems a likely suggestion but I wondered if there was a particular commodity or business type that would need a lot of inbound freight into South Wales.

It's probable that a lot of the inbound freight is also food as well, i do believe seafood does get shipped through air freight quite a lot because it keeps it fresh and i wonder if overseas orders through Amazon also come via CWL as there is a depot at Swansea and now of course Avonmouth . It's a shame that the CAA doesn't give a breakdown of the type of freight heading through airports.
Debra Barber did stress the importance of the freight side at the Committee meeting and how important it is to scheduled long haul routes.

 

[alphagolf]

Freight

I was interested in the comments of the CWL CEO when giving evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee about APD devolution. She explained that part of Qatar's reasoning for using CWL was the ability to uplift up to 12 tonnes of freight on each flight.

I've looked at the CAA Stats Table 13 Freight by Type and Nationality for the calendar year of 2018.

https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles.../Table_13_Freight_by_Type_and_Nationality.pdf

This shows that in 2018 CWL handled 1459 tonnes of freight in total.

It was made up of 1366 tonnes set down by overseas (ie non-EU) scheduled operators and 74 tonnes picked up by overseas scheduled operators.

In addition 6 tonnes were set down by UK charter operators and 13 tonnes picked up by overseas charter operators.

Qatar was almost certainly the overseas scheduled operator that carried most - perhaps all - of the freight in that category which shows that at present there is a lot more freight being brought in than taken out. I wonder what most of it is.

Thought I would look at the monthly cargo stats, for international flights which excludes the EU so should in theory be the Qatar Flights. All figures quoted from CAA Stats Table 14.

May 2018 - 152 tonnes
Jun 2018 - 158 tonnes
Jul 2018 - 210 tonnes
Aug 2018 - 219 tonnes
Sep 2018 - 229 tonnes
Oct 2018 - 229 tonnes
Nov 2018 - 160 tonnes
Dec 2018 - 85 tonnes
Jan 2019 - 34 tonnes

Healthy figures through the summer while the route was daily, but since the winter reduction to 5 weekly it has really tailed off, does anyone have any knowledge or views on this, January seems really low.........

 

[Foxlimayankee]

This was posted on Cardiff Airports Twitter a few days ago and I seem to remember Debra Barber referring to cargo on a few occasions in the APD meeting. Possibly mentioning fish exports? I cant remember the exact product.
Hopefully, like the passenger figures, it's something that will continue to grow, especially in the summer months.

 

[Jerry]

That company is exporting dairy products. I believe she mentioned crab being exported.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I was at Bristol Parkway Station today and I could not help but see a big advertising hoarding on the entrance/exit road promoting the Qatar route from CWL. It is an individual hoarding, not one set amongst others so it stands out.

 

[geoff]

Thinking of exports on CWL to Doha, from Aston Martin and TVR, I was wondering whether the cargo holds on the A350 could take a vehicle the of the new cars to be produced in Wales. I don't think the 787 would be able to, it's just a thought for future prospects for the route.

 

[Cardiffbay]

The 787 and A350 are both capable of carrying cars. Obviously the A350 is larger so can carry more but off the top of my head the 787 can around 10 tones of cargo