Qatar Airways

[TheLocalYokel]

For May 2019 Qatar Airways saw 4997 passengers use the route which was up 69% on 2018, 118 passengers per flight, 46.4% LF.
For the year May 2018 to May 2019 the route saw 86,904 passengers use it. Average passengers per flight 137, 54%LF.
I may be wrong but was the target 90,000 passengers for the first year?

I can't remember reading about a specific target being publicly quoted but I'm not saying there definitely wasn't one.

As has been mentioned many times in the past year, the raw passenger numbers are only one aspect. We don't know, for example, how many were premium cabin customers, how many paid full fares in economy or how many fed into Qatar's connecting flights (probably the overwhelming majority). There is also the important aspect of freight.

That said, I suspect that Qatar will want to see the annual load factor rise appreciably. The summer months last year were good in the main, very good in one or two months. The next target is no doubt a rise in numbers each month this year.

It's a new route to a part of the country (South Wales/West of England) not used to having such a link so it's still in the evolution stage. I'm sure that Qatar recognises this and will give it time to grow.

 

[Jerry]

It's a new route to a part of the country (South Wales/West of England) not used to having such a link so it's still in the evolution stage. I'm sure that Qatar recognises this and

I think it will depend on the value Qatar Airways put on the feed into their network. I posted the info elsewhere and it's interesting that many are doom and gloom about it and talking downgrade or cancellation. A lot of people don't seem to take into account the type of service it is and that'll need to mature and that will take time. It will be interesting to see how much the route grows over the next year.

 

[aviatorconcorde]

Booked 2 tickets to Singapore in October. Will be my second time using the service.

Just to note, BA wanted practically the same money to fly direct from Heathrow, but the fare didn’t include seat selection or baggage.

 

[Jerry]

Gareth Bale: Real Madrid & Wales forward set for China move

Gareth Bale is set to leave Real Madrid and join Chinese club Jiangsu Suning on a three-year deal.

www.bbc.co.uk

What are we to make of the growing exodus from Europe to China? Obviously I can't read Gareth's mind but I've heard many armchair commentators accuse him of greed and/or laziness.

If this happens then I wonder if he'd use Qatar Airways or just stick to private jets?

 

[rollo]

If this happens then I wonder if he'd use Qatar Airways or just stick to private jets?

At a reported one million pounds a week tax free plus endless perks it'll be a private jet payed for by the club or alternatively Wales can go to him I know he is a good player but honestly its ridiculous over £150million over three years.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

At a reported one million pounds a week tax free plus endless perks it'll be a private jet payed for by the club or alternatively Wales can go to him I know he is a good player but honestly its ridiculous over £150million over three years.

Especially when you take into account the standard of Chinese football. It's not exactly Premier League or La Liga. Can't be any challenge for him but I suppose £50 million a year is £50 million a year, and all tax free.

Tevez played in China for a year and later described his stay as 'a holiday'.

Bale won't be over-stressed playing in China so perhaps he will use a private jet to pop back to his home city on regular occasions - to relieve the boredom of taking part in Chinese football.

 

[Jerry]

At a reported one million pounds a week tax free plus endless perks it'll be a private jet payed for by the club or alternatively Wales can go to him I know he is a good player but honestly its ridiculous over £150million over three years.

For that money I suppose he could have his own 787 private jet!
Hopefully he'll give some extra exposure for Wales when out there helping to increase inbound tourism.

 

[Seasider]

Real Madrid have pulled out of the deal and he is staying.

 

[Jarvo]

First year passenger figures for Qatar Airways' Cardiff to Doha route

The daily scheduled route was launched in May 2018 from Cardiff Airport to Hamad International

www.business-live.co.uk

An interesting little write up and update on the route.

 

[Aviador]

Up and down substantially throughout the year, not what I expected to see really. I expect the next 12 months will be crucial.

 

[Jerry]

Its good that they see it as long term!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I can't see that there is any doubt over the route. The CEO nailed his colours to it despite opposition from some members of his staff, and as long as he remains it would have to perform atrociously for it to be withdrawn because 'Face' is so important in the Middle East. Passenger number-wise it's not performing atrociously and peak summer was pretty decent last year with July and August this year said to be even better.

The airline is quoted: The demand from our UK stations has never been stronger and we will continue to offer new and exciting routes to customers across Wales and the south west of England. Given the positive changes to our frequency, and the announcement of a daily schedule for the summer, we see our services to Cardiff as a long-term investment.

What are the frequency changes mentioned, and didn't Qatar operate daily from after about mid-June last summer at CWL? Makes it sound as if the daily frequency is something new for this year.

The CWL CEO said: The Qatar Airways service has been transformational for Wales and the south west of England.

I wonder what percentage of Qatar's CWL travellers begin or end their journey in south-west England. Given the lure and relative ease of transiting LHR from the West Country (one of a number of reasons the Qatar CEO gave for not operating a BRS service) it was always going to be difficult capturing a significant number. Clearly the Qatar CEO included the West Country as part of his CWL catchment because he said CWL had a catchment of six million which is nearly twice the population of Wales as a whole.

I think it's over-egging to say the route is 'transformational' for south-west England. It's not, any more than the Continental BRS-EWR service was transformational. It's a useful option.

 

[Jerry]

What are the frequency changes mentioned, and didn't Qatar operate daily from after about mid-June last summer at CWL? Makes it sound as if the daily frequency is something new for this year.

It started daily at the beginning of June this year so not much.
I think with the numbers I personally wonder if they over estimated how many passengers they could attract from the South West of England. I also think that they mention benefitting the South West a lot due to the campaign for devolution of APD especially the long haul part.

 

[Marko1]

For many West Country travellers LHR or BHX would be just as easy

 

[Jerry]

For many West Country travellers LHR or BHX would be just as easy

Yep they have plenty of options! Hopefully as the route grows so will the amount of people from the South West using it.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

When you have people from South Wales and the Southwest travelling to BHX/LGW/LTN/STN when there's similar options from CWL and BRS, purely based on price, if the price is right, people will look for the cheapest option. For the Southwest, CWL is just as accessible, if not easier than BHX and LHR. What needs to be done is to get CWL in the minds of travellers to check on price/convenience along with the other Airport options.

 

[Pontyboy]

The daily did kick in earlier this year compared to last year if i remember correctly. The pax figures started well at the beginning of this year but i was surprised to see low figures for May and June compared to the first three months. Hoping July and August is as they say.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think with the numbers I personally wonder if they over estimated how many passengers they could attract from the South West of England.

I think the Qatar CEO had a point when he said that the West Country automatically looks at LHR as its default airport for long-haul. What then seems odd to me is his belief that he could get people from the West Country using his CWL service, unless he was only thinking of a relative handful which I doubt. If they would not use a Qatar service from BRS in sufficient numbers why did he think they would use CWL?

When you have people from South Wales and the Southwest travelling to BHX/LGW/LTN/STN when there's similar options from CWL and BRS, purely based on price, if the price is right, people will look for the cheapest option. For the Southwest, CWL is just as accessible, if not easier than BHX and LHR. What needs to be done is to get CWL in the minds of travellers to check on price/convenience along with the other Airport options.

Qatar at CWL is certainly an option from the West Country but one of a number, with LHR by far the biggest option because of its multiple choices. From much of the West Country LHR is about 40-45 minutes further by road than CWL. When flying long-haul that is really insignificant.

When my wife and I were looking to book our annual Australia trip last year we looked at all sorts of options as we always do, initially via the internet to get a ‘feel’ of the market in a particular year, then through our specialist long-haul travel agent through whom we ultimately book. BHX, LHR, LGW are always in the frame with CWL joining them for the first time last year. We'd actually used LGW on several previous trips as our long-haul travel specialist was getting excellent deals from there for a number of years with Emirates.

The main pro for CWL was that the surface journey was the shortest from our house on the south-east edge of Bristol, but the cons were poor flight timings (for us) and unacceptably long connecting times (for us) at Doha. Had a similar Qatar service been operating from BRS at the same timings and frequency I don't think we would have used it even though we live only 20 minutes from BRS.

LHR provides so much choice even with the same airline that you can almost tailor your journey to your individual preferences, and last year we used LHR (again with Emirates) instead of LGW. This year we are taking a break from visiting Oz.

We have a grandson (early 20s) who is spending time in Australia and three of his mates (all are from the Bristol area) visited him in Oz at various times and our grandson is also returning to the UK for a short break in November. To them price was the key and every time the best options for them were from LHR with various airlines. In fact, our grand daughter (also from Bristol) has just booked flights to/from Oz for early next year and again LHR came out as the best option for her. Airlines such as Etihad, Cathay Pacific and Royal Brunei had the best deals at the various times these young people were looking to book - the latter is a 'dry' airline which might not have suited the lads but our grand daughter is using them and is not a big drinker so isn't bothered.

Our son, also Bristol-based, flies a lot of long-haul still, now mainly for leisure, and almost always uses LHR, occasionally LGW. He's off to the Maldives soon from LHR - with Qatar via Doha. He is aware of the CWL service because I told him but LHR suited him better on this occasion, I think partly because of the flight times.

All this shows again how difficult it is to compete with LHR.

 

[rollo]

I wonder if connectivity would improve and increase passenger loads if Qatar changed to a split service in terms of flght times similar to what they do at BHX where although its a daily flight it is split 3/4 weekly between early morning and middle of the day.

Although this improves connectivity it reduces frequency of those connections seems to work at BHX and does set up the route for any increases in future which origiinally was eight per week so you never know.

 

[Jerry]

Our son, also Bristol-based, flies a lot of long-haul still, now mainly for leisure, and almost always uses LHR, occasionally LGW. He's off to the Maldives soon from LHR - with Qatar via Doha. He is aware of the CWL service because I told him but LHR suited him better on this occasion, I think partly because of the flight times.

A lot of the feedback I see about the route is about the convenience it brings in bringing people close to home and negating a journey back from lhr. I wonder if for the West country that convenience is lessened?