Wizz Air
- Thread starter Jerry
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One of the cabin crew just confirmed on social media that the base is pulled and will be seasonal only. Forward bookings that low for them to pull it at such short notice? Is Bristol airport to much of a pull and can’t Cardiff compete in the winter ? This is bad news - will they really come back next year after saying a base takes three years to build and they were happy with the summer loads
geoff
Well-Known Member
That is yet another blow for CWL, they have had a terrible run of bad luck over the past few years. I don't think that WIZZ have endeared themselves with a lot of passengers this summer, perhaps things will change for the better, in the future.
geoff
Well-Known Member
Posters on the other forum are showing CWL to Milan and Bucharest, for W22/23, twice weekly with away based aircraft.
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- #548
What an odd day. 2 new routes announced along with the base going seasonal! Have to feel for the crews who'll be out of work but at least the airline will still operate from Cardiff and hopefully things will look better in the future and they'll put the base to being year round.
IanFarquharson
Elite-Member
Wizz Air will reduce its flight schedule at Cardiff airport over the winter months, saying it has to “adapt to the challenging macro-economic environment”.
From September 19, nine routes will be suspended: Alicante, Corfu, Heraklion, Faro, Larnaca, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, Sharm el-Sheikh and Tenerife.
The airline will continue to operate from Cardiff, with new winter season flights launching on October 30 to Milan and Bucharest.
It said in a statement: “As a consequence of suspending base operations during the winter months, all Cardiff based employees will be offered redeployment opportunities at other UK airports over the winter.”
The statement said: “Although this has been an incredibly difficult decision for the airline, it has been made with as much advance notice as possible to minimise any last-minute cancellations and maximise rebooking options for customers.”
Passengers with bookings affected by this change will be informed via email and can opt for either a 120% refund of the original fare in airline credit, a 100% cash refund, or comparable flights for next summer from Cardiff or this year through Gatwick or Luton.
It added: “Wizz Air plans to increase its operations from Cardiff next spring and, as part of its long-term commitment to the airport, has already launched its summer 2023 flight schedule from Cardiff.”
More: Wizz Air to launch nine routes from Gatwick and Luton
Wizz Air finally takes off from Cardiff airport
Marion Geoffroy, Wizz Air UK managing director, said: “We are very disappointed to have to suspend several routes from Cardiff Airport for the winter season.
“Though these routes have proved popular through the summer season, it would not be commercially viable to continue to operate them through this coming winter due to the challenging macro-economic environment. This leaves us with no option but to pause these routes until next spring.
“We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience this will cause customers who already booked flights with us. We are in touch with all affected customers to explain their options.
“We continue to value our close working relationship with Cardiff airport and plan to resume base operations at the airport next year.
“We have already placed our full Cardiff summer schedule on sale on wizzair.com and are introducing two new winter routes.
“It takes time to build up sustainable operations at any base and we are prepared to build up operations at Cardiff over the long term.”
Spencer Birns, chief executive of Cardiff Airport, commented: “It is disappointing and frustrating for our customers whose travel plans are disrupted as a result of Wizz Air’s reduction of operations at Cardiff Airport over the winter, which we understand is due to economic factors.
“We have seen great demand for travel to and from Wales this year and our teams have been working really hard to ensure our customers have been able to take safe journeys through the airport facilities with minimal disruption.
“Our efforts to work with airlines to deploy more capacity on high demand routes will certainly continue.
“The announcement today of the two new routes to Italy and Romania commencing this autumn along with the summer 2023 schedule is welcome news. We look forward to Wizz Air increasing its operations to popular holiday destinations from Cardiff again next spring.”
Last month, the future of Doncaster Sheffield airport was thrown into doubt after its owner said the site “may no longer be commercially viable”, especially following the withdrawal of Wizz Air.
The carrier announced in June that it will quit the airport, leaving Tui as the only remaining carrier based there.
From September 19, nine routes will be suspended: Alicante, Corfu, Heraklion, Faro, Larnaca, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, Sharm el-Sheikh and Tenerife.
The airline will continue to operate from Cardiff, with new winter season flights launching on October 30 to Milan and Bucharest.
It said in a statement: “As a consequence of suspending base operations during the winter months, all Cardiff based employees will be offered redeployment opportunities at other UK airports over the winter.”
The statement said: “Although this has been an incredibly difficult decision for the airline, it has been made with as much advance notice as possible to minimise any last-minute cancellations and maximise rebooking options for customers.”
Passengers with bookings affected by this change will be informed via email and can opt for either a 120% refund of the original fare in airline credit, a 100% cash refund, or comparable flights for next summer from Cardiff or this year through Gatwick or Luton.
It added: “Wizz Air plans to increase its operations from Cardiff next spring and, as part of its long-term commitment to the airport, has already launched its summer 2023 flight schedule from Cardiff.”
More: Wizz Air to launch nine routes from Gatwick and Luton
Wizz Air finally takes off from Cardiff airport
Marion Geoffroy, Wizz Air UK managing director, said: “We are very disappointed to have to suspend several routes from Cardiff Airport for the winter season.
“Though these routes have proved popular through the summer season, it would not be commercially viable to continue to operate them through this coming winter due to the challenging macro-economic environment. This leaves us with no option but to pause these routes until next spring.
“We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience this will cause customers who already booked flights with us. We are in touch with all affected customers to explain their options.
“We continue to value our close working relationship with Cardiff airport and plan to resume base operations at the airport next year.
“We have already placed our full Cardiff summer schedule on sale on wizzair.com and are introducing two new winter routes.
“It takes time to build up sustainable operations at any base and we are prepared to build up operations at Cardiff over the long term.”
Spencer Birns, chief executive of Cardiff Airport, commented: “It is disappointing and frustrating for our customers whose travel plans are disrupted as a result of Wizz Air’s reduction of operations at Cardiff Airport over the winter, which we understand is due to economic factors.
“We have seen great demand for travel to and from Wales this year and our teams have been working really hard to ensure our customers have been able to take safe journeys through the airport facilities with minimal disruption.
“Our efforts to work with airlines to deploy more capacity on high demand routes will certainly continue.
“The announcement today of the two new routes to Italy and Romania commencing this autumn along with the summer 2023 schedule is welcome news. We look forward to Wizz Air increasing its operations to popular holiday destinations from Cardiff again next spring.”
Last month, the future of Doncaster Sheffield airport was thrown into doubt after its owner said the site “may no longer be commercially viable”, especially following the withdrawal of Wizz Air.
The carrier announced in June that it will quit the airport, leaving Tui as the only remaining carrier based there.
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- #550
It's disappointing that they are suspending the base for the winter but it could've been a lot worse
and i hope in the long run may turn out to be the right decision for the airline and airport.
“Wizz Air plans to increase its operations from Cardiff next spring" it'll be interesting to see if this turns into anything tangible, with the new routes to Milan and Bucharest it does seem now that it may be possible CWL may well see more non based routes for next summer with maybe routes like Malta and Rome returning? Bucharest is definitely an interesting one and not a route i'd have thought they'd have gone for so early in their life at CWL.
and i hope in the long run may turn out to be the right decision for the airline and airport.
“Wizz Air plans to increase its operations from Cardiff next spring" it'll be interesting to see if this turns into anything tangible, with the new routes to Milan and Bucharest it does seem now that it may be possible CWL may well see more non based routes for next summer with maybe routes like Malta and Rome returning? Bucharest is definitely an interesting one and not a route i'd have thought they'd have gone for so early in their life at CWL.
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- Thread starter
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- #552
MXP-CWL 1725-1830 CWL-MXP 1900-2200 flights on Wednesday and Sunday. Depends on the market being targeted i suppose (which i'm guessing is VFR and weekend breaks), yes the return time into Milan is late but it depends on where you stay, the flight too CWL means that someone could have most of the day available in Milan before their flight to Cardiff and vice versa before their flight to Milan from Cardiff.
And if you don't like the Milan times you'll hate the times for Bucharest!
OTP 1930-2115 CWL (Sun)
CWL 2150-0325+1 OTP (Sun)
OTP 2035-2220 CWL (Tue)
CWL 2255-0430+1 OTP (Tue)
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Does anyone have any idea on the number of Romanians living and working in the South Wales region?
OTP is of course served by Ryanair from BRS and is an odd choice of winter route (over the likes of popular Polish cities or BUD) - but they must see an opportunity somewhere otherwise why launch such a niche route?
Be interesting to see if other non-based aircraft routes are added next year…
IanFarquharson
Elite-Member
I just hope yesterdays announcement and early base closure doesn't dent customer confidence in Wizz and bookings for S23 are not sufficent for the base to be re-activated.
Hope not but a gamble by Wizz
Hope not but a gamble by Wizz
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- #555
I would imagine that this is targeting more than just South Wales but a big chunk of the Bristol area as well especially people who work in the Avonmouth area.
IanFarquharson
Elite-Member
Yes it is
- Admin
- #559
Good question and the release of Summer 23 flights does at least add some security to CWL flying and improve confidence in the flying public.
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- #560
Yep it's basically the same as this summer at the moment.
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Well it looks like I'm off to Australia and New Zealand next year! Booked with BA from Manchester via Heathrow with a stop in Singapore and returning with Air New Zealand and BA via LAX to Heathrow. Will circumnavigate the globe and be my first trans-Pacific flight. First long haul flight with BA as well and of course Air NZ.
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