Off-Topic Cardiff Airport

HOME FUN BETS LOTTERY
Tony Blackburn’s cum face said:
They didn’t start flights from Cardiff until after covid restrictions were eased while there continued to be restrictions in many other European destinations they fly to and from so I don’t buy that they fell out with Wag over that.

They flew a full summer schedule last year to Spain, Portugal, Canaries, Corfu, Cyprus, Egypt and then went to a winter schedule of twice weekly flights to Milan and Bucharest. From what I’ve heard the summer flights were very busy (the two flights I was on last summer were both full) and the winter ones were selling well too.
Click to view full quote
Fair comment....
I guess the article I read was way off :thumbup:
 
Jimmytaff said:
You clearly have knowledge of the industry. In your opinion will Cardiff Airport stay in the doldrums? Is there anything you think that can be done to significantly improve the routes offered?
Click to view full quote
The current CEO Spencer Birns is a good guy. He knows what he is doing and his background is in route development. What is less certain is whether the WG will give him the freedom to do his job. I think the airport did well to attract Qatar Airlines and Wizz Air. And were unlucky that they were both badly impacted by Covid and the effect it had on the airline industry.

Other airports have been badly affected too. Losses have grown at Teeside, and Doncaster/Sheffield is struggling badly. More surprisingly London Southend Airport has been massively impacted too. Interesting article here With weeds on the forecourt, a deserted Southend airport looks to the future - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/28/with-weeds-on-the-tarmac-a-deserted-southend-airport-looks-to-the-future. London Southend had a lot going for it in my view.

To some extent the WG is conflicted in owning the airport. The main justification for public airport ownership is as an asset for the regional economy. However, most Low Cost airlines are geared to taking people overseas. It is difficult for the WG to justify investing in airlines and routes which are taking people out of Wales. I am much more concerned about a strategy for scheduled services to important hubs and key cities. It is these kind of services which support business traffic and the development of the regional economy. By far the best example of this is the KLM route to Amsterdam. At its peak, KLM offered 4 services a day into Cardiff. The KLM business model was built on positioning Amsterdam as a hub linking regional cities which could never justify a point to point (direct service). So, through Amsterdam Cardiff was connected to the world. I used to use the service a lot. Much better than driving to Heathrow. Such routes depend on regular, timely and frequent flights, so business people can always be assured they can use them.

This ideally means a minimum of a double daily service - morning and evening - every day of the week. I would focus on building the case for double daily to Dublin (linking to Aer Lingus' worldwide services. Same to Paris Brussels and Frankfurt or Munich linking with Air France / Brussels Air and Lufthansa respectively. Also double daily to Belfast, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Manchester - linking with key UK cities. The Qatar service would have been part of this strategy linking Cardiff to Asia Africa and Australasia through Doha. It's a real shame this has ended. Finally and most ambitiously would be a service to a US hub - but even Bristol and Birmingham has failed to sustain a service to the US. I would design the airport (and the supporting transport infrastructure) to be a blueprint for the modern secondary city airport. Although services to Glasgow / Edinburgh / Dublin and Edinburgh have returned, they are not frequent enough to build customer confidence and expand the business market. If Low Cost Airlines come along then that would be a bonus, but they should not be subsidized, unless they offer those double daily services to key airports.
 
Costa Coffee Crew said:
The current CEO Spencer Birns is a good guy. He knows what he is doing and his background is in route development. What is less certain is whether the WG will give him the freedom to do his job. I think the airport did well to attract Qatar Airlines and Wizz Air. And were unlucky that they were both badly impacted by Covid and the effect it had on the airline industry.

Other airports have been badly affected too. Losses have grown at Teeside, and Doncaster/Sheffield is struggling badly. More surprisingly London Southend Airport has been massively impacted too. Interesting article here With weeds on the forecourt, a deserted Southend airport looks to the future - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/28/with-weeds-on-the-tarmac-a-deserted-southend-airport-looks-to-the-future. London Southend had a lot going for it in my view.

To some extent the WG is conflicted in owning the airport. The main justification for public airport ownership is as an asset for the regional economy. However, most Low Cost airlines are geared to taking people overseas. It is difficult for the WG to justify investing in airlines and routes which are taking people out of Wales. I am much more concerned about a strategy for scheduled services to important hubs and key cities. It is these kind of services which support business traffic and the development of the regional economy. By far the best example of this is the KLM route to Amsterdam. At its peak, KLM offered 4 services a day into Cardiff. The KLM business model was built on positioning Amsterdam as a hub linking regional cities which could never justify a point to point (direct service). So, through Amsterdam Cardiff was connected to the world. I used to use the service a lot. Much better than driving to Heathrow. Such routes depend on regular, timely and frequent flights, so business people can always be assured they can use them.

This ideally means a minimum of a double daily service - morning and evening - every day of the week. I would focus on building the case for double daily to Dublin (linking to Aer Lingus' worldwide services. Same to Paris Brussels and Frankfurt or Munich linking with Air France / Brussels Air and Lufthansa respectively. Also double daily to Belfast, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Manchester - linking with key UK cities. The Qatar service would have been part of this strategy linking Cardiff to Asia Africa and Australasia through Doha. It's a real shame this has ended. Finally and most ambitiously would be a service to a US hub - but even Bristol and Birmingham has failed to sustain a service to the US. I would design the airport (and the supporting transport infrastructure) to be a blueprint for the modern secondary city airport. Although services to Glasgow / Edinburgh / Dublin and Edinburgh have returned, they are not frequent enough to build customer confidence and expand the business market. If Low Cost Airlines come along then that would be a bonus, but they should not be subsidized, unless they offer those double daily services to key airports.
Click to view full quote
Cheers for taking the time. Really interesting and stuff I hadn't considered :thumbup:
 
Costa Coffee Crew said:
The current CEO Spencer Birns is a good guy. He knows what he is doing and his background is in route development. What is less certain is whether the WG will give him the freedom to do his job. I think the airport did well to attract Qatar Airlines and Wizz Air. And were unlucky that they were both badly impacted by Covid and the effect it had on the airline industry.

Other airports have been badly affected too. Losses have grown at Teeside, and Doncaster/Sheffield is struggling badly. More surprisingly London Southend Airport has been massively impacted too. Interesting article here With weeds on the forecourt, a deserted Southend airport looks to the future - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/28/with-weeds-on-the-tarmac-a-deserted-southend-airport-looks-to-the-future. London Southend had a lot going for it in my view.

To some extent the WG is conflicted in owning the airport. The main justification for public airport ownership is as an asset for the regional economy. However, most Low Cost airlines are geared to taking people overseas. It is difficult for the WG to justify investing in airlines and routes which are taking people out of Wales. I am much more concerned about a strategy for scheduled services to important hubs and key cities. It is these kind of services which support business traffic and the development of the regional economy. By far the best example of this is the KLM route to Amsterdam. At its peak, KLM offered 4 services a day into Cardiff. The KLM business model was built on positioning Amsterdam as a hub linking regional cities which could never justify a point to point (direct service). So, through Amsterdam Cardiff was connected to the world. I used to use the service a lot. Much better than driving to Heathrow. Such routes depend on regular, timely and frequent flights, so business people can always be assured they can use them.

This ideally means a minimum of a double daily service - morning and evening - every day of the week. I would focus on building the case for double daily to Dublin (linking to Aer Lingus' worldwide services. Same to Paris Brussels and Frankfurt or Munich linking with Air France / Brussels Air and Lufthansa respectively. Also double daily to Belfast, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Manchester - linking with key UK cities. The Qatar service would have been part of this strategy linking Cardiff to Asia Africa and Australasia through Doha. It's a real shame this has ended. Finally and most ambitiously would be a service to a US hub - but even Bristol and Birmingham has failed to sustain a service to the US. I would design the airport (and the supporting transport infrastructure) to be a blueprint for the modern secondary city airport. Although services to Glasgow / Edinburgh / Dublin and Edinburgh have returned, they are not frequent enough to build customer confidence and expand the business market. If Low Cost Airlines come along then that would be a bonus, but they should not be subsidized, unless they offer those double daily services to key airports.
Click to view full quote
Insightful and agree with the "bread and Butter" services you make reference to. The example KLM service you gave was brilliant as a "commuting" service for many, especially for business users before video-conferencing took off. Also the customer confidence you refer to - I've certainly been guilty of thinking "how long is this one going to last?" in recent years.
 
Costa Coffee Crew said:
The current CEO Spencer Birns is a good guy. He knows what he is doing and his background is in route development. What is less certain is whether the WG will give him the freedom to do his job. I think the airport did well to attract Qatar Airlines and Wizz Air. And were unlucky that they were both badly impacted by Covid and the effect it had on the airline industry.

Other airports have been badly affected too. Losses have grown at Teeside, and Doncaster/Sheffield is struggling badly. More surprisingly London Southend Airport has been massively impacted too. Interesting article here With weeds on the forecourt, a deserted Southend airport looks to the future - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/28/with-weeds-on-the-tarmac-a-deserted-southend-airport-looks-to-the-future. London Southend had a lot going for it in my view.

To some extent the WG is conflicted in owning the airport. The main justification for public airport ownership is as an asset for the regional economy. However, most Low Cost airlines are geared to taking people overseas. It is difficult for the WG to justify investing in airlines and routes which are taking people out of Wales. I am much more concerned about a strategy for scheduled services to important hubs and key cities. It is these kind of services which support business traffic and the development of the regional economy. By far the best example of this is the KLM route to Amsterdam. At its peak, KLM offered 4 services a day into Cardiff. The KLM business model was built on positioning Amsterdam as a hub linking regional cities which could never justify a point to point (direct service). So, through Amsterdam Cardiff was connected to the world. I used to use the service a lot. Much better than driving to Heathrow. Such routes depend on regular, timely and frequent flights, so business people can always be assured they can use them.

This ideally means a minimum of a double daily service - morning and evening - every day of the week. I would focus on building the case for double daily to Dublin (linking to Aer Lingus' worldwide services. Same to Paris Brussels and Frankfurt or Munich linking with Air France / Brussels Air and Lufthansa respectively. Also double daily to Belfast, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Manchester - linking with key UK cities. The Qatar service would have been part of this strategy linking Cardiff to Asia Africa and Australasia through Doha. It's a real shame this has ended. Finally and most ambitiously would be a service to a US hub - but even Bristol and Birmingham has failed to sustain a service to the US. I would design the airport (and the supporting transport infrastructure) to be a blueprint for the modern secondary city airport. Although services to Glasgow / Edinburgh / Dublin and Edinburgh have returned, they are not frequent enough to build customer confidence and expand the business market. If Low Cost Airlines come along then that would be a bonus, but they should not be subsidized, unless they offer those double daily services to key airports.
Click to view full quote
Word is the failed race track above Brynmawr is earmarked for Wales 2nd airport.
 
Melvin Udal said:
Word is the failed race track above Brynmawr is earmarked for Wales 2nd airport.
Click to view full quote
Not to my knowledge. The people behind that development were never credible. They even got the WG to pay for a feasibility study which they did themselves. Nice little earner. I always believed that a Severnside Airport serving the West and Wales was the answer. Bet there were too many vested interests in Bristol and Cardiff and too little ambitiion and imagination.
 
Costa Coffee Crew said:
Not to my knowledge. The people behind that development were never credible. They even got the WG to pay for a feasibility study which they did themselves. Nice little earner. I always believed that a Severnside Airport serving the West and Wales was the answer. Bet there were too many vested interests in Bristol and Cardiff and too little ambitiion and imagination.
Click to view full quote
Wasnt the site of the white elephant LG place in Newport being suggested some years ago as a Severnside Airport?
 
Costa Coffee Crew said:
The current CEO Spencer Birns is a good guy. He knows what he is doing and his background is in route development. What is less certain is whether the WG will give him the freedom to do his job. I think the airport did well to attract Qatar Airlines and Wizz Air. And were unlucky that they were both badly impacted by Covid and the effect it had on the airline industry.

Other airports have been badly affected too. Losses have grown at Teeside, and Doncaster/Sheffield is struggling badly. More surprisingly London Southend Airport has been massively impacted too. Interesting article here With weeds on the forecourt, a deserted Southend airport looks to the future - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/28/with-weeds-on-the-tarmac-a-deserted-southend-airport-looks-to-the-future. London Southend had a lot going for it in my view.

To some extent the WG is conflicted in owning the airport. The main justification for public airport ownership is as an asset for the regional economy. However, most Low Cost airlines are geared to taking people overseas. It is difficult for the WG to justify investing in airlines and routes which are taking people out of Wales. I am much more concerned about a strategy for scheduled services to important hubs and key cities. It is these kind of services which support business traffic and the development of the regional economy. By far the best example of this is the KLM route to Amsterdam. At its peak, KLM offered 4 services a day into Cardiff. The KLM business model was built on positioning Amsterdam as a hub linking regional cities which could never justify a point to point (direct service). So, through Amsterdam Cardiff was connected to the world. I used to use the service a lot. Much better than driving to Heathrow. Such routes depend on regular, timely and frequent flights, so business people can always be assured they can use them.

This ideally means a minimum of a double daily service - morning and evening - every day of the week. I would focus on building the case for double daily to Dublin (linking to Aer Lingus' worldwide services. Same to Paris Brussels and Frankfurt or Munich linking with Air France / Brussels Air and Lufthansa respectively. Also double daily to Belfast, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Manchester - linking with key UK cities. The Qatar service would have been part of this strategy linking Cardiff to Asia Africa and Australasia through Doha. It's a real shame this has ended. Finally and most ambitiously would be a service to a US hub - but even Bristol and Birmingham has failed to sustain a service to the US. I would design the airport (and the supporting transport infrastructure) to be a blueprint for the modern secondary city airport. Although services to Glasgow / Edinburgh / Dublin and Edinburgh have returned, they are not frequent enough to build customer confidence and expand the business market. If Low Cost Airlines come along then that would be a bonus, but they should not be subsidized, unless they offer those double daily services to key airports.
Click to view full quote

Informative and detailed once again. Thanks for this.

On a related point, I used the CWL - London City Airport when Flybe offered this as the tunnels were closed due to engineering works. Twin prop Embraer if memory serves, but that's all you need and it was around 45 mins in the air. They were all full too.

It was absolutely brilliant, not least because my meetings were at an exhibition at the Excel a stones throw away!

A regular Cardiff to London service would be huge, but I'm sure I heard grumbling from BRS and possibly even Great Western that it should stop once the tunnel was open again.
 
Arfur Ap Llewellyn Europe said:
Informative and detailed once again. Thanks for this.

On a related point, I used the CWL - London City Airport when Flybe offered this as the tunnels were closed due to engineering works. Twin prop Embraer if memory serves, but that's all you need and it was around 45 mins in the air. They were all full too.

It was absolutely brilliant, not least because my meetings were at an exhibition at the Excel a stones throw away!

A regular Cardiff to London service would be huge, but I'm sure I heard grumbling from BRS and possibly even Great Western that it should stop once the tunnel was open again.
Click to view full quote
Yes, I used that on a couple of occasions myself. It was good for Excel and for locations in the East but not great for central London and the West End. And City airport is not great for connecting flights. It would need a BA service to ensure through fares to other destinations and to ensure the timetable meets with the optimum number of connecting flights. London has always been just a bit too close to Cardiff especially with a pretty good rail service. Though with stupidly expensive rail fares maybe, it could be more realistic now. The problem is that the best airport for connections would be Heathrow and slots there have been very expensive.
 
HOME FUN BETS LOTTERY
Costa Coffee Crew said:
Yes, I used that on a couple of occasions myself. It was good for Excel and for locations in the East but not great for central London and the West End. And City airport is not great for connecting flights. It would need a BA service to ensure through fares to other destinations and to ensure the timetable meets with the optimum number of connecting flights. London has always been just a bit too close to Cardiff especially with a pretty good rail service. Though with stupidly expensive rail fares maybe, it could be more realistic now. The problem is that the best airport for connections would be Heathrow and slots there have been very expensive.
Click to view full quote

As you mentioned, Amsterdam serves that role for Eastbound journeys.

Perhaps a more regular Dublin connection for the US and South America / Canada of they go there?
 
Costa Coffee Crew said:
Not to my knowledge. The people behind that development were never credible. They even got the WG to pay for a feasibility study which they did themselves. Nice little earner. I always believed that a Severnside Airport serving the West and Wales was the answer. Bet there were too many vested interests in Bristol and Cardiff and too little ambitiion and imagination.
Click to view full quote

CWL is missing a rail station and some kind of upgrade from the donkey track, that you currently have to use to get there.
 
Worse said:
CWL is missing a rail station and some kind of upgrade from the donkey track, that you currently have to use to get there.
Click to view full quote

And flights to Malaga
 
ViewFromAfar said:
I'm not suggesting he's correct...just added it to the thread as its been a recent topic. (I'd think that BMI's failure was based on a little more than its operation at CWL).
Click to view full quote

Yeh not having a go at you for posting it :thumbup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
HOME FUN BETS LOTTERY

Recent Posts

Latest Fun Bets

View more events

Similar threads

HotshotHamish
Off-Topic Cardiff Airport parking
2 3
Replies
40
Views
2K
toobluetobeblue
toobluetobeblue
SloopJB
Off-Topic Delayed at Bristol airport
2 3 4
Replies
62
Views
2K
Dr. Lecter
Dr. Lecter
HotshotHamish
Cardiff airport departured
2
Replies
31
Views
911
Glos Blue
Glos Blue
kernel
Football Cardiff City Targeting Four New Signings Before Deadline
Replies
3
Views
2K
Jimmytaff
Jimmytaff
TDA
Football City's Supporters' Trust under attack?
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Replies
343
Views
20K
MaestegBlue
MaestegBlue
HOME FUN BETS LOTTERY
Back
Top