Air Wales end CWL-BRU route

[jetstream7]

Following BBC link has all the details

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/3601067.stm

Pity, but really a suprise? Heard marketing in Belgium was non-existant.
Can't say it seemed any better over here either...

Whither Air Wales now?

First news item on their website is about the launch of the route and now it's ending...

Can't remember last time I could access the online booking system...

Routes launched and finished almost at random...

etc. etc.

[MerchantVenturer]

There was another thread about the CWL-BRU route a couple of weeks or so ago when someone suggested that fares were being kept deliberately high on this route to keep out the 'riff raff' (his/her words, not mine).

Not being an aviation professional I am not always aware of the arcane practices that are sometimes involved in airline finances. However, this assertion made no sense to me and I said so, but the person concerned did not respond.

The CAA provisional figures for February show a total of 256 pax travelling on this route which, having regard to the number of rotations in February (the route is flown four times a week in each direction), gave an average load of around eight - in a ATR 42!

When one reads the provisional figures for nearby BRS to BRU the number of pax in February was over 5200 - granted they fly three times a day but it still gave an average load in the high thirties on the ARJs operated by SN Brussels. Not brilliant even here perhaps but much better than eight.

My point is that there must surely be a market from Cardiff to Brussels, perhaps even more so than from Bristol given that Cardiff is the Welsh capital with political links.

Perhaps the Air Wales fares were too high. Perhaps the frequency was insufficient. Perhaps the marketing was poor.

[LGS6753]

Brussels seems an odd destination. It's a European capital, but no-one makes money flying there:

Sabena went bust.
Virgin Express dropped their own-brand services there
VEX aren't generally doing well
Ryanair have pulled their CRL-STN route
Other services to BRU have been dropped over the years.

What is it with Brussels?
Admittedly the Eurocrats are enough to put anyone off visiting, but the Grand Place (?) is superb and it's a fairly pleasant city centre with excellent restaurants.

So why is it an airline graveyard?

[LTNman]

This was posted on another forum about Air Wales

I was not the passenger, but was closely involved with the booking of
these flights, and taking the passenger to/from the airport.

To start with, Air Wales have a bizarre web site. The timetable they
have on there is always wrong. They are still showing the winter
timetable for SWS-AMS, which was never correct anyway, even though I
have in my hand a printed timetable leaflet with their summer
schedules. For on-line bookings they use one of the regular booking
systems that uses the AF reservations computer. We made a booking
about 6 weeks ago for AMS-SWS-AMS for a price of £85 including tax,
yes they only ever quoted a price in Sterling even though the journey
originated in AMS.

Twice I was called with schedule changes, the outward was changed from
1430 to 1715, then back to 1430 a few days before departure. With this
second call I was assured that that would be definite. On the day of
departure we checked the Schiphol web site to see the flight listed at
1715. We got to the airport at about 1215, the flight was still listed
as departing at 1715, checking-in at row 7. It was on a screen above
some desks in row 7, but the agents there didn't know who would be
handling it. We went upstairs to have lunch, as planned, and decided
to call Air Wales in Swansea. We explained the situation and they
confirmed that it was definitely going at 1430, and that they would
call Schiphol to tell them this! After having something to eat the
passenger went down to find that the 1715 flight was now showing
cancelled, but no mention of a 1430 departure. The airport information
desk directed him to row 6 of the check-in area where he found a few
bewildered Welsh people mingling around but no other sign of activity,
so he came back upstairs for a coffee. After that we went down to find
2 check-in desks manned, but the screens above were blank, and there
was no airline name/logo on display behind as is normal at AMS. The
staff were there to check-in the Air Wales flight, but the computer
system was down so they couldn't print luggage labels. We waited a
bit, I checked arrivals and saw that the aircraft was due in an hour
behind schedule. Eventually all 12 passengers were checked-in, and the
ATR left about 90 minutes late.

On the day of the return all was going smoothly. The plane was at
Swansea, the passengers were all checked-in, Schiphol were expecting
them at the correct time. Then there was a delay announced. A
technical problem with the airport. Apparently SWS is a very small
airport, just recently reopened after a long period of closure during
which sheep would graze there. It was later explained that the
alternator on the fire engine had gone, so they were waiting for that
to be fixed before the airprot could be used! Eventually the fire
engine was fixed, the airport could open, and the ATR took off about
an hour late. The only problem now was that for some reason they
hadn't had any catering at SWS, and they would have to call in at
Cardiff to pick some up. In the meantime I arrived at AMS to meet the
flight. There were now 2 Air Wales flights on the arrivals board, both
shown as cancelled. The people at the information desk made a phone
call and said that a flight had just landed, but that it was a
positioning flight, with no passengers on board. I explained what had
been going on, they made another call, and apologized for their error,
there were in fact passengers on the flight, and the arrival hall
would be displayed on the board shortly. Sure enough it was indicated
that the passnegers would be arriving though hall 1, but both flights
remained listed as cancelled, to the amusement of the passenger.

To use that well known phrase, has anyone else ever flown with Air
Wales?

[BahrainLad]

Brussels Airport seems to be hamstrung for a number of reasons.

Primarily, it's bloody expensive to operate into. The Airport Company invested heavily in some (very nice, don't get me wrong) new airport facilities (such as the new pier A) that was supposed to facilitate a Sabena hub operation. When Sabena went bust, the outstanding investment in the airport still had to be covered. So landing there is very expensive: not ideal in the current low-cost-is-best climate.

Secondly, and this is often overlooked, the catchment area that Brussels directly serves is also served by Paris and Amsterdam, both airports with strong hub airlines and large hub operations. I've experienced the Thalys service myself: the centre of Brussels to inside the terminal at CDG in 1hr 15m is a city-centre to airport elapsed time that many conurbations would kill for. You can even check-in for your AF flight at Brussels-Midi and travel on a Thalys with a AF flight number.

These two factors combined mean that Brussels is only there for Eurocrats who don't care about paying €300 rtn to London or Frankfurt.

It's a shame because I'm a fan of SN Brussels Airlines with thier good connections from the UK regions, friendly service and the Neuhaus chocs they throw at you.

(The small bars every few gates at BRU are also some of the nicest places to while away 30 mins whilst drinking a Belgian beer.....)