Originally Posted by
EK77WNCL
If they were to operate the route x1.5 weekly on the 787, they'd be rolling in it with 97.25% load factors! Say every Monday and every other Friday, I think it could work. In time they might be able to profitably run a twice weekly A350 in and out of Cardiff.
I'm sorry, I'm willing to give any operation the benefit of the doubt and I love supporting the underdogs. I wished Cardiff well but this is just ridiculous. Anyone airline in their right mind would have picked Bristol... And any airport that had the slightest intention of making money out of this and building a stable relationship and profitable route, would not have picked Qatar. This is just another example of QR's dodgy business practices. Thank God the average member of the public doesn't understand how these operations work and are probably still naive enough to believe this is a positive thing for Cardiff, Wales and the South West.
An accurate summary there. Long-haul to the Middle East is not a game changer as some hardcore Cardiff Airport fans would have you believe. They look only for the positive and ignore the negatives. Cardiff Airport should stop chasing long haul travel. If the Welsh Government has sense it would undercut Bristol, hand out wads of cash, and beg Ryanair to make Cardiff a hub like Southend.