Originally Posted by
davidjohnson6
Throughout the world, when you have two adjacent regions each with their own airport, airlines will always base their aircraft in the wealthy region and make the poor neighbours travel further. Airlines would be crazy to act otherwise.
Cardiff airport and its traffic reflects the local economy, much like Leeds airport. If you want to see a busy CWL... then you need a really buoyant and dynamic economy in south Wales. when you walk around places like Barry and see people struggling to make ends meet, it's not encouraging
Dublin airport used to be sleepy. In the last 30 years, the economy around Dublin has gained vast wealth and the airport is booming. Yes, the airport is an important asset, just like good roads and a train station... but the way to fix CWL is by creating a strong economy first. Good education, strong skill base, etc...
Of course what you say is correct in theory, but why are well over 1m Welsh people using BRS, if not more than 1m? Even for routes operated from CWL. Quite simply, price. The Southwest region is more affluent than Wales, but there is definitely propensity to fly in Wales. It'll be interesting to see how the FR routes perform this summer. The timings are terrible but hopefully the prices will be right.