This was what I was trying to get at in my last post, there might be 2mppa from South Wales using BRS, but there are 8mppa using BRS from other areas. So if you were an airline (and let’s face it, there aren’t many to choose from these days) where would you put your expensive assets and invest in a base?
CWL has its place, but why does that place have to be an airport flying millions of passengers to Tenerife and the Costas? Can it not build on what it’s already successful at and actually pay its own way without the public having to invest large amounts in facilities and subsidies that come to nothing?
There in lies the issue. There are only a certain number of airlines left that could base at CWL without diluting their own operation at BRS. Wizz was one of those candidates but completely messed that up.
For whatever reason FR, despite some level of expansion have not attempted to be bigger than they could be in competition with EZY. The one way they could compete with EZY is to dilute some of those passengers to CWL on the core popular routes, but that may dilute their own passengers.
The costas and Canaries is ultimately where people in South Wales want to go. They are tried and tested routes that should work. Attract those passengers back then it will peak peoples interest in using CWL more and in turn peak Airlines interest to offer more.