Got to say, I think the "Cardiff has had it" theory is rot.
Let's look at the "leavers" and the "rumoured leavers"....
XL - my guess is that they managed to get some more slots out of the South East for the Cardiff aircraft. So they did what any airline would do from any non-South East airport. Absquatulated.
Eastern - NCL seems to work well, as it did with Air Wales. BRU - well, the fares were crazy, seemed to have no revenue manager on them, and the advertising? I didn't see any, and I fly through, or have a meeting at the airport pretty much weekly.
ASW - give me strength. They may advertise well, but NQY? Why would anyone go to NQY in the winter? And if you live in Cardiff, getting to the centre of Manchester is quicker on the train. Daft route.
CWL suffers from not getting the Go base, years back. That was a pretty close call by all accounts, and the situation could easily have been reversed. What CWL needs is a decent "proper" low cost, serving some of the underserved destinations that baby do, and introducing others that easy do out of BRS. And offering real low cost fares... I get bored with the leakage figures from the S Wales area to BRS....
New York? All things are possible. Have I heard anything? No. BUT remember that long haul tends to have a larger catchment area. So given that CO won't do it (they are out of BHX and BRS, why would they?) and most of the US majors are looking very hard at Europe, who knows? CO are not the only player, and CWL is virgin territory for someone who wanted a slice of the CO action. Drive it on price, and watch the fur fly.
Dubai? Doubtful. But Middle East, possible. I know many people for example who are BHX regulars because of the EK service. You'd be surprised how many Skywards folks are in the CF, NP, SA postcodes. But EK won't do it since it dilutes load and yield. Etihad? Qatar? Who knows?
Don't write CWL off just yet. You heard it here first.
