All this talk about NYC/DXB etc. As stated previously, DXB is well served from BHX, less than 2 hrs up the road. EWR is served from BRS, would another operator succeed? Bearing in mind part of the situation is for the airport to attract the operator. But surely its the operator that needs to make the route succeed.
An airline would have to gamble on either making CWL work for them or placing the a/c elsewhere on a possiblly higher earning route. E.G EK placing a Daily A330 into CWL (like NCL) or expanding their route network as someone has mentioned into USA/Africa etc.
Whilst i agree the terminal needs a good sorting out. From a business point of view, would it be commercially viable for Abertis to spend millions on a terminal, just to maybe attract an extra 2/3 long haul routes??
I have to say the new walkway is a load of rubbish. Its like walking through a cold school corridor. Pax are certainly not happy with it. The lack of seating is ridiculous for a boarding area. I assume this is as gates 12-15 are only temporary, Hopefully when the next stage is built out towards BAMC they will build it properly with plenty of space and some basic facilities!
Gate 15 is a waste of time, they could put a basic domestic arrivals hall there, with one, maybe two belts. Simple yet basic, but avoiding the long walk and fiasco situation that immigration are causing with domestic flights.
We have a serious problem with lack of space to expand the apron area, without serious investment. Any airline looking at expanding would have to get the airport to sort out stands. If Flybe and Baby were to eventually further expand, and the possibility of XL coming back in 2008, parking space will be tight!
The road/rail/bus link is also down to the council/road/rail operators. Hopefully with the recent news regarding St Athan, that may push the road we need forward.
The road from Culverhouse down to Rhoose is constantly chocker. Something needs to be done just to cut the traffic. A road from M4-A48-Rhoose would be ideal, this would not only benifit the airport, but people of rhoose and cut traffic going through the top of Barry and Wenvoe, which in turn would cut traffic on the nightmare Culverhouse cross roundabout which is a constant bottlenexk throughout the day.
Baby...baby have no get up and go at the moment. Its as if they are scared to do anything. They are the main domestic operator at CWL, yet as someone mentioned they are cutting the GLA to x1 daily? Which is no good for business pax surely. If Flybe had any sense and did come into CWL they would only face serious competition on a few routes. E.G BFS/BHD, EDI, GLA. They could open several new french/German routes, NCL, GLA, EDI, INV etc which could mean at least one based A/c.
As for Paris, if TOM continue to mirror their low-cost bases elsewhere, im sure they will possibly go for a paris route. BOH and CVT offer PRG and AMS, but i cant see TOM operating these route as they are already covered by baby.
And to finish my rant. Hopefully the masterplan will come into effecto much before 2015, the plans they have offered for 2015 need to be sorted now, otherwise the airport will go nowhere for years and fall even further behind BRS' shadow.