The study was commissioned by the Wales Assembly Government in connection with the then Welsh Route Development Fund that was closed to new routes after 31 May 2007, three months before the York report was published,following new regulations that weakend the support such funds could give.
The York study envisaged a £580,000 per annum contribution from the fund for the first three years.
It reported on the basis of a year-round daily Delta Boeing 757-200 174-seat operation and its projected passenger figures would have meant an annual load factor of over 86% on a 'settled down year'.
WATABENCH rightly points out that the world is a different place economically these days though the York study apparently discounted the Continental Bristol-Newark service that was then in full swing (it wasn't mentioned in the study), so the fact that it no longer operates would be a plus point for any CWL operation.
The existence of the study was reported in detail by a Welsh newspaper recently at this link
New York air route ‘could bring in £1m’ a year - Cardiff news - CardiffOnline - WalesOnline
In the newspaper article the airport (CWL) is reported as saying that it 'strongly believes' that a Delta route to JFK could come to fruition though later in the piece an airport spokeswoman is quoted, "The conventional model for such a transaction of this scale and nature requires participation beyond Cardiff Airport." I take this to mean that they want some money from the WAG.
Delta makes the not unexpected bland reply that they have no current plans for such a route but are always open to reviewing their route opportunities.
In recent months there has been a lot of comment in Wales about a reported opportunity for a Delta CWL-JFK route based on the airline's demands for it to be underwritten by the WAG.
Without a big helping from the public purse it's difficult to see such a route starting in today's severe economic climate, and current regulations mean the WAG would have to be inventive anyway if they were minded to open their wallet.
I agree with WATABENCH that it's a positive and welcome sign that two airlines (Vueling and Monarch) have announced new routes from CWL in 2012 though I'm surprised that no-one has yet stepped in to take baby's place on the summer sun routes.
I was shocked to discover that there were only 15 passenger aircraft arrivals and the same number of departures today, mainly turbo-prop with two being 29-seaters and two 19-seaters.