BRS has been overshadowed in recent days with the Cardiff Qatar news. The only bits of 'news' from the airport this week are that the local authority and the airport are investing £650,000 into looking at ways of improving surface access to the airport, and the new A3 Weston-super-Mare Flyer will commence operations at the end of this month.
Back to Qatar and CWL, I'm not aware of any public reaction to the news from the senior management of BRS, although I suppose there is nothing they could say beyond expressing disappointment that Qatar didn't choose them coupled with a vow to try to land a ME carrier themselves, which of course has become that much more difficult (and unlikely?).
There has been a good deal of speculation as to why Qatar decide to go to CWL when BRS has an undeniably larger and more affluent core catchment with easier access to peripheral catchments such as the South West in general.
I wonder if it's simply a matter of operational requirements. The B787-8 should have no trouble with Doha from BRS - TUI starts flying them to Mexico and Florida from BRS next month. However, if Qatar had decided that a narrow-bodied Airbus was the appropriate equipment for a Severnside route can anyone say whether any of that type operated by Qatar could reach Doha non-stop from the BRS runway (2011metres at 190 metres AMSL) with a 'typical' passenger load? It might not be that typical actually as BRS has no cargo facilities.
Many thanks for any authoritative replies.