Originally Posted by
Severn
Regardless of which aircraft will operate the route, it is all about the actual number of bums on seats that CWL can attract.
In 2016 QR carried the following number of passengers to DOH from the UK regions:
MAN-DOH: 336,461 (293,357 in 2015)
EDI-DOH: 133,983 (115,529 in 2015)
BHX-DOH: 110,585 (208 in 2015)
Looking at the above numbers, BHX and EDI, which handle over 10,000,000 passengers per year have still only been getting under 150,000 passengers per year on their DOH route. These routes now operate daily on a B787, so where should CWL really be setting their expectations given they now handle in the region of 1,350,000 a year?
I can't see that the number of passengers currently traveling through CWL in a year, set against those using BHX and EDI have any bearing. In some respects, because Qatar will be the only carrier flying direct from the Southwest of England / Wales to the gulf they will very likely do disproportionately well in relation to the aforementioned, both of which have extensive competition from the likes of Emirates, Etihad and Turkish.