CARDIFF

[yeo valley]

tui

heard last week that FCA are putting extra aircraft into bristol to make up what tui is cutting in cardiff. as you say till it happens or not a lot can change. long way off is s09
cheers yv

[OliWW]

On the Thomson issue, I would have thought there would be more 'w' patterns as B752 and B738 are heavily packed, and, 4 or 5 times a week flights to say Alicante or Malaga, dont really suit this type of aircraft that often

[CentreFix25]

I think the 757s and 738s are ideally suited for the run down to Spain and back, 2 or 3 times every day and as 'heavily packed' as possible - they've been doing it for years.

[Em0866]

I agree with previous comments that S09 is way, way in the distance and a lot can happen between now and then. Any news on new destinations with tui from CWL next year?

[caaardiff]

If the reduction in a/c is true. Then i highly doubt any new routes would be in the pipeline.
Frequencies would be cut. ALC/AGP/FAO are 4/5 times p/, PMI is daily, PFO/CFU x2 p/w, and DLM x3 p/w this summer. Thats quite a tight schedule in itself.
There's plenty of scope for even a fourth a/c, with a few more canary rotations and new Greece/Bulgaria/Turkey/Tunisia flights.
The TOM-CWL and FCA-BRS setup suits both of them perfectly. TOM is a major player at CWL, with the only competition being baby on the spanish routes, and TCX on spanish and a number of others.
It was only last year the rumours were TOM were to have 9 a/c at CWL by something like 2012!

Guess this one is just sit tight and see.
Maybe there's something to come from TCX too
I believe the Charter holiday sales start this wk for S2009

[GoEDI]

This evening's EDI-CWL was booked full at 49. First time I've seen that so far!

[bycrewlgw]

TOM Summer 09 (so far)

Mon:

PMI, GRO, EFL, MLA (op. KM), ALC, REU

Tues:

IBZ, KGS, LCA, MAH

Wed:

DLM, HER, AGP, PMI

Thurs:

BOJ, CFU, TFS, ZTH

Fri:

ALC, SSH, IBZ, PMI, RHO

Sat:

FAO, ACE, AGP, PFO

Sun:

BJV, FNC, LPA, IBZ

(Information taken from the timetable section of Thomsonfly.com)

I dont think this yet shows scheduled flights with tommy fly so we should have a few extra rotations to FAO / Spain etc.

All in all though pretty dissapointing yet again!

[Em0866]

Well as its been said its early days yet. No news of any charters to SFB, POP or CUN (or anywhere else). Shame they dropped them. Were the sales poor?

[flowy50]

I went to pops with them when they started it and i was told that the bookings had been very good. this was told to me by servisair.

[Em0866]

I wonder why it was pulled then? I know that next winter they have the caribbean flights from CWL to Dom Rep for their cruise flights (I think it's once every 4 weeks).

[bycrewlgw]

Destination 2007 2006 %Change

CUN 7633 6459 +18%

SFB 17774 38080 -53%

POP 0 11079 -100%

YVR 3642 4285 -15%

YYZ 9318 13954 -33%

(Figures from CAA)

Now i know that yield comes into play with the above routes but surely with PAX figures like those in 2006 it would have made TOM a profit? Maybe not but still surprising that another carrier has not stepped in to operate LH from CWL.

Interesting to note too how strong the BRS figures are so obviously we have to take into account how many PAX were coming across the bridge from BRS catchment area to use these services.

[Em0866]

Yes it would be interesting to find out why CWL have not managed to obtain more LH routes, building on what they already have (SFB, YVR and YYZ). Hopefully with a new MD there he may turn things around (with a bit of luck)

[CWL_Chris]

Does anyone have any information on how well WW's routes are doing to Poland and Barcelona (I know this route hasnt started operating yet)!

[boyyo]

Thomson Fly

As i understand, the winter flight to the carribbean is a weekly flight, going out on a wednesday, got the info off Servisair, with regards to pop, sfb and cun, i thought these we're dropped because FCA started these from Bristol, could anyone shed any light on this as to if this is true?

boyyo

[caaardiff]

Destination 2007 2006 %Change

CUN 7633 6459 +18%
SFB 17774 38080 -53%
POP 0 11079 -100%
YVR 3642 4285 -15%
YYZ 9318 13954 -33%

In comparison there were many changes at CWL between 2006 and 2007.
CUN - 2006 - Flight was shared with DUB, 2007 - Direct
SFB - 2006 - MON, XLA and TOM, 2007 - TOM and XLA (XLA 1 less flight than 2006)
POP - Dropped
YYZ - 2006 - Direct, 2007 - shared with BFS
The question being, if flights were solely CWL pax, could the airlines fill them, and make good yields?

As for the TOM 2009 schedule, its frequency reductions, not desinations cuts
2008 vs 2009 Frequencies:
2008 2009
FAO x4 x1 -3
AGP x4 x2 -2
PMI x7 x3 -4
ALC x4 x2 -2
DLM x2 x1 -1
IBZ x4 x3 -1
PFO x2 x1 -1
Thats a loss of 14 flights, or the equivilant of one a/c!

The general rumour regarding long haul is that the FCA LH brand is stronger than TOM, and as FCA is well known at BRS, with the reliance of the 787, BRS was a viable long haul option. How true this is, i dont know!

The DomRep long haul is a cruise flight obo TOM/FCA for the Thomson Destiny ship, running from Dec - Apr more of less once a month, every 3/4 weeks.

[Em0866]

Would this mean that there may be a different operator coming in to take up what TOM have dropped? Or maybe a new airline?

[Welsh Bobby]

Its the usual case of one step forward and two back for CWL yet again!
I really thought TOM was going to keep growing.Yet again regular pax like me will have to cross the bridge again to get the choice and frequency at BRS.So bloody annoying!
I did POP and CUN from CWLfantastic especially when CUN was direct.
I cant believe that BRS is seen as the LH choice out of the two...didnt think it could fly direct with full loads?
Come on CWL management Im loosing patience and loyalty!

[caaardiff]

BRS longhaul outbound isn't direct, its via MAN for fuelstop. The 787 may resolve this, but the delay on the production of it will obviously delay the BRS program.

Who knows about new operators! I've always thought Monarch would fit in well at CWL with some spanish, canaries and greek routes. Cant see it happening anytime soon though!
We'll just have to wait and see if TOM come up with more at a later date, or if TCX come up with anything.

[MerchantVenturer]

It's not just CWL that has had a cutback by TOM for summer 2009. A glance at a number of other airport threads will show similar reductions there.

I cant believe that BRS is seen as the LH choice out of the two...didnt think it could fly direct with full loads?

As has been said, the outbound long haul B 767s from BRS have an en-route fuel stop.

However, BRS is pinning its long haul hopes on the B 787 (and no doubt the A 350 in due course). This is one of the reasons that airport sees no need to extend its runway, although environmental implicatons make such an initiative a near non-starter anyway.

As for the B 787 and BRS, I can do no better than quote part of that airport's master plan.

Detailed discussions between BIA (Bristol International Airport) and Boeing and with airlines that have placed orders for this aircraft (including Continental and First Choice) lead us to be confident about its ability to serve the long haul market from BIA. Information provided by Boeing would indicate that the aircraft would have the capability to serve destinations on the west coast of America and Cape Town, removing any effective constraint on the long haul market.

However, the master plan also says that there is only an identified demand for regular long haul scheduled services from BRS to New York, Washington, Dubai and another US destination such as Atlanta.

Other long haul routes would be charter services.

It would be interesting to know if the CWL management believes its long haul scheduled demand is similar, less or greater. I can find nothing to help me on this in the CWL master plan.

[boyyo]

Monarch

Had a look at the airport fids today, and it's showing that Monarch are flying in October to ACE and DLM, seems to be a one off date though, does anyone else have any info on this?
boyyo