CARDIFF - 2
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Just looking at the BE timetable. London City has appeared. 4 X daily M-F 2xdaily Sat and Sun. Completed a dummy booking and it is book able. Running 12/09-21/10 at moment.
EDIT: Very clever BE, very clever! The dates match the closure of the Severn tunnel for engineering works so may just be a temp route while the railway is closed.
EDIT: Very clever BE, very clever! The dates match the closure of the Severn tunnel for engineering works so may just be a temp route while the railway is closed.
Last edited by bycrewlgw; 22nd Mar 2016 at 12:37.
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Great spot !
And yes it does appear to be clever scheduling from BE. However, that's a lot of capacity on a 4x daily Fokker 50 operation using VLM for BE. Are there that number of people that need this service every day for near enough two months ?
The F50 appears to be CWL based too, so VLM once again returns to CWL this time under the guise of Flybe instead of CityJet.
And yes it does appear to be clever scheduling from BE. However, that's a lot of capacity on a 4x daily Fokker 50 operation using VLM for BE. Are there that number of people that need this service every day for near enough two months ?
The F50 appears to be CWL based too, so VLM once again returns to CWL this time under the guise of Flybe instead of CityJet.
If I'm reading the CAA stats and Flybe timetable correctly, those results on CWL-GLA in February are awful. EDI, with a decent schedule, looks much better although still not setting the world on fire. I wonder if they are going to improve the GLA schedules if DUB is being dropped?
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If I'm reading the CAA stats and Flybe timetable correctly, those results on CWL-GLA in February are awful. EDI, with a decent schedule, looks much better although still not setting the world on fire. I wonder if they are going to improve the GLA schedules if DUB is being dropped?
Join Date: Apr 2013
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Very reasonable fares to LCY too, £26 one way, but more expensive back but you can get a day return for £68.
Times are great too allowing a full business day in the centre of London too.
Not sure where it says operated by VLM as on the dummy booking I just did it still says "operated by Flybe".
Even though it's only for 2 months whilst railway being upgraded I wonder if this will carry on afterwards ?
CWL and BE will hopefully announce it officially pretty soon to fill those seats up.
Times are great too allowing a full business day in the centre of London too.
Not sure where it says operated by VLM as on the dummy booking I just did it still says "operated by Flybe".
Even though it's only for 2 months whilst railway being upgraded I wonder if this will carry on afterwards ?
CWL and BE will hopefully announce it officially pretty soon to fill those seats up.
CWL and BE will hopefully announce it officially pretty soon to fill those seats up.
Business people tend to plan days and weeks ahead, not months! I would suggest that this could be opened for sale as little as one month before the first flight.
As to whether or not CWL / LCY is viable once the rail infrastructure project is completed is anyone's guess. I would suggest however that when you add security (which will undoubtedly be heightened after yesterday's events) to the mix, along with the location of CWL which is hardly close to Cardiff, I would think that the train will always be the quicker (if not the cheaper) option in the long run.
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I suspect Flybe will be hoping for the same effect as when the railway line was washed away at Dawlish. All of a sudden a marginal LGWNQY route flourished and has continued to grow even after the railway was reinstated.
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To be honest, TartinTon the NQY-LGW route has never really been marginal (apart from when Air Southwest was on it as well); it has always performed very well and has been one of Flybe's most profitable routes.
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Summer 2017
Looks like 1 based a/c for CWL next summer with TCX. Think the Bourgas flight is a new one but all in all the first wave seems to be similar to this year. Just the one charter flight to MCO again. Anything new from TOM? See from the booking engine SFB and CUN will be loaded for BRS but not announced yet.
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Responding to the above.
TOM will go for SFB & CUN from BRS for logical reasons that have been well explained on many forums, many times.
Secondly, TCX flights for Summer 2017 will be once again operated by an A320 of Smartlynx.
Summer 2017 however may be a promising time for Vueling to take things up another gear. Flew CWL-BCN-CWL last week, flight well into 90-95%+ and there is a real buzz about CWL at the moment. The improved duty free area directly after security is now a nice fresh touch, with a new Cafe Ritazza opening adjacent to the Echo Bar sometime this/next week. Onboard there were numerous inbound Spaniards and others alike, with some passengers seemingly using BCN to connect to further VY destinations, encouraging signs.
Just another VY point to note, all of my experiences with them have been great, and I believe the onboard service and OTP of VY is superior to the UK Lo-Co's, not naming names ... CWL has a real gem in VY, and they are going from strength to strength with an additional 40% capacity for this Summer alone, coupled with the fact that PMI is now 4x weekly throughout the whole season until October.
TOM will go for SFB & CUN from BRS for logical reasons that have been well explained on many forums, many times.
Secondly, TCX flights for Summer 2017 will be once again operated by an A320 of Smartlynx.
Summer 2017 however may be a promising time for Vueling to take things up another gear. Flew CWL-BCN-CWL last week, flight well into 90-95%+ and there is a real buzz about CWL at the moment. The improved duty free area directly after security is now a nice fresh touch, with a new Cafe Ritazza opening adjacent to the Echo Bar sometime this/next week. Onboard there were numerous inbound Spaniards and others alike, with some passengers seemingly using BCN to connect to further VY destinations, encouraging signs.
Just another VY point to note, all of my experiences with them have been great, and I believe the onboard service and OTP of VY is superior to the UK Lo-Co's, not naming names ... CWL has a real gem in VY, and they are going from strength to strength with an additional 40% capacity for this Summer alone, coupled with the fact that PMI is now 4x weekly throughout the whole season until October.
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A good old friend of mine ... 
There has been speculation in recent months that FR are interested in an increased presence at CWL, forming part of their marketing video for 2016, all of which were pretty much bases or more highly served destinations within the FR network. A poster also with good knowledge of the workings of FR has recently stated that he believes that there are at least a few CWL sympathisers within the FR ranks, and plans are afoot for something, with no timescale given. Cardiff is the fastest growing city in the UK, so i'm sure airlines would be looking at that and the recent announcements of pretty large inward investments (with the exception of the steelworks at Port Talbot) with eager anticipation that the CWL core catchment is increasing faster than ever.
On another note, recent BE loadings seem to be taking an upward trend, numerous CWL-EDI flights that I have been on have had loadings in excess of 100 passengers, and the whole network seems to be improving (some more quickly than others).
VY suffered a hefty delay of 9.5 hours on yesterdays ALC service with the incident aircraft EC-MBY being tugged to BAMC for maintenance, with a replacement being flown in from BCN at around 22:30 to cover this flight, some commitment from VY to get the flight operating, since it could have quite easily been cancelled. Although an aircraft would have had to position BCN-ALC to cover this morning's schedules anyway, good initiative shown to fly the rotation with of course the incentive of not paying cancellation compensation to the passengers.
VY are best placed to once again offer further growth from CWL next Summer, with an increased presence this Winter. Loadings have been excellent, and ALC-CWL-ALC was mooted as VY's top performing route from ALC airport last Summer courtesy of the ALC twitter feed. I think, with almost certainty, that VY will increase the BCN, ALC, PMI and AGP offerings again next year, but i wonder if they will be tempted to try out a new route or two ??
There has been speculation in recent months that FR are interested in an increased presence at CWL, forming part of their marketing video for 2016, all of which were pretty much bases or more highly served destinations within the FR network. A poster also with good knowledge of the workings of FR has recently stated that he believes that there are at least a few CWL sympathisers within the FR ranks, and plans are afoot for something, with no timescale given. Cardiff is the fastest growing city in the UK, so i'm sure airlines would be looking at that and the recent announcements of pretty large inward investments (with the exception of the steelworks at Port Talbot) with eager anticipation that the CWL core catchment is increasing faster than ever.
On another note, recent BE loadings seem to be taking an upward trend, numerous CWL-EDI flights that I have been on have had loadings in excess of 100 passengers, and the whole network seems to be improving (some more quickly than others).
VY suffered a hefty delay of 9.5 hours on yesterdays ALC service with the incident aircraft EC-MBY being tugged to BAMC for maintenance, with a replacement being flown in from BCN at around 22:30 to cover this flight, some commitment from VY to get the flight operating, since it could have quite easily been cancelled. Although an aircraft would have had to position BCN-ALC to cover this morning's schedules anyway, good initiative shown to fly the rotation with of course the incentive of not paying cancellation compensation to the passengers.
VY are best placed to once again offer further growth from CWL next Summer, with an increased presence this Winter. Loadings have been excellent, and ALC-CWL-ALC was mooted as VY's top performing route from ALC airport last Summer courtesy of the ALC twitter feed. I think, with almost certainty, that VY will increase the BCN, ALC, PMI and AGP offerings again next year, but i wonder if they will be tempted to try out a new route or two ??
Brunel to Concorde
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I think many people might have expected an increased Ryanair presence by now - I did - so if (when) it comes it will be no great surprise. With many UK airports seeing impressive passenger growth at the moment CWL should be well positioned to step up its excellent performance of the past ten months.
Other rumours that I've heard doing the rounds, with provenance suggesting that they might be more than hopeful spotters' gossip, involve Jet2 spreading from its 'northern heartland' with CWL one of three airports that they have approached. It might even be that Jet2 is the low cost airline that the airport chairman said had approached them that very day when addressing a WAG committee a few weeks ago
I have no doubt that airports speak to airlines all the time but if these rumours have some basis there might be more to it. That said, negotiations don't always result in positive outcomes of course.
Other rumours that I've heard doing the rounds, with provenance suggesting that they might be more than hopeful spotters' gossip, involve Jet2 spreading from its 'northern heartland' with CWL one of three airports that they have approached. It might even be that Jet2 is the low cost airline that the airport chairman said had approached them that very day when addressing a WAG committee a few weeks ago
I have no doubt that airports speak to airlines all the time but if these rumours have some basis there might be more to it. That said, negotiations don't always result in positive outcomes of course.
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I think many people might have expected an increased Ryanair presence by now - I did - so if (when) it comes it will be no great surprise. With many UK airports seeing impressive passenger growth at the moment CWL should be well positioned to step up its excellent performance of the past ten months.
Other rumours that I've heard doing the rounds, with provenance suggesting that they might be more than hopeful spotters' gossip, involve Jet2 spreading from its 'northern heartland' with CWL one of three airports that they have approached. It might even be that Jet2 is the low cost airline that the airport chairman said had approached them that very day when addressing a WAG committee a few weeks ago
I have no doubt that airports speak to airlines all the time but if these rumours have some basis there might be more to it. That said, negotiations don't always result in positive outcomes of course.
Other rumours that I've heard doing the rounds, with provenance suggesting that they might be more than hopeful spotters' gossip, involve Jet2 spreading from its 'northern heartland' with CWL one of three airports that they have approached. It might even be that Jet2 is the low cost airline that the airport chairman said had approached them that very day when addressing a WAG committee a few weeks ago
I have no doubt that airports speak to airlines all the time but if these rumours have some basis there might be more to it. That said, negotiations don't always result in positive outcomes of course.
Remains to be seen what comes of it, but they are taking delivery of additional aircraft and have recently advertised for additional crewing positions in recent days.
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jet 2
i read on one of these forums in the last few days that jet 2 wont have any bases further south than they already have.expansion will be from the northern airports only. these roumers started after a jet 2 757 was seen doing air tests from st at athan. jet 2 normally boes a winter ski route from brs. also do the odd charter from other southern airports.
Last edited by yeo valley; 15th Apr 2016 at 15:46. Reason: added text
