Diolch yn fawr

Great way to sell the comfort of the Dreamliner that will be operating the route......?

Well there is a Welsh connection in that the A350 wings are made in Wales and i also believe that they launched Dublin the same way.

Tunisia returns with TUI
 

Looks like TUI are also returning to Tunisia from CWL for Summer 2019.

Enfidha flights are available for booking, every Friday with TUI flight numbers as of May 2019.

I wonder why this was not announced last week along with DBV, HRG & NAP ??

This is what Summer 2019 looks like for CWL at the moment. All flights look like they are on TUI aircraft.

Bourgas 1 weekly Monday
Dubrovnik 1 weekly Thursday NEW route
Larnaca 1 weekly Sunday
Paphos 2 weekly Wednesday and Sunday increase of 1 weekly flight
Hurghada 1 weekly Monday
Corfu 2 weekly Monday and Friday increase of 1 weekly flight
Heraklion 1 weekly Tuesday
Kefalonia 1 weekly Tuesday
Kos 2 weekly Wednesday and Saturday increase of 1 weekly flight
Rhodes 2 weekly Wednesday and Saturday increase of 1 weekly flight
Zante 2 weekly Thursday and Sunday increase of 1 weekly flight
Naples 1 weekly Wednesday NEW route
Faro 1 weekly Thursday
Alicante 2 weekly Tuesday and Saturday
Gran Canaria 1 weekly Saturday
Ibiza 3 weekly Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
Lanzarote 2 weekly Thursday and Sunday
Malaga 2 weekly Wednesday and Sunday
Menorca 3 weekly Monday, Friday and Saturday increase of 1 weekly
Palma de Mallorca 6 weekly Monday, Tuesday, Friday x2, Saturday and Sunday increase of 1 weekly flight.
Reus 1 weekly Tuesday
Tenerife South 2 weekly Tuesday and Friday
Enfidha 1 weekly Friday NEW route
Antalya 1 weekly Thursday
Dalaman 2 weekly Monday and Thursday decrease of 1 weekly flight
44 weekly flights
In summary TUI Summer 2019 is 3 based aircraft, Paphos, Corfu, Kos, Rhodes, Zante, Menorca and Palma de Mallorca each get an extra weekly flight. Dalaman goes down from 3 weekly to 2 weekly. Total of 44 weekly flights.
Naples, Dubrovnik and Enfidha are new routes while Hurghada goes year round.
On the holiday website there are also holidays available for Montenegro using the Dubrovnik flights.
On Friday 1 aircraft does a W pattern to Corfu for Bournemouth.

Probably because it's not a new route as it's already onsale with Thomas Cook.

The inaugural Qatar Airways flight on Tuesday 1st May 2018 will be on an A350 900 and will arrive at 12.50 and depart at 15.55.

Stats for March 2018 from the airport.
96,767 passengers passed through the airport up 11% on 2017.
The rolling year was 1,488,000 up 10% on 2017.
https://www.cardiff-airport.com/news...senger-growth/

The suggested routes for the new bypass from the M4 to the A48 have been released for consultation.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/exact-routes-new-road-linking-14537704

The official opening of the new departure lounge is happening this morning. Also noticed that some of the seats now have charging points.
Also work is being undertaken to create 2 new stands and reposition stand 7 for the new airbridge to get everything ready for Qatar who start flying to Cardiff in 13 days time.

As part of the new upgrades Cardiff Airport now has a new business lounge called 51°.
www.cardiff-airport.com/news/2018/04/18/cardiff-airports-terminal-improvements-unveiled/

All they have to do now is earn the money to make the re-payments! :ok:

Yep and the more people coming through the airport the more they earn!

Why is QR down to 5 times per week instead of initially launched daily for first few months, take up less than expected?

Perhaps launching during ramadan and lower travel period wasn't a good idea. Most routes see a dip in numbers.

Discussed above. QR have blamed delays in delivery for this. Goes daily from June.

Fares for the first week are still quite low. Off to Aus the start of May and looked at the fares. They do increase later on which suggests that take up has been ok. Obviously only QR and CWL will know. The business fares remain consistent with some of the saver business gone already.

We all know that it’s a gamble but I’m sure the experts have done their research. I expect (just a gut feeling) that they’ll convert the 788 to 321neo when delivered.

The key factors will be cargo and the take up of the Business Class cabin. The route is new and will take time to mature just like the Flybe routes when they first started and no one knows what they'll use the A321neo for.

At least Qatar have deep enough pockets to give the route a chance to develop. Were Flybe not the beneficiaries of generous sweeteners from the airport owners (coincidentally the Welsh government) you may find that they would be a deal ruthless with regard to route performance.

The proof of all puddings is what happens when the deals (and the same goes for Doncaster in that respect) run out.

Flybe have said they are looking at a 4th based aircraft for 2019 and the agreement was for 2. They must be happy and see a future at CWL to publicly say they are thinking of it.
People criticise the Welsh government for incentivising Flybe yet that happens all over the industry in various ways from cheap handling fees, free marketing, to giving certain airlines the best gates, in the end Cardiff needed a based airline to develop a route network and Flybe needed a home for some jets.
Qatar start in 8 days time and I'm sure Mays stats will be interesting to see!

Incentives are part and parcel of all industries, and of course airports are no exception, however if it hadn't been for a political decision many years ago most UK airports would probably still be quasi public owned. Fact is that in both Scotland and Wales the governments have taken steps to wrest control back into public hands, which could, in some cases put some English airports at a disadvantage.

As I suggested, it's not from where the incentive comes or came, it's the commercial decisions that may be made after incentives run out, and that applies to all airports. When the E195s have gone, which won't be that long now, Flybe will be under pressure to put their fleet resources where they make the biggest return and it will be interesting to see where that is, and given the reduction in overall capacity, where the axe will fall - not necessarily at Cardiff, could be anywhere, including their major bases - MAN, BHX and SOU.