Air Wales

[3REDS]

Rummour is that Air Wales is about to do a deal with Eastern to take over ALL its routes. IF this is true it is a very sad day for all involved with Air Wales past and present who have worked hard to realise the chairmans dreams of a Welsh Airline flying the flag.:(
Roy chin up you did your best and did indeed give Wales an airline to be proud of.:ok:
Long live the Red Dragon!!!

[GBALU53]

It would be a great pity for Wales.

They have tried to keep Wales on the map.:ugh: :ugh:

If Eastern do take them over certain route would be cut back and i do not think they bwill take on the ATR42 Fleet.

Some of this might tie in with Eastern receiving more Jetstream 41s.

The ATR42 fleet should find a market even Aurign Air Service could be in a postion to take some aircraft on as they are looking at replacing the Shorts 360 they operate and would be a good move to cut down on different types with ithe company.

We would hope it is not total demise of the dragon:sad: :sad:

[DTVAirport]

Personally, I would rather see Air Wales and Air Southwest merge! Why wouldn't Eastern want the ATR42 fleet? You know how much Eastern love their turboprops!

Maybe this is why Air Wales cancelled their plans to acquire two ATR72's?

[No_Speed_Restriction]

lets hope that all our ex-colleagues find salvation in new well-respected jobs.

[airhumberside]

I think any T3 takeover on Air Wales routes would see big changes in the airline's route network. I would expect the leisure focused routes like CWL-JER/Rennes, EXT-NQY-ORK and WAT-Rennes to be dropped. However, there could be a good chance of a decent CWL-ABZ service

[WOWBOY]

I really dont want this to happen for some reason :ouch:

But I suppose it would be for the best!

I think any T3 takeover on Air Wales routes would see big changes in the airline's route network. I would expect the leisure focused routes like CWL-JER/Rennes, EXT-NQY-ORK and WAT-Rennes to be dropped. However, there could be a good chance of a decent CWL-ABZ service

airhumberside, I agree with you here!!!


3REDS, Do you have any more info on this? :p :O

[Jamesair]

The Cardiff - NCL route would fit in well with the Eastern network, could easily be 3/4 x daily with a J41 a/c. The fifth daily NCL - ABZ flight could originate in Cardiff instead of NCL as currently operated.

[jswings]

This news if confirmed would be sad news for Air Wales staff and legacy of the flagship airline. I hope things turn out good and staff stay on.

[goldeneye]

Ive always thought a combined airline made up of Air Wales, Air Southwest, Eastern and Scotairways would make a good fit. No real cross overs of routes and would be a good fit.

[MerchantVenturer]

I hate to see any airline fail and my first thoughts are always with the staff.

Living just across the Severn from the Dragon's layer I regard it as a local airline as I do with Air Southwest and Flybe. If 6G does cease to operate in its present form I hope fervently that those at the sharp end, who have clearly striven hard to try to make the enterprise work, find other opportunities quickly.

The bmibaby website is showing their double daily CWL-CDG still to be operated by Air Wales during the forthcoming summer.

If Air Wales does disappear as an airline baby will have to sort that one out quickly.

Let us hope that this is no more than a rumour, one that turns out to have no legs.

Good luck to Air Wales and to everyone associated with the airline.

[airhumberside]

I would say Air Wales/Air Southwest and Scot/Eastern have a different business model.

Air Wales and Air Southwest mix business and leisure traffic with some cheap fares and leisure orientated routes alongside high fare businees routes. Scot and Eastern are focused entirely on high fare business orientated routes. Like I said earlier, if Eastern do take over Air Wales's routes, I would expect the leisure orientated routes to be axed

Therefore I think any super merger of WOW/6G/T3 and CB wouldn't work. There would be a highly mixed fleet operating different businees models. However a combination of Eastern Airways and Scot Airways could be interesting

[GROUNDHOG]

With no inference to the health of Air Wales 'merge' is the wrong word to use. No company will merge with another that is sick unless it has something of unique value to offer - it just doesn't happen in business guys.

What is best married together is not determined by who flies ATR's, Jetstreems, Boeings etc either, but by the numbers at the bottom of the balance sheet and profit and loss accounts.

As one of the founders of Air Wales my best wishes to all the staff, may this not be true and may they still be around as an airline for many years to come.

[JDB1052]

Come on, it's dangerous to start talk about airlines failing - the airline is still flying and booking so unless ppruners are better informed than the company, this is nothing more than speculation. I accept this is a rumour site but talk like this is dangerous and compromising to business. Let's judge by what actually happens and not try to kill it off in our eagerness to seem to be well informed, even if it is what the Servisair dispatcher or lady in WH Smith in the terminal told you.

[thereceiver2004]

anyone got any more news.... all very quite now

[spitfire747]

as a newbie i hope that the 6G continues..... its a great company

[No_Speed_Restriction]

seems like the chairman will not let go of air wales without a fight.eastern deal a no no.long live howard hughes :yuk:




"suicide may be a hobby but i wouldnt want to do it for a living"

[rsutt1]

Well, you might fit a J31 in the CWL Hangar

book now at www.awyr-ddwyreiniol.com

But on a serious note, I would be upset to see Air Wales go. I hope, as all of you guys have that It is just a rumour, however, how long can 1 airline lose so much money. Financial report for 2003/04 was awful. Best part of 15Mil in the red. I wonder what the figure is going to be on the next one?? Perhaps its finally sinking in that it is not going to work, there is surely no realistic prospect of getting any return, surely its gone past that point.
:(

[No_Speed_Restriction]

I would like to ask the chairman ....why have you never advertised?

surely there is no excuse not to. i have always found, whilst employed with air wales, the company ethos very confusing and disturbing. till hell freezes over i still wont figure it out.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0002T1TRM.02.MZZZZZZZ

[rsutt1]

On way of advertising, I saw a large banner in London once advertising the LCY routes when they were still running. And they sponsored neath(I think) rugby club aswell. Little snippets in local news papers but I havent seen much else. I think that the london could have been a sucess if exercised correctly. thousands of people go to london everyday from south wales for various reasons, not just business!!

Well its easy for us to say this and that, but we are on the outside. In all honesty I think it has been given a damn good go. Who else would keep a company going at -15mil. I think we should praise AWW & RT for not giving up. There is always a cut off point though and I dont think it's far off. It's a shame, Now AWW have done all of the ground work establishing routes and half decent pax figures perhaps another airline are going to reap the benefit.

Long Live The Red Dragon

[Stone Cold II]

Mrs Stone Cold heard the other day when she was in work that a staff meeting maybe called during the week, CAA paying another visit on Tuesday, as far as the Eastern deal goes I hear RT has not signed the contract. I hope things go on but I have serious doubts the dragon will be flying for very long:sad:

[WOWBOY]

I want AWW to stay on for a while longer. If they can sort themselves out then they would be sucessful.

I hope RT does not sign the deal to be honest :O :ouch: :ouch: :ouch:

Eastern would chrge very high fares

[No_Speed_Restriction]

i think there is more chance of there being more than 1 passenger on the BRU flights then that happening.im afraid people like stone cold and myself who have been through the 6G experience know that it takes a kamikaze way of thinking for it to continue...a bit of an aviation form of S&M.:yuk:

[Vigilant Driver]

Folks, do not jump to conclusions!
The CAA visit was a planned audit and why would Eastern want Air Wales anyway? They already have a successful route network and an A schedule AOC. I can't see that they would gain anything here.
Hey, No Speed, hear you are having drinks with Uncle Bob and Mr Cold. Do give them my regards and I hope the sim is going well?

[Buster the Bear]

Why would Eastern want Air Wales. Well quite simply, they have a huge asset, the flight deck crew. Eastern might need all the pilots they can find, to substitute for all those leaving to find work at the Lo-co's?

[Stone Cold II]

I heard they wanted the ATR for NCL-LCY but is unlikely to happen.

The CAA have been paying plenty of visits to Air Wales as of late and I've heard from the horses mouth why they are coming again this week, I'm not going to say what it is but I hope it will turn out to be good news but have my doubts, we should all know by the end of the month the fate of the airline.

I would advise to all my friends and former collegues get out now while the market is good, do not waste time waiting to see if this ticking time bomb will go off or not.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

with regards to the audit, are you referring to the act/aviation equivalent of "rotating one's tyres"?

[Decisive Attitude]

Hmmm, Stone Cold II, interesting you should say that. I've heard the same rumour (although it was prefixed with: "Apparently they're having trouble finding an additional Saab 2000 so...") Mind you, the speculation was merely that they were looking at the ATR in general, rather than those of Air Wales specifically.

Mind you this is the same guy that once told me that the recurring rumours regarding Eastern getting 146's might actually come to something.

Possibly bunkum but interesting nonetheless.

[3REDS]

Latest is that RT will not sign the deal with Eastern.
CAA visit on Tuesday!
It looks very likely that the CAA will end this Dragon's misery and put it to sleep :(
Having worked for Air Wales I truly believe that if we hadn't had the misfortune of employing :mad: AT as our commander in chief then this Dragon would still be flying high!
Better now get myself a good lawyer;)

[Stone Cold II]

Air Wales best bet for survial I think is for them to go down to 2 aircraft and concentrate on a small number of routes maybe 3 and get rid of Bmibaby stuff because that has been a total loss for Air Wales from the start and basically start again don't try and do to much and run a few routes and make every effort to run them ontime and build up a good name.

With all the routes they have run they have streched themselves to far with constant aircraft tech problems and no back up plan, very few Air Wales flights have been on time this year and they did have a bad spell last month with constant delays of 4 to 7 hours due to aircraft tech all the time. Mrs Stone Cold gets a hard time from the pax who are fed up with Air Wales being delayed all the time and a lot of them are now choosing to fly elsewhere.

Since Air Wales has started people have always tried to predict the demise of the company and it has always continued but a company can only continue for so long loosing the money it has been and unless drastic action happens soon all the rumours and predictions may soon come to a harsh reality.

I hope and pray that Air Wales does continue and rises from the dark cloud which it and it's staff are under:(

Still the best company I'll ever work for.

3REDS your taking a chance mentioning that person's :mad: :mad: name you know how he likes to threaten everybody!!

[3REDS]

If AT has a problem with my post then let him come forward!
I stand by what I say and it is only my personal opinion of course;)
His results when in charge of the airline speak volumes and support my opinion.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

how about bringing back bob kirkham. none of this stupidity when he was around.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

and what else adds to the cluster fu£k experience that is 6g is that if you go onto the website (the travel shop owned by air wales), it doesnt even recognise air wales as an airline from the many one can choose to book from.one of the small pieces that adds to the big mofo puzzle.

[3REDS]

and get rid of Bmibaby stuff because that has been a total loss for Air Wales from the start and basically start again don't try and do to much and run a few routes and make every effort to run them ontime and build up a good name.


This descision at the time was a good one for Air Wales BUT the problem was they didn't keep any of the original routes going. The classic poker hand of ALL IN was played and when Baby pulled the routes back they were left with nothing!!:=

[No_Speed_Restriction]

Suicide!:ouch:

[Stone Cold II]

Apparently the reason why the Eastern deal didn't happen was they they could not promise Roy to keep all the staff on, so he is talking to other people now don't who they are, at least he is trying to save his staff.

Meeting with the CAA tomorrow over at Werstern they are not expecting them to pull the AOC if they like what they hear.

[WOWBOY]

The Waterford and Rennes services are no longer bookable!!!

[No_Speed_Restriction]

Apparently the reason why the Eastern deal didn't happen was they they could not promise Roy to keep all the staff on, so he is talking to other people now don't who they are, at least he is trying to save his staff.

Meeting with the CAA tomorrow over at Werstern they are not expecting them to pull the AOC if they like what they hear.

yet again, penny wise pound foolish.

[Stone Cold II]

Belfast City has gone and Manchester have also gone from the booking system, and the map of where they fly to needs updating. If you delete Aberdeen from the booking system remember to move it from your map of all the destinations you fly to.:confused:

[No_Speed_Restriction]

stone cold, its probably such an old map it still has Canada and N America attached to it so the dinosaurs can walk across..aye!:E

[Vigilant Driver]

No speed, yeah it's good thanks. Up to my ears in FMGS ADC thingys at the moment but Mr Stone Cold has been keeping me upto date with all the gen!

Pretty sure it has been a sound move with all the stuff going on at the moment.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

pretty sure? our corporate kamikaze days are over. give me a call and say hello. would be good to meet up.

[Aloon]

The latest I've heard...

After the collapse of the Eastern deal, Air Aurigny are in talks at the mo....

They've done a fair few flights on their behalf lately..... not that it's a waver, but it's certainly a possibility that they are interested....

Watch this space....

Shame to see so many people ' running ' from the company though..... Don't blame them though.....

Aloon...

[Stone Cold II]

I heard this a few days ago, Air Auringy maybe talking about a 50% share in Air Wales, be great news if it happens for all the staff in Air Wales.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

the latest rumour i heard is Air Wales are in negotiations with boeing for 3 x 787's

[JaffaCake]

Shame to see so many people ' running ' from the company though

Think this Saturday's bash is being seen by some to be Everybody's leaving do! :E

[No_Speed_Restriction]

what bash is this jaffa?

[JaffaCake]

Multiple leaving dos in Llantwit (woohoo) and the Bay. One of those 'to be seen at events' apparently - even ex-CP gonna be out! :eek:

[No_Speed_Restriction]

long overdue, think ill give this one a miss. hey jaffa, give us a call and keep in touch.

[Stone Cold II]

Hey Jaffa, you have my ID number correct for your application to the big orange machine, you seemed to have covered most things, also tell them how much you love the colour orange :yuk:

I shall do my bit for you and to all my other former Air Wales collegues who might like me to give them a hand, it might help to get you called for a interview who knows! Drop me a PM or get my number from Mrs Stone Cold.

[GBALU53]

I think some of the early comments must relate to Aurigny Air Services i do believe.

Where people get that it is ir Auringy unless it is the Welsh way of spelling Alderney but do not quote me.

Aurigny has been operating for them on the odd occasion of late, but i do believe that the parent engineering compay of anglo normandy do some maintence on the Air Wales fleet, so this might have a connection with them operating on there behalf.

But who knows what might happen we must not forget that Aurigny is a state owened company.

[Oshkosh George]

I really think you should get your own house in order before complaining about others' spelling!:=
(The count was FIVE,not counting the low case i's)

[GBALU53]

I think you may have lost some of the story.:p

The Airline is named after Alderney (French Translation Aurigny) so becomes Aurigny Air Services.:ok: :ok:

The grammer down south might not be as good as the standard north of the boarder but we do try sometimes it get lost in translation (comprandre).:ok:

[Oshkosh George]

I'm pretty good at French too,so I knew that,and nothing was lost! (And the count goes up(!),but I'm now going to educate someone else,as you are a lost cause:( !)

[jamjack]

Any more news on what is happening to our great nations airline?
I've been following these threads with interest!:8

[No_Speed_Restriction]

are you talking about bmi baby?

[Turn It Off]

Heard a rumour that the aurigny deal should have been signed this afternoon, any more comment?

TIO

[Rachman]

No news today. Maybe tomorrow...maybe the day after after tomorrow... Then again, maybe there's nothing to tell??

[RatFace]

Big announcment tommorow, apparently re-branded as, wait for it..........



Virgin Wales Express :E

:ok:

[No_Speed_Restriction]

"express" denotes one runs a punctual/reliable operation.

try again.

[JaffaCake]

No it means you're constantly trying to make up time.... :E

[No_Speed_Restriction]

.....and failing miserably:yuk:

[Right Touch]

Excuse my ignorance but how much is a 50% stake in Air Wales Worth ?.
The Airline has no tangible assets other than some experienced flightdeck/cabin crew ?? .

Cant See whats in it for Aurigny , or am i missing something ? :zzz:

[No_Speed_Restriction]

couldnt you put your money into something less risky..... like building a synagogue in downtown baghdad.

[Re-Heat]

Companies House says: Loss for year of 9m on revenues of 5.981m for year ending 31/3/2004. No accounts yet filed for 2005 (deadline is normally end of January). Balance sheet has 7m of share capital due to be paid from shareholders, 1.5m of assets, 269k of aircraft in realisable value, and accumulated losses of 16m against share capital of 18m. 1.4m decrease in cash in year and 4.2m net debt. Cash at nil.

Auditors note fundamental uncertainty with respect to going concern.

[Ambrosia]

The accounts quoted are for the year ended 31 March 2004!!!

What is the point of quoting financial information that is two years out of date?

I think it also worth pointing out that the large levels of expenditure in this year (and subsequent losses) are largely to do with the introduction of the ATR fleet, which was a major investment for this operator. Start up costs in the airline business are enormous and losses are bound to be incurred in the early years.

[WOWBOY]

Any Idea on what the new name will be if the re-branding does take place?

[Re-Heat]

What is the point of quoting financial information that is two years out of date?
It is quite clear for which period they relate; it is also clear that there is no further accounting information filed at the moment - this is patently late for one reason or another.

The information was posted in response to someone asking what they could be worth in terms of assets to a buyer.

I think it also worth pointing out that the large levels of expenditure in this year (and subsequent losses) are largely to do with the introduction of the ATR fleet, which was a major investment for this operator. Start up costs in the airline business are enormous and losses are bound to be incurred in the early years.
That is why there is accrual accounting. Cash is king in the startup years rather than profits, and as noted at the time of those accounts, they have none.

Don't get so defensive!

[Right Touch]

Any Idea on what the new name will be if the re-branding does take place?

Aurigny i would imagine !!:cool:

[flower]

I cannot believe how many vultures are hovering over this one with glee, especially a certain poster who got his first airline job with them.
It seems so many of you want this all to go under, what an airline going under means is people out of work with kids to feed and mortgages to pay.
The intense delight that certain of you take in the problems of one airline astonishes me.

They always say what comes around goes around, perhaps one day the airline you are now with gets into a position of uncertainty, I hope you equally then enjoy the barbed comments made by ex employees on forum websites.

I for one hope that in whatever format it can that it will survive, there are some excellent people flying with the company whom I have enjoyed many a diet coke with.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

whats wrong with pepsi max?

[Right Touch]

Hmmm, cue sight of tumbleweed and sound of church bell tolling in the distance.

Humour, NSR is not your forte :E

[No_Speed_Restriction]

point taken, ill get me coat:}

[thereceiver2004]

well said flower :ok:

[rsutt1]

APPARENTLY A MEETING IS ABOUT TO BEGIN AT 1200 WITH ALLCON INVITED??
AN ANNOUNCEMENT IS EXPECTED, HOPE FOR THE BEST EVERYONE. GOOD LUCK ALL AT AWW!

[rsutt1]

Rumour is it's all over, all staff given 1 months notice, all deals off. Air wales will cease to exist in 1 month. I am genuinely sorry to all staff and people who have put years of work into aww. I really feel for all of you. Best of Luck to all.

Please note: rumour!!
sorry if it's incorrect.

[GBALU53]

Another sad day for aviation if this information is correct.

Some of us do know what its like to be told the door will close in one month.

Lets hope something might still come up with a possible late deal.:{ :{

[caaardiff]

If its true then yes it is a sad day, not just for the Airline, but the country losing its flag carrier!
On the other side of things it leaves a gap for someone - existing or new?
If they know what their doing, they could be onto a winner!

[rsutt1]

Suppose the next rumour is what operator will pick up the half decent routes

[flower]

A very sad day indeed for all concerned especially all the staff and RT but also for all of us who have enjoyed working with Air Wales for the last 5 years at Cardiff Airport

The flight crews have always been great fun as well as doing a professional job, the cabin crew always welcoming and i best not forget all the backroom staff.

I hope you all go on to find good jobs, who knows maybe even with someone coming into fill the void that desperately needs filling.

Good luck and all the very best you will be missed :{

[richardhall99]

I would have considered the NCL route a good one. The route could work even better on a smaller a/c with a greater frequency, but not T3. There far too expensive

[GBALU53]

Aurigny might be interested in the Jersey route, Air Southwest might be interested in the odd route also.

[Grange End Star]

Very sad news Indeed.:{
Great bunch of guys and girls at the red dragon , the airline just lacked a decent commercial /marketing dept. Operationally it was sound
Gave me and many others their first airline job and will forever be grateful for the opportunity.
Best of luck to all my former collegues in their search for alternative employment.

ps i'll also be raising a glass to RT tonight who for all his failings , had the courage to put his money into the venture in the first place.

Cheers Roy :)

[No_Speed_Restriction]

they had a good product but did not know what to do with it. all they had to do was manage and market it properly. it would of been a sure winner. moving to swansea was a big mistake.

[rsutt1]

3REDS, do you still work for AWW?

[richardhall99]

they are only taking bookings up until the end of april...pretty much confirmed now

[Hand Shandy]

Thanks for all the asinine comments NSR , I `m sure you`ll be more than welcome at the redundancy do .

[No_Speed_Restriction]

So what will happen to the hanger now?

[rsutt1]

Dragonfly to hanger BE20??

[No_Speed_Restriction]

its massive inside. i reckon the flying school could make good use of it.

[Memetic]

From : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4838022.stm


Last Updated: Thursday, 23 March 2006, 14:56 GMT

"Air Wales has announced it is to cease running scheduled airline services from next month."

[No_Speed_Restriction]

"Up to 80 jobs will be lost at the Cardiff International Airport-based company as it moves to charter flights and freight transport only"

what freight?

[rsutt1]

I was under the impression that everyone was being made redundant?

Updates required!!!

[twinturbo200t]

JUST BEEN ON THE NEWS IN WALES AIR WALES TO STOP FLYING PASSENGERS ON 25 APRIL JUST CARGO ITS OFFICIAL GETTING RID OF 80 STAFF:(

[rsutt1]

so is there an ATR Cargo conv on the way??
I find this odd, very odd. I can understand the charter flights bit but not the cargo.

I think that.........
they will only run charter flights untill any leases end on a/c. Hopefully it will work out, who knows!!

[No_Speed_Restriction]

but surely the remaining crews would have left by then.

[Devonair]

Well it hasn't taken long for airlines to take on Air Wales' routes
http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/0323/aerarann.html

[twinturbo200t]

we have flown tech flights for air wales I dont think my company has been paid yet I'm going to ring the office and tell them the news. Its a knock on effect to many people in wales not just aww crew and staff:*

[bucaneer]

Its a very sad day for everyone connected with Air Wales, previous employees but of course especially for all present staff. I hope all are able to move on without too much difficulty, including all the ops and groundstaff. It was a time in my life I will never forget, and however ill advised, especially some of those Swansea days.

I think that if nsr is really that ignorant about the offence he is causing, he should best be advised to keep his opinions and wise cracks to himself for a while. This is going to effect real people and real families. No offence nsr, but these are people you know well and worked with for a long time. You could have easily found yourself in that situation.

One of the saddest facts is that the staff, aircrew, groundcrew and support staff always tried harder to make it work, than probably any other group of people could.They were so keen for it to succeed and always worked above and beyond what a company could resonably expect from employees.

Unfortunately this hasn't proved to be enough. I am very sorry for everyone concerned.

Best wishes and thanks to everyone there for making a special time in my life.

[ICING AOA]

Well it hasn't taken long for airlines to take on Air Wales' routes
http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/0323/aerarann.html


Hi, I have 3 questions:

Are there any other airlines looking for some of Air wales' routes, or would it mean that Cork/Cardiff was the only interesting one ?

What kind of Charters and Freight are they planing to do ?

How many A/C are there in the fleet at the present time? 5 or 3 ATRs ??

NB: good luck for people about to loose their job, Air Contractors, Aer Arann, and Farnair might be interested in ATR crews ;)

[MarkD]

let's hope for the sake of CWL-ites that Arann decide to open a base which could tie in existing RE destinations like EDI, BHD, IOM as well as the just announced ORK. After all, there should be plenty of ATR familiar folks to pick up.

[rsutt1]

Eastern are supposedly interested in NCL-CWL-NCL??
Aurigny may op Jersey-Cardiff I'm sure we'll find out soon enough

[Kev 1]

Looks like Eastern Airways have snapped this one up quickly, along with CWL-ABZ and CWL-BRU, showing on eastern's website as 2x daily BRU, 1x daily ABZ and 3x daily NCL, no times yet.

[GROUNDHOG]

As one of the founders of the airline ( two years of hard work before finding RT as the backer) I am obviously saddened by this news, not sure how many of the original people are left now but best wishes to all with the future.

What happened to the Dornier 228 G-RGDT that I believe was purchased?

[EI-CFC]

A shame for all those being laid off :(

Maybe RE might pick up one or two more routes, and hopefully some of the soon-to-be laid off staff :/

[rsutt1]

just got press release from T3, they plan to base an a/c at CWL, so I imagine they will need crew. That could cut the blow for a small number of AWW crew, however will the welsh public be willing to pay the rates that T3 require, and how will they make the BRU route work??

3REDS, I feel that maybe that's a little harsh, you are gonna have 80 ppl to look out for if you keep posting things like that.

All redunadant have aparently been offered a half decent package, paid up to 23/APR + 1 month basic + statatoury redundancy, not great but gives ppl a bit of time to find another job. (thats not cfm'd but decent source)

[flower]

Excuse my ignorance rsutt1 who are T3 ?

[PeterP]

Eastern from Humberside.

[5150]

3 reds:

I think those that stayed til the end are just loyal - don't automatically think they stayed by not having a clue!

[3REDS]

5150

What do you mean loyal. Rabbit in the road blinded by the headlights more like!

[5150]

Maybe - I was just giving them the benefit of the doubt....

[No_Speed_Restriction]

will bmi baby automatically take over the routes the atr used to fly or will they contract someone else in?

[rsutt1]

Didn't they take some back, if not I imagine Aurigny or AAG will be involved there


FROM THE BEEB:

WHERE FLIGHTS ARE SWITCHING
Aer Arann - six flights a week, Cardiff to Cork, from 24 April
Air Southwest - twice-daily Cardiff to Manchester, Cardiff to Newquay, from 10 April
Eastern Airlines - Cardiff to Aberdeen, Cardiff to Brussels, Cardiff to Newcastle, from 24 April
Source: Cardiff International Airport

From icwales.co.uk

Air Wales will retain a core team of staff, but about 80 employees have been offered a full redundancy package.

[flower]

BMI Baby are supposed to take on a 4th aircraft this year that would certainly cover the routes.
I see both Eastern and Aer Arran have taken on practically all the routes that Air Wales did. I know Eastern are expensive in Scotland, as has already been said I'm not sure they would get away with that around Cardiff

[chocksaway00]

I have been following this thread with great interest and have been amazed at how some individuals seem to take great joy out of the fact that the airline has failed and resulted in 80 people losing thier jobs:confused: . I would hope that those individuals take stock of what they have said and that they do not one day find their selves in such a position. As for those affected i hope that you all find jobs soon.:ok:

[GBALU53]

Can any one confirm the licence holder?

Is it BMI baby and Air Wales operated the route on there behalf???

If so it would be BMI baby trying to find a replacement airline to ops the route or they give up the route and another carrier applies for the licence??

[rsutt1]

Didn't the Welsh assembly have somrthing to do with the initial Jersry?

[Ma'am]

I'm very sad. Not only sad at the Air Wales news today, but sad at the comments made by a tiny minority of posters on this thread who seem to be positively orgasmic at the sheer misery that the 80 Air Wales personnel have in front of them.

These are real people, with real lives, who will now have real fear in their hearts at the uncertainty which lies before them. From those people at the very bottom of the pile to those at the very top of the pile, this news will shake them to the core.

So please have a heart, and just be thankful that you are not one of those 80 poor souls.

I would like to thank all of those who stood up to be counted when it really mattered. Without all their hard work, determination, and effort, there would never have been a red dragon in the first place. And of course an even bigger thank you to those who've worked so tirelessly behind the scenes in trying to keep those red dragons aloft in the last few months.

Thank you Air Wales - it was a pleasure knowing you, and may you prosper in your new guise.

[rsutt1]

Ma'am,
I think your comments are spot on, some idiots in here do'n seem to understand the severity of what has happened today, remember it's not just the eighty AWW jobs but perhaps a knock on effect to those who support them, Handling agents etc etc. I don't think that aviance will have to cut numbers but it will surely reduce the numbers of staff that they require for the summer.

[San Expiry]

My, how the vultures wasted no time in picking over the carcass. "Eastern are expensive in Scotland, as has already been said I'm not sure they would get away with that around Cardiff". T3 are expensive EVERYWHERE yet it seems to kick the low-fares model for six and thrives (on Jetstreams!).

Best of luck to all the staff at Air Wales.

[rsutt1]

anyone watch itv news??

2nd biggest story

[WOWBOY]

Does anyone know if the former AWW Plymouth routes are also being given to any other airlines as ABZ was given to Eastern Airways.

Or...

Was CWL-ABZ just an additional route added by Eastern?

[3REDS]

Just to clarify:

I take no joy from the fact that 80 people lost their jobs today. Actuallty I am quite sad, many good friends are caught up in all this BUT I just can't understand why they didn't jump before they were pushed.

Good luck to all in Air Wales.

[flower]

anyone watch itv news??
2nd biggest story

Headline story on BBC Wales, they had a more constructive report than HTV which seemed ill put together. The aviation experts probably hit the spot when they said it was a lack of constructive marketing and sales which led to the sad demise of the airline.

Regarding picking over the carcass, with Eastern already having been in talks with Air Wales i wasn't at all surprised to see them come in, neither am I surprised with Aer Arran, however they haven't taken on the Dublin or Belfast City Route, maybe that will come at a later date.

[GBALU53]

My heart goes out to all the people that lose there jobs like this.

I have been in this situation a number of times in my career.

It is worse the older you are to try and chnge your life when you do get a new job but jobs in aviation are sometimes sort after and few and far between.

Good luck to not only the ex Air Wales staff but any one else that has to suffer under these upsetting times.

The Dragons fire may be going out but the spirit will carry on in some way.

Good luck to you all.:ok:

[rsutt1]

no-one will touch the dublin, RYR will piss all over anyone, as they did with Aer Arran when ryr were is dispute with CIAL.

[Ma'am]

The BBC News has been updated:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4838022.stm

quote

Air Wales has announced it is to stop running scheduled passenger flights from next month.

Up to 80 jobs will be lost as the Cardiff International Airport-based company moves to charter flights and freight transport only.

It blamed the move on "spiralling costs" and "aggressive competition" from larger low-cost airlines.

Three airlines are expected to take over routes to destinations including Aberdeen, Cork and Manchester.

The news came as ferry operator Stena Line announced it was cutting sailings between Holyhead and Ireland, also blaming budget airlines and rising fuel costs.

In a statement, Air Wales said it was becoming "increasingly impossible for independent regional airlines such as Air Wales to operate profitably without substantial subsidy".

Air Wales currently flies to 10 destinations from Cardiff and a number of others from bases in France, Manchester and Ireland.
The company is holding discussions with other carriers over handing on its routes to them.

Three have been announced already, with Aer Arann flying Cardiff to Cork, Eastern Airlines taking over Brussels, Aberdeen and Newcastle services and Air Southwest flying to Manchester and Newquay.

Just last month, it re-launched the service linking Cardiff with Brussels, with Welsh assembly government support.

An assembly government source said the money was awarded to the airport rather than the airline, so it had not been lost but would need to be taken over by another airline.

It is also hoped that staff losing their jobs will be offered posts with the companies taking over the routes.

Air Wales chairman Roy Thomas said they had made the decision "with sadness and regret".

"Increased costs and high competition in the market place have made it virtually impossible to exist as a passenger focused airline," he said.

"Without the vast economies of scale required to sustain and successfully compete in the passenger airline business today, it has become clear that Air Wales now needs to centre on charter and freight services to continue operating in the airline industry."

He added all passengers booked with the airline after 23 April would get a full refund and help finding alternative flights.

Assembly Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies said he was "disappointed" to hear the decision but delighted three airlines had come forward to take over some routes.

The airline began operating in November 1999, flying from Cardiff International Airport and Pembrey in west Wales to London, before expanding to Cork and other routes.

Cardiff International Airport's managing director Jon Horne said: "We are sad to learn that Air Wales is to cease scheduled operations and hope that the impact on jobs can be minimised.

"Meanwhile, other airlines are preparing to announce scheduled operations from Cardiff International on routes that Air Wales will be giving up."
The announcement of the end of scheduled services came hours after Stena Line ferries announced it was cutting back fast ferry services between Holyhead and Dun Laoghaire, near Dublin.

Dr Anthony Beresford, a lecturer in transport in the Cardiff Business School said the ferry companies faced long winters and "peaky" sailing times.
He said: "Fuel costs are high yes, but they would be better off running smaller ships. The problem they've got is that they have very large vessels which are very thirsty to run.

"The impact of this is that if you cut the frequency, it is directly going to tend to push jobs into the part-time and informal sector".

Dr Beresford said the rising cost of fuel being blamed for the airline cuts was "quite frankly a red herring because other airlines are experiencing the same problem". He added: "Yes, there is competition from other airlines, but the main competition budget airlines face [within the UK] is from people driving to their destination."

Where fligts are switching:
Aer Arann - six flights a week, Cardiff to Cork, from 24 April
Air Southwest - twice-daily Cardiff to Manchester, Cardiff to Newquay, from 10 April
Eastern Airlines - Cardiff to Aberdeen, Cardiff to Brussels, Cardiff to Newcastle, from 24 April

unquote

[Ma'am]

And for those on a trip down memory lane:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/526861.stm

This links to the launch of Air Wales in November 1999.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

how about this:

http://www.reddragon.flyer.co.uk/peoplplane.jpg

Bob, we wish you well....wherever you are:ok:

[GROUNDHOG]

Shoreham airport has never been the same since!

[No_Speed_Restriction]

remember when they were thinking about starting a cardiff-shoreham-paris service.

[GBALU53]

Nice to go over the good old days, if only we could turn the clock back a year or two or may be in some cases a decade or two

[No_Speed_Restriction]

http://photos.airliners.net/photos/middle/4/9/4/0231494.jpg
http://www.reddragon.flyer.co.uk/softplane.jpg

[GROUNDHOG]

Cardiff to Shoreham might sound daft but with the support of American Express, Ford Motor Company, Legal and General amongst others and guaranteed loads to boot it would have actually worked. Not only that I could have got to work easily and saved Air Wales the hotel bill... might have had to give up the Daewoo though ... now there's some memories!

DS

[No_Speed_Restriction]

they should of kept John Evans in charge. i liked his style.

[GROUNDHOG]

What happened to that aircraft didn't Air Wales ( or RGDT) buy it? I have some great pictures of it in Iceland when we first got it but don't know how to post them here!

[No_Speed_Restriction]

groundhog, do i know you? PM me.

[3REDS]

The good old days!!

Bob Kirkham, The 3 Aussies, Ray Mac & Ernie, I owe everything to those guys.

Add : 1x Dornier, 1x Flask of tea and 1 cheese sandwich mix them all together and what a fab day you would have flying around South Wales:)

Beats the 767 any day!

[No_Speed_Restriction]

dont forget Heinz "Checklist Gentlemen please" from Braunschweig.

[GROUNDHOG]

NSR ... done
DS

[BAe146s make me cry]

Sorry to hear about the move today to wind things up @ Air Wales.
Best of Luck for the future to all concerned...

BAe146?:{

[TinaTwoTongs&aTspoon]

Dear All, I have been prevailed upon to make this, my first, and probably last visit to PPrune.
Firstly I would like to wish the best of luck to the air crew, operations staff & engineers who made Air Wales such and extraordinarily close and friendly base and to thank all of those colleagues with whom I shared such happy times. I can say with certainty, that the Air Wales crew and passengers showed the greatest patience and good humour ever known in the aviation industry.
I would like to think that my friends would never mistake me for the person who calls themself 'Lady in Red' love from Tina x

[Evileyes]

Folks, emotions are obviously running high on this thread. Please THINK before you post as this forum will not be used to score insult points or make tasteless, unnecessary, offensive, "funny" comments. Posters who have already done this in the heat of the moment might want to take advantage of the "edit" or "delete" functions now.

[niknak]

Airlines come, airlines go.

Tough when it happens, but there are presently loads of jobs available for aircrew, cabin staff and engineers, some may even fall into the requirements of the latest BA job adverts.

Don't fall into the typical Welsh trait of "woe is me - look at me - feel sorry for me", get in there and get yer selves sorted.

Good luck to all of you.:ok:

[Grange End Star]

Airlines come, airlines go.
Tough when it happens, but there are presently loads of jobs available for aircrew, cabin staff and engineers, some may even fall into the requirements of the latest BA job adverts.
Don't fall into the typical Welsh trait of "woe is me - look at me - feel sorry for me", get in there and get yer selves sorted.
Good luck to all of you.:ok:
Blimey it's Ann Robinson !!! :O
I think you'll find that the 6G boys & girls have already been on the blower to several operators who are after Experienced & Professional Aircrew
They don't grow on trees these days :ok:

[Turn It Off]

I am sad to see AWW wind up. It is a great great shame. Maybe the routes being farmed out to other companies so quickly also mean that the likelyhood of a follow on national carrier are slim.

A couple of things that were mentioned in earlier threads;

1 - Who operates Jeresy, BMI or AWW - I believe this is a BMIm baby route which last year was operated by 735s in the summer? Please correct me if I am wrong.

2 - Aer Arran routes - They are starting cork imminently, however, iro the dublin route, RYR are increasing rotations on wednesdays to 2, and the extra 20 odd seats on the 738 pretty much deals with the ATR seats which were being filled. I belive that the Norwich Dublin was the AWW route making the cash, not the CWL - DUB part - Once again pls correct me if wrong.

From a more personal point of view; I will not miss the opposite end approaches / departures (what a pain in the ar5e!) but thats the only thing.

I enjoyed the friendly banter, the seemingly high morale (even until yesterday), the helpfulness, and polite manners of most, if not all the AWW crews I ever spoke with on the RT. Good luck to you all, and I hope you are all working once again for CWL based airlines in the near future.
Kindest regards
TIO
p.s. I quite enjoy the opposite enders, gives me stuff to do ;)

[Grange End Star]

The Jersey Flights were and still are Baby Flights.

If memory serves me right , last summer they were operated midweek by Air Wales on the Atr (tues & thurs i think) and the saturday rotation was a Baby 737.

During the winter all 3 flights were done by Air Wales.

I think for summer 2006 there is only one flight a week done by baby on the 73.

Me ? i loved the opposite enders , sometimes it became personal !!!! :D

Remember a heated debate in here last year from a baby pilot moaning about them.

Below 10000 ft we were faster ( 240 kts to 5 miles being the favourite approach ! )

[No_Speed_Restriction]

240 to 5? try 3!!!:ok:

[JaffaCake]

Bit of irony: 6G starting new routes from next week!

It appears that for a while at least (until other factors or April 23rd intervene) the Newquay and Rennes will be operated. Head hurts now... and I've got to deal with the whole clocks going forward/report times in zulu thing next week :(

Bad day.

[rsutt1]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/shared/player/player.stm?title=Welsh%20airline%20ends%20passenger%20flight s&clipurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news_web/video/9012da68003d168/bb/09012da68003d391_16x9_bb!asx&cs=news

[Mogget]

If memory serves me right , last summer they were operated midweek by Air Wales on the Atr (tues & thurs i think) and the saturday rotation was a Baby 737.

The Saturday flight certainly was a 737 last year, since the plane can be seen on my DVD !

[WindSheer]

I am sorry to see Air Wales go under, sympathy goes to all those affected:ugh: .
BUT, I am not at all surprised. Air Wales must have the best reputation for keeping more aircraft on the ground than in the air! There are/were always 2 a/c parked up at CWL, enough to set the old alarm bells ringing.
Did any of the 2 stripers have to put a bond in for employment? Any chance of getting this back?

Good luck all concerned.....may this lead to better things!!:)

[teeteringhead]

It's always sad to see this happen, whatever the reason. I've been happy to use them (loved the LCY route - cheaper than the walk-on train fare), see them from the office window, and share the odd bevvy with mates who work (worked) there.....

Lotsa redundancies around these parts at the moment.........:(

[Jacksws]

Just caught this news yesterday. A sad day indeed but not too surprising for all of us who ever worked there. NSR, Groundhog and 3reds you are all correct, the early days were the best ever and the atmosphere at CWL was very heady at times. The airline did very well and CWL-LCY was excellent while it lasted. There are many reasons for the fail and everybody will rake over these in time, for now my heart goes out to those who were there at the end and I'll drink your health tonight.

[bmibaby.com]

Is anyone aware whether this will facilitate growth for bmibaby? WW has recently based their third aircraft at the airport (apparently called "butterfly baby"), and whilst I think this will only potentially effect passengers on the Paris service, no doubt the shocking closure of Air Wales might potentially allow baby to expand from CWL?

[rsutt1]

Well it's all gone a bit quiet in here, anyone got any gossip??

[Stone Cold II]

It's a very sad day to see my favourite airline become aviation history.

Air Wales will always be the best airline I have worked for, I know I'll never work for another one like them. What made Air Wales so special was the people, it was a very tight group of people who became like a second family and going into work was never a chore it was always a good day out. Every time I passed the Red Dragon over Talga on my way back to Britol a big part of me still wanted to be at the controls of the Dragon.

I have thought for the last 6 months that I did not think the airline was going to make it past April this year, they have had a hard winter, I had hoped and prayed I would be wrong and when Mrs Stone Cold rang me on Wednesday morning at 10 am saying she had been called in for a staff meeting I tried to prepare her for the what was going to be bad news and I think deep down she was aware she was going to be told the airline was coming to a end.

I'm now going to try and get her over to easyJet and I will say this again to all my former Air Wales collegues and friends if you need help and would like me to recommend you to easyJet then PM me or give me a call, I can't promise anything but it might help you get called for a interview it is worth a try.

And finally to our Chairman Roy Thomas you did your best and put your money where your mouth was, heck it lasted a hell of a lot longer than anyone predicted, people gave it 6 months when it started and it carried on for 6 years and gave people like myself and so many their lucky break into aviation. I wouldn't be flying for easyJet today if it was not for Air Wales, I was offered a job in August 2001 as you are aware the Twin Towers fell in September 11 2001 and a lot of pilots lost their jobs and a lot of Airlines went bust, I rang Air Wales after September 11th and told them I did not expect to have a job anymore and Air Wales told me "we promised you a job and we will not go back on our word" and 2 months later I started my type rating, not many airlines would do that when so many others were making people redundant.

I hope all the staff find swift employment

Air Wales will be sadly missed:sad:

R.I.P The Red Dragon 1999-2006 :{

[No_Speed_Restriction]

come on stone cold, which one was better to fly..dornier or atr?

[Stone Cold II]

Dornier for me! How I miss the days of flying at FL90 with no auto pilot and flying through all the crap day and night with a usless weather radar, those were good fun days.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

but the atr weather radar was just a colour photocopy glued onto a blank screen.

[CTT]

Shame to hear about the demise of AW - had great fun there before moving over to the dark side - wish all the boys and girls luck in finding new jobs.

[GROUNDHOG]

And still no one has answered my question where is the dear old dornier? I thought RGDT or AW purchased it in which case could it be used again or was it sold?

[rsutt1]

Do228 was re-reg in Iceland in 2002

[cwl_informer]

OK peeps, the latest is that the AWW Charter Operation is a lie. (As Expected)

The Company WILL NOT retain a core staff.
The Company WILL NOT operate charter flights.
The Company WILL NOT operate cargo flights.

AWW stated that they would be operating these services in their press release in order to keep anyone they owe money to at bay.

If the above is true then there is likely to be outrage, as any of the existing staff who may have believed they would be part of this "core" group will not be happy. And understandably too, they have been messed around enough. Good Luck to all of you guys

[3REDS]

At Last!!!!!! Air Wales shows some business sense;)

[flower]

Shame that yet again some people are trying to make this personal :hmm:

I can't see a report to Mods button any longer

[rsutt1]

anyone seen the post from cwl informer? any truth in it? wouldn't surprise me

[Stone Cold II]

I'm not sure if Air Wales travel shop will remain open they sell package holidays using the like of Thomson etc. If they do then maybe they will have some charters but it will not be Air Wales aircraft I would imagine they would use Air Atlantique (if that's how you spell it) or something similiar and hire them to operate the flight but it's unlikely.

Air Wales has a airline will be no more, some potential good news for the flight deck crews is that Aer Arran are coming over to the Holiday Express next week I think to talk to Air Wales Flight crews about potential jobs because they need ATR crews, so could be some light at the end of the tunnel in term of good folk getting jobs.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

stone cold, airwales travel shop cannot sell air wales flights as their engine does not recognise Air Wales as an airline. i.e. on an advanced search for a flight from CWL to DUB(or anywhere else that air wales used to fly to), it requires you to change at AMS using KLM.a simple glitch that should of been seen to ages ago.just another chain to the problem.

[rsutt1]

AWW Travel is basically a franchise system from Global Travel, AWW do not even have to manage the travel website. Global Travel do. AWW would have had to post their flights on the global distribution network thingy in order to get on their own web-site (if that makes sense) I imagine there would be a large cost involved in doing that, however, couldnt have matters much worse could've it

[No_Speed_Restriction]

you make sense but that system is useless for those who want to use that website to book air wales tickets(not knowing to use the airwales site)

[rsutt1]

Thats true, they at least should have had a link on there stating "To book a flight with Air Wales Click Here"
However, I dont think that would have made much difference. I wonder how many people actually visit the travel website a day, Could probably count them on your hands.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

guess its all academic now anyways

[pjdj777]

Sorry to the guys and gals at Air Wales

All the best for the future.

Soooo....farewell party down the Bay then?

[Grange End Star]

Whilst the news has been very sad this week , Im pretty sure in true Air Wales spirit most of the staff and a lot of the ex staff will want to give the airline the mother of all send off's .:ok:

[GBALU53]

It has been quoted the aircraft will be returned to the Lessor.??

ON cheking the CAA web sight the registered owner of the fleet were Air Wales.

So who owns the five ATR42s??

Or has some one already got hold of them??

[rsutt1]

I believe they are owned by various, AWW do not own any

[rsutt1]

t'would appear that this thread has died suddenly

[No_Speed_Restriction]

nothing more to say is there?

[rsutt1]

Well, just been on eastern website to check some prices and:

CWL-NCL-CWL Same Day Return

£170.70 GBP


Compared to AWW

£106.60



Quite a big difference for the same product, granted T3 are succesful and more reliable but are the welsh public going to accept the extra £65? I think eastern only target business usrs where as AWW were trying to attract a leisure/business market. anyone any thoughts

[Stone Cold II]

For those prices I would expect a number of pax who travel to NCL will be traveling from BRS with EZY for a fraction of the price.

[MerchantVenturer]

Well, just been on eastern website to check some prices and:
CWL-NCL-CWL Same Day Return
£170.70 GBP
Compared to AWW
£106.60
Quite a big difference for the same product, granted T3 are succesful and more reliable but are the welsh public going to accept the extra £65? I think eastern only target business usrs where as AWW were trying to attract a leisure/business market. anyone any thoughts
I suppose some business pax would, for the convenience. I doubt though whether you will get many leisure pax at this price, certainly not on a day trip.

I have done BRS-NCL several times on day trips with easyJet. I did one a couple of weeks ago for £15.98 return, incl tax, although this was bought in a sale. The usual cheapest price for a return (incl day returns) is now £29.98 incl tax. This is way short of £170.

Eastern have been operating out of BRS to IOM and ABZ for a couple of years and to MME for the past few months. The prices are sky high on these routes compared to the easyJet routes to Inverness and Newcastle and I imagine only the wealthy or those having their fares paid would use Eastern given the reasonable alternatives.

They are a business airline primarily, seem good at what they do, but probably not for the masses.

I wonder if Flybe will have a look at the CWL-NCL route. They don't seem afraid to go head to head with Eastern, as they have shown elsewhere in the UK, and their fares are usually far more palatable to the ordinary punter.

As it is, at least Eastern will be providing a service from South Wales to the North East.

[rsutt1]

Well with T3's prices the route is surely open for competition, would be interesting to see some of that down here. Don't think the route attracts enough punters for the big boys (ie ryanair) but Air South West or Arran possibly.

[PPRuNe Pop]

The thread on Air Wales is now no longer capable of much more debate. They have, sadly, gone so the thread is now closed.

However, if you wish to start another thread on who will take their routes (no guessing) feel free.

PPP

[fade to grey]

hi,
glancing at bmibaby website,it states under news that air wales,'will cease scheduled flying from 24th April 2006'-is this badly worded as the news item relates to their cardiff flights or is it for the whole outfit ?

Just trying to clarify,not start trouble 1

[Globaliser]

This thread (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=215314) (now closed) might help you.

[Grange End Star]

The airline will cease ALL flying from the 24th April :(

[fade to grey]

:oh:
sorry to hear of the demise :was the chief pilot still GP, I used to work with him some time back.

[MerchantVenturer]

As the omnibus thread on Air Wales was closed a few weeks ago I hope it is in order to mention that today is the last day this airline will be operating its scheduled services.

From what I have read the owner was perhaps ruled more by his heart than his head at times, but he was clearly someone who had Wales and its airline in the forefront of everything he did in aviation circles.

What is abundantly clear, and unarguable, is that the flight deck and cabin crews, and no doubt those in support positions, were highly professional.

I read elswhere in PPRuNe that many have already been offered positions with other airlines. I hope this is so, although it may still mean family disruption in some cases of course.

It seems that the last two flights will be 6G753 scheduled to arrive at CWL from BRU at 2330 and 6G228 from DUB at 2350.

Is the airline closing completely or will there be charter availability as was originally suggested?

Good luck to all those associated with Air Wales.

[Grange End Star]

Nope , sadly today is the final day of operations for Air Wales .
The remaining aircraft are being shipped out of Cardiff tomorrow in readiness for their return to the Lessors.
G-CDFF remains in CWL awaiting an engine change , it to will then return to the Lessor.
Last night was the Farewell Party held at the Airport and very emotional it was too, with lots of Staff both past and present sending the airline off in style.:ok:
Glad to report that the vast majority of flight deck & cabin crew have found positions with other airlines.
As Ex Flight deck with them myself just like to add thanks to RT and all my ex collegues at Air Wales , the last 2 and a Half years have been a blast . its been a privilege working with you all. Thank You :)

[flower]

I must admit it is a very sad day, I unfortunately wasn't up to going to the farewell party last night but was thinking of everyone.

Good luck to everyone connected with Air Wales and hope I may get the chance to say hello on the airwaves to you again soon.

:{

[captainyonder]

They were a truely great airline that I always enjoyed flying with, particularly in the days of the CWL-LCY service. Thanks to all the staff who always provided an excellent service. They were the only airline that took me seriously when I was a young man fresh out of school thinking about becoming a pilot. If it wasn't for the advice of some of their crews I probably wouldn't have followed through with my plans and achieved what I always wanted to.

[Stone Cold II]

I was at the party last night to give it a good send off with my fellow ex collegues, who some are now going to be my current collegues who are joining me at easyJet (welcome on board guys).

It was a sad night but also a night of celebrating what was a fantastic airline to work for, the best I ever will, with some of the best people around in the business. Roy Thomas was there, they picked him up from Biggin Hill yesterday for the party and it was good to see him, he was sad to end it but seemed happy to see so many of current and former staff see the airline bow out in style and he promised there would be organised reunions once or twice a year. There will be pictures posted ona website from Jaffa Cake in a week or two so he has told me.

Good news is that most if not all staff have found new employment, some of who start their new jobs tomorrow morning and some who have to wait a couple of months.

Finally to Roy Thomas a big thank you from all your staff over the years, you gave a lot of us our first job in aviation when times were hard, myself included who would not be where we are today without Air Wales. Hold your head high you kept it going for 6 years when people thought it wouldn't last 6 months and built a airline we were proud of, we were all like a second family, I will miss it very much. :{

R.I.P
The Red Dragon
1999-2006

[Standard Noise]

Spoke to the 753 earlier en route from Kenet to FF. The crew mentioned they had the Chairman on board and seemed very proud of the fact he had chosen to fly on their last service. Then they held over Cardiff waiting for the Dublin flight so they could land together with the Brussels being the last man home.

Red Dragon crews were always polite and professional on the r/t and I can only wish them all the best in the future.
As the Captain of the 753 said, "we'll meet again."
Good luck guys.

Standard

[GROUNDHOG]

From me a very big thank you to all those staff in the very very beginning who helped to get the airline from a dream on a piece of paper to operation and spent so many hours at Pembrey writing manuals etc etc.
From the day JHE and I first wrote the business plan ( his idea by the way) it took us hours and hours of work to find an investor and nearly two years before RGDT agreed to back the airline. The irony was that I was a guest in an African prison at the time ( don't ask) and it was JHE and my wonderful ex colleague TIna (IAG) who finally encouraged him to do it.
I really enjoyed those early days, met some fantastic people and was sorry in some ways I could not give the time to the project it deserved but of course the commercial side was only ever going to be dictated by what Roy decided so it was time for me to retire gracefully! As I said so often it was his train set!
Good luck to everyone and I hope you all find suitable jobs elsewhere.
Finally I think it is now time for GROUNDHOG to say goodbye as well, kind of seems appropriate really - wonder if both will rise again from the ashes.
GROUNDHOG

[Tom the Tenor]

Should have hung on another few weeks - look at the stash 6G would have made on extra rotations from Cork to Cardiff for the ERC rugby final on 20th May at the Millenium Stadium!

Anyway, yes, it was with sadness to look out on the last ATR at Cork yesterday. Everyone in Cork salutes you all in Air Wales and it is good to hear that so many of you have work again so quickly.

Cymru agus Corcaigh abu!

[DanielP]

Just to say (as an outsider)....good luck to everyone at the now ex-Air Wales.

Saw one of the ATRs make (what I presume was) its final flight from CWL back to the lessors today at around 18:40. It did a very nifty double back and buzzed the airport at speed- have to say it brought a lump to my throat- being a resident of Rhoose, I will miss 6G's smart aircraft: I'm happy that my last sight of one of the aircraft was something memorable like that.

It's just a pity I never got to fly with them, because every time I was thinking of arranging something, the route got pulled!

Hope Wales gets a national airline again soon, but I doubt the livery will be as smart!

Oh well :{ :{ :{

Take care!

Daniel

[JaffaCake]

Saw one of the ATRs make (what I presume was) its final flight from CWL back to the lessors today at around 18:40. It did a very nifty double back and buzzed the airport at speed
Glad you liked it - probably the last time I get to do one of those for a while!! Thanks to Cardiff ATC for tollerating our requests - a pity the weather wasn't better really... :(
Anyway, would just like to say that www.dormantdragon.com will be launched in the next week or so (nothing much there at the moment, sorry). Previous suggestions of names were extremely tempting but not to be unfortunately – I hope 'dormant' is more in keeping with the event.
Just like to add my thanks to RT for backing the airline for all this time and thanks particularly to all the other flight deck, cabin crew and ops staff who made Air Wales a cracking company to work for and one that I will miss very, very much. Hopefully we can all keep in touch.
Right... gotta go and change my allegiance from Red to Orange now :ok:

[DanielP]

Thanks for the show! Enjoy your new job :D

Daniel

[GBALU53]

Sad to see G-SSEA posn to Guernsey on Monday this was the last Air Wales flight to Jersey on Sunday hope is going to a good home and we hope all the AiR Wales Staff have also found a new home.

With all the talk and happening with Aer Arann new homes may have been found with them.

With Thomson taling on the Air Wales route but operated by Aer Arann we hope to see or hear some of the old faces or voices good luck to all.

[MarkD]

any word on where the ATRs are off to? Is Arann taking some?

[ICING AOA]

It seems that "Air Wales 2" might appear soon, with 2 ATR 42s :oh: ...

[pipertommy]

That would be great to see!!!!Take it they would be cargo with the odd pax operation since there old routes have gone?Heard they will be operating under another airlines AOC.

[ICING AOA]

I heard that as well ! ;)

[WOWBOY]

Will it be a passenger operation?
Is it going to be operated by the same people as last time?

Anyways, It does sound quite interesting to say the least!

It would be nice if they resurected the lost Plymouth services, mainly Dublin and Cork! But the cahnces of that are slim:(

[Stone Cold II]

From what I have heard from within Air Wales they are keeping 2 aircraft to do possible freight, but they have no AOC or any crews and will not be recruiting for crews. The airline as it was is dead and buried but the 2 aircraft the the chairman keeps may be leased out to other companies for freight operation.

However I see this as being a very slim chance of happening, I think the possible reason is due to the leasing contract on the 2 aircraft, he's probably stuck with them for an agreed amount of time.

[AWYRCYMRY]

has anybody heard any rumours about airwales starting back up again.:confused:

[no more nite flights]

Suggest you speak to Roy Thomas,who has lost £8,000000!!

Doubt it.......

[Big Hilly]

Awyr,

Might this be what you've heard about?:

http://www.shropshirestar.com/show_article.php?aID=47600

Pob hwyl,

BH

[ICING AOA]

It seems that Aurigny is about take on 2 ATR42s, to be added to the current fleet. (It will be Aurigny crews).
Air Wales is dead.

[GBALU53]

One of the Ex Air Wales ATRs was air tested form Exeter a week or so ago the flight plan for the air test was filed from Munich.

This would lead to to aircraft for relocation one which is the third one in Guernsey and the fifth is unknown.

Could these two find new life with Atlantic Express as they seem to go from strength to strength.????:ok: :ok:

[aeroconejo]

Yes...an ex Air Wales ATR was tested last week (I did it) and was delivered to Moenchengladbach. It is now operating in Sicily.

With regard to Air Wales ...they are far from dead, they merely ceased scheduled operations in April as per the press release at the time.

They retain two aircraft and you can expect to see the Dragon again soon.

aero ;)

[f1-6 sabre boy]

Air Wales, have regained AOC, and are operating from south end, freight in the night, and charters in the day, thats what i was told

[TwinAisle]

Air Wales, have regained AOC

No, they have not.

Suggest you speak to Roy Thomas,who has lost £8,000000!!


Mr Thomas would be a very happy man if this were true. He is on public record as saying he lost four times that figure.....

TA

[Stone Cold II]

Air Wales has no AOC like Twinailse said and I can gaurantee you will not be seeing the Red Dragon any time soon.

Yes they ceased trading and bowed out in a gentlemanly manner by refunding all pax and doing a sterling job in helping get all the crews into new jobs.

Some people though are having a hard time in letting go of the Red Dragon and really think it's going to be up and running again very soon, be great if it did but I doubt it very much.

I heard from a ex collegue of mine from Air Wales who was called and asked if they wanted to return but the Air Wales aircraft were going to be used by Auringy as a spare aircraft but still owned by Roy Thomas.

My ex collegue turned it down and I would imagine everyone who might have been contacted turn it down since they are all with successful airlines and would not want to go back to life of "will we have a job next week? does anybody in this airline know what they are doing?"

Air Wales has died R.I.P. and good luck to Roy with whatever he decides to do with the 2 ATR's he's stuck with for the time being.

History has shown Air Wales always turns up around 15-20 years after the last one closed down so I expect to see the Red Dragon again in around the year 2020.

[FougaMagister]

Yes they ceased trading and bowed out in a gentlemanly manner by doing a sterling job in helping get all the crews into new jobs.

I would imagine everyone who might have been contacted turn it down since they are all with successful airlines

Interesting. And your info comes from... ? I know an ex-Air Wales FO who still hasn't had any luck in finding another flying job.

Cheers :cool:

[ICING AOA]

read again my post "#210" guys ! ;)

[Stone Cold II]

Employee number 1 with Air Wales who I was out having a drink with.

O.k I tell a lie I only know of 2 Air Wales flight deck who are out of work but this was from a few months ago, so don't know how it stands with them at the moment, I do think at least one of them recently found work.

[lordsummerisle]

One of the Ex Air Wales ATRs was air tested form Exeter a week or so ago the flight plan for the air test was filed from Munich.
This would lead to to aircraft for relocation one which is the third one in Guernsey and the fifth is unknown.
Could these two find new life with Atlantic Express as they seem to go from strength to strength.????:ok: :ok:

Unlikely as Atlantic Express not exactly going from strength to strength, which may explain why they are for sale!!

[BAforever]

Does anyone know if an airline may start up CWL-LCY that Air Wales previously. What about easterm airways. :confused: I enjoyed using this service over 20 times and now i'm stuck with the train does anyone have any info on this please.:)

[Ayline]

G-KNNY has now been re-registered as F-WQNB. This follows major maintenance work undertaken by Anglo Normandy Aeroengineering. The aircraft departed Guernsey on the 24th August 2006 bound for St. Brieuc. G-CDFF and G-SSEA remain in Guernsey (minus props) parked outside the Anglo Normandy Hangar.


Channel Islands

Edit: Do not post links to a commercial site.

[xtypeman]

knny and tawe both going to South America
wlsh gone to Avanti
cdff and ssea to go onto AUR AOC to op as charter aircraft based SEN

cdff to cover for AUR 72 early NOV flying to MAN, LGW, BRS, STN