Baby gets bigger at Cardiff

[richardhall99]

News on the BMI Baby website:

Cardiff to Paris CDG twice daily during the week and once on a sunday
CWL-CDG
0655 / 0930
1500 / 1715

CDG-CWL
1000 / 1015
1800 / 1815

And finally Sun Air (BA) has announced that it is to fly an ATP from Billund to the Irish capital from April twice weekly

[mcdonnellluke]

Hello
Is it true that Baby have dropped thier CWL-Cork(ORK) service to free up the aircraft for this route?
Luke

[jetstream7]

Can't book the ORK flights any longer fro the bmibaby website so it certainly looks that way.

This is good news for Air Wales as bmibaby's arrival would have almost certainly spelt the end of their ops on the CWL-ORK route

[The Big Bad Daddy]

Wonder how long Bmi Baby will stick around Cardiff, they just don't seem to be researching routes, just starting and dropping routes at random.

Next route for them to drop will be Belfast I expect it's not doing very well from what I hear.

I expect once their grant from the WDA for their first year operations runs out we will see them downsize or pull out all toghether, I give them 2 years tops before they pull out.

[teifiboy]

12,000 pax travelling to GLA and EDI in December from Cardiff suggests pretty healthy loads.

There seems to be a lot of head scratching going on concerning the dropping of Faro for the summer however. Its also been dropped from EMA so may be nothing to do with demand.

[TwinAisle]

Heard a rumour that bmiB are going to be diverting the EMA to BRU through CWL to fill in that missing link as well - can't imagine that the boys and girls who currently do EMA - BRU direct will love that much....

BTW - I've flown bmiB out of CWL a few times now, and the lowest load I've seen was about 60%... and in the depths of winter to AGP, that can't be bad....

TA

[richardhall99]

some good news for Air Wales now that they have CWL - ORK to themselves...they are introducing the AT4 to the CWL-DUB routes soon

doesnt look like Baby will stay around long on the CWL - JER route....apparently the landing fees on the island are really high and Baby cant sustain the low prices it promises!!

[The Big Bad Daddy]

Remember it was not long ago when Bmi Baby gave out 20,000 free tickets to the people that use Cardiff, so exactly how many of those 12,000 pax flying between GLA and EDI are paid for tickets is anyone's guess.

I understand that the flights to spain etc. are doing ok, I have spoken to a few people who use the service to EDI or GLA and they say most of the time it's not even half full.

[richardhall99]

As BMIbaby arent happy with Jersey wouldnt it be a godd idea to link up Newcastle and Jersey via Cardiff?

Have Air Wales considered a CWL-IOM link up and perhaps IOM-ORK?

[stalling attitude]

if you divide the 12000 pax travelling to / from scotland in december by the number of sectors operated between cardiff and scotland in december ( 204 by my reckoning ) it works out at 59 pax per sector.

hardly startling considering i often used to take 20+ pax in my old jetstream until they pulled off the route

[Little Blue]

So Big Bad D !
I have seen the loads for the near future...
trust me, CWL is a BIG success for baby...
Would u rather have an airport with no major carriers
serving it?
.
Hidden agenda, I guess !:confused:

[The Big Bad Daddy]

"Would u rather have an airport with no major carriers
serving it?"

Sorry I thought Britannia, My Travel, Air2000, KLM and Ryanair to name a few were major carriers.

I just wonder about baby's commitment to CWL, would they still have come to Cardiff if it was not for a very large grant from the Welsh assembly?

There is now a good selection of destinations from CWL and I hope pax numbers increase so the airport can develop and finally get a decent road link from the M4.

[Little Blue]

How cynical?
Build em up and then knock em down...
As I stated b4, I see the pax loads at a very early stage
and I see only success..Ok, it would be nice to operate every sector with a 90% load factor, but this is the real world...
The proof is in the pudding, and the Welsh are having a damned good nibble...
Tot ziens !
;)

[ajamieson]

I have spoken to a few people who use the service to EDI or GLA

Well, I've spoken to the people that actually run it, and the word is that yields on the routes are pretty good. The load factors are pretty variable and a lot seems to rest on rugby tourism (a bit late for that now that the Welsh Scottish league is all but defunct). The flipside is that when the flights are busy they are VERY busy - which means higher ticket prices and more cash.

[CheekyVisual]

Whatever BMI have or have not been given at least they are here giving it a go. Not like certain ENGLISH airlines I could mention. As for whether they will stay is another issue. Now they have the CDG route. Which after AMS is by far the best route to operate from CWL the future certainly looks more certain.

Like every other operator (except ENGLISH AIRWAYS) they will only operate what makes money. In the long term that may mean EDI but not GLA. I can't tell from their web site but if they can operate their BFS through to CDG like BA used to the overall loads will be excellent. Especially as BMI will no doubt advertise the service properly. That in itself will help to keep the BFS link which is important.

Not sure the EMA pax will like going to BRU via CWL. The CWL pax never liked going via BRS ! There are a lot of other alternatives from the midlands as well. Big Bad Daddy and his brothers at Air Wales should be looking to get on that route as long term I don't think BMI will give up their EMA-BRU route to provide a CWL-BRU route when the EMA loads start to disappear.

Anyway good luck to everyone at CWL It's a good spot no matter what anyone says. I hope BMI and Air Wales are both still here this tme next year !

Now where did I leave my Birmingham A to Z ?

[The Big Bad Daddy]

You can have my A to Z if you like. :D

Hope you finally get some stability with English Airways out of Birmingham, now you come back and visit us all ya hear!