If they prefer them why do they not land aircraft there then? Cardiff's days are numbered. They are even planning om expanding Pembrey with Saudi or Dubai money to become an international airport. That may be the future. Cardiff Pembrey Airport

Landing charges are competitive with Bristol whilst PAX is set by the UK Government. That's why labour would like it devolved, but it may be too little too late

Cardiff airport is clearly in trouble, and it will die unless something is done.

Unfortunately we are in a chicken and egg situation - passengers dont use it because there are insufficient flights/destinations - Operators dont use it because there are insufficient passengers. Fix one and you fix the other, but if you dont it turns into a vicious spiral.

Yes Cardiff has a smaller catchment than Bristol, but passenger numbers between 2-3 million is a realistic target


So what to do?
(1) Improve Transport links - road and rail - see next two posts for details
(2) Reduce landing fees - this is where WG needs to step in with some sort of subsidy - be a bit creative to avoid illegal subsidies - but do it.
(3) Marketing - CWL/VoG/CC/WG/SEWTA/KLM/Flybe need to finance a joint advertising campaign. I regularly fly Cardiff to Dubai using KLM but most people dont realise you can do this (or anywhere else on KLM worldwide network) or for that matter Air France and Emirates networks who both use Flybe as feeders. You dont have to fly from Heathrow.

Cardiff Airport - Rail Link:

The current rail/bus connection is a joke and I doubt whether anyone uses it. What should be done is build a spur off the VoG line directly to the airport as part of the Cardiff Metro plans. There are already 6 trains per between Cardiff Central and Barry, and if two trains an hour were extended to Cardiff Airport along the new spur it would be a massive improvement. These services could operate as express services between Airport, Barry and Cardiff Central and then on to Pontypridd.

The cost of this spur would be in the order of 20 million which is negligible and could be jointly funded by VoG, CWL and Metro operator

Cardiff Airport - Road Links

The existing road links down country roads and suburban streets is another ioke - but on the other hand the airport does not need a 4 lane superhighway built from the M4 down the Ely Valley and 5 Mile Lane as originally proposed by WG. This was not ever for CWL in any case but was for the military 'university' at St Athan.

What is actually needed are mostly on-line improvements which will improve access to Barry - from the M4 via Culverhouse Cross (which needs a major redesign in any case) - and from Cardiff via the Cardiff Bay to Penarth Link Road and a Dinas Powys bypass..

The Dinas Powis by-pass should be funded by VoG but the Culverhouse Cross-Barry route should be extension of existing A4232 trunk road and funded by WG.

Port Road around Barry should be widened as part of the scheme, and all the way to airport - but again does not need to be a 4 lane superhighway - although a bypass route would be better.

Yes roads are relatively costly, but most of the improvements are needed for Barry anyway - not just the airport

the airport hasn't purposefully priced themselves out in comparison to Bristol, and they try to be as competitive as they can.
Bristol however has greater numbers of passengers so economies of scale take over.
Neither airport is in a great location, and the runway at bristol is one of the more difficult in the uk.

Better ongoing transport links is the only thing that will help CWL the road and rail connections need to be improved.

If there was a direct rail link it would be a feasible airport for so many more passengers.

What brings it home for me is sitting in my garden and seeing flights arriving and departing from both Bristol and Cardiff. Many from Bristol, few from Cardiff!!

CAA Stats' for July came at a fews day back. The rolling year PAX numbers are heading below the 1m threshold.
I reckon the 9th November will be the day!
The BMI numbers will fall out of the stats' by then


Feb 2011-Jan 2012 1.189m
Mar 2011-Feb 2012 1.173m
Apr 2011-Mar 2012 1.170m
May 2011-Apr 2012 1.150m
Jun 2011-May 2012 1.114m
Jul 2011-Jun 2012 1.090m
Aug 2011-Jul 2012 1.066m

So in effect what it needs now is to bag a few routes which can take the strain away from London? Part of the problem is that there are few unique routes between Cardiff and Bristol so in effect there is no real need for both airports - and the much heralded market seems to have spoken with regard to which one is the preferred option.

It seems to me that the under utilisation of Cardiff is an opportunity for the airport to put its hand up and try and get a few middle East routes, maybe a few Australasian ones and maybe a few transatlantic ones to relieve a bit of pressure on the southeast. If we are going to be 17 minutes closer to London doesn't it mean that London is 17 minutes closer to Cardiff? Seems this could also be a bargaining chip in getting improved transport links to Rhoose.

For me at least this is where a bit of WAG/Westminster co-operation could come in. Ah well I guess this is up there with middle east peace and an end to the soul destroying 'talent' shows!

There is no point in aiming for long distance routes to Middle East or North America, when you cant get to the airport - fix the local transport links first.

Bristol's success has been in getting in early wth the budget airlines, and as well as Vueling, CWL should be aiming to get people like Air Berlin and a French budget (cant think of name) to add Cardiff to their destination list, even if it is only a few flights a week - it will bring Euro toursts in (and Cardiff is a great place to visit) and give outgoing tourists new places to visit.

But they must provide decent public transport links - the current bus/traion arrangement is just embarrassing.

The interesting thing with that Swiss airline was there were people using it to come to Wales but nothing going back the other way so people do want to visit Wales from Europe, I agree transport needs sorting out there has to be a station in the airport.

What amazes me about the airport is that not only are there poor bus and train links, there aren't even any taxis! I use the airport quite a few times a year and at first I tried the train and bus links hoping that - like most airports - these provided a reasonable service. They do not. So now I get pre-ordered taxis straight from my door to the airport. This works really well but add £60-70 to the cost of the trip. On occassions when I've not pre-booked a taxi, expecting to get one from the airport, you have to first find and then sit in this crappy white hut and wait sometimes for about 20 minutes for a taxi to show up. What kind of an airport doesn't have a few taxis waiting to take people on their journey? It's just depressing.

Peter Hain is behind a proposal to build a road from Weston across the water to Lavernock this he says will increase Cardiff airport's catchment to the south.
When it was pointed out that is would also make Bristol Airport easier to access from Wales, he said perhaps we could use it for something else.





So the barrage is back on the cards again! PM on Radio 4 had a item on it today.

Indeed, the bus leaves right outside Bristol Temple Meades and is frequent. You can get a return ticket, and buy it in advance online. Once on the bus it is large and has large racks especially for luggage. It does not stop very often. I have used it numerous times. It is also clearly labelled as an airport bus and very easy to see, so you know you are on the right bus. It has onboard wifi and comfy seats. It takes 25 minutes to get there and leaves about once every 20 minutes. More frequently at busy times. It is a professionaly run service.

The Cardiff bus is just a regular bus that literally goes around the houses of Barry before you get to Cardiff. When I used it it was an opportunity to get up close with all the residential areas, and the residents, of Barry town. If it's busy you need to put your suitcase on your lap. No wifi. Average seats. I can't remember for sure but I imagine being a Cardiff Bus service, you need to have the right money as the drivers don't carry change (a great introduction to Wales that would be if you've just landed from another country with your pile of crisp new £20 notes that the driver wont accept, or wants the lot). In Cardiff Central the bus is not well sign posted outside the train station. Instead you have to look up a table for service X91 (which you can do online) to find out it leaves from point F1 in the bus station.

And as the website proudly states:

"The Cardiff Bus service X91 operates between Cardiff Central station and Cardiff Airport every two hours during the day seven days a week."

Once every two hours.

Bristol is much easier to get to by bus and rail.

What exactly would be this enhanced transport link to CIA? The road link is okay so far as I can tell, obviously public transport could be improved. I'm not sure how you could improve the road link, it seems alright as it is. The trouble is that the airport isn't very near Cardiff. Or Newport, Caerphilly, Bridgend etc.

so CWL needs twice as many busses?

that seems a lot simpler than than laying new roads and rail track - and I can't imagine any shortage of vested interests able to provide this service with minimal 'fuss', given sufficient demand


... additionally: wouldn't getting to Temple Mead entail an additional travel stage for most of S Wales?

When I flew to Rygge with RyanAir there was a company that was there for when the aeroplanes landed and then left Oslo two hours before the flights left Rygge. How this isn't happening in Cardiff amazes me. The airport doesn't exactly have many flights, so by having buses there according to the flight schedules is an easy option if you ask me

Cardiff Airport is going to get weekly flights to Dusseldorf starting in May. Finally, we have a German connection. This will hopefully bring in quite a few German tourists to the city. All we need now is an Italian link, even if just for the Six Nations. Things may be looking up for the poor old place.

Weekly???? You mean you have to stay for 7 days minimum on each trip? Sounds more like a timetable for an Ibiza summer holiday jaunt!

I doubt that people are looking for a connection to Germany at any cost/inconvenience.

Imagine the scenario: "Traveller needs/wants to be in Dusseldorf for a business trip/leisure weekend"

Solution:
Fly from Cardiff to Dusseldorf three days in advance, pay for 7 nights in a hotel and fly back 4 days after the meeting has finished...

All I know is that they will be weekly, wether that means more than once a week wilm have to wait until the official announcement

It's quite simple as to why it's weekly, it'd basically a charter flight. To quote the article "It’s understood the majority of seats offered on the flights will be chartered for wealthy German tourists and businessmen"

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/10/11/direct-flights-to-germany-to-be-launched-from-cardiff-airport-91466-32009170/

Cardiff airport is failing for a myriad of different reasons, and frankly it will continue to do so unless the vast majority - if not all - of them are fixed.

It's major issue is the sheer expense of the place, in addition to the PAX and landing charges, everything else costs a fortune too, from the fuel up - (it's why BAMC has it's own private fuel farm).

Couple this with the fact that it is slightly harder to get to than Brigadoon, the terrible passanger facilities, the rudest security staff I've ever met and the appalling transport links, it's not surprising it's dying on its behind.

I'll be honest, the main reason I tend to fly from Bristol (or London, or Birmingham) is just because the whole experience is more pleasant, and feels more efficient, not just because there tends to be a wider choice of flights.

I certainly wasn't expecting Lufthansa to be the airline involved. I had presumed it would have been Flybe.

Lufthansa's involvement is at least encouraging because it's a big player in the industry.

Looks like its a Lufthansa service that is actually run by Eurowings and operates only on Saturdays.

Ah...

It is a shite airport, but this is more flights. It's progress of a sort compared to all the news we've had over the last year, far from enough progress admittedly, but some nonetheless.

Feb 2011-Jan 2012 1.189m
Mar 2011-Feb 2012 1.173m
Apr 2011-Mar 2012 1.170m
May 2011-Apr 2012 1.150m
Jun 2011-May 2012 1.114m
Jul 2011-Jun 2012 1.090m
Aug 2011-Jul 2012 1.066m
Sep 2011-Aug 2012 1.044m

Can Cardiff Airport break the 1 Million PAX barrier before xmas, I'm off to place my bet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-19925559

Please buy our airport

Can we get a petition going to beg them to buy Cardiff airport!

Surprised this hasn't already been mentioned - ambitious plans to massively develop Cardiff Airport as essentially a satelite hub of Heathrow:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-20154592

I'm no expert but to me it sounds a no-brainer... Apart from the truly horrendous name!

how realistic is a one hour train service from cardiff airport to central london?

if they go for the western gateway idea, why would cardiff be a better place to do it than bristol? (I know bristol has a smaller run way, but surely that could be addressed more easily than a train line from south wales).

Bristol's location won't do it any good. It is almost impossible for the runway to expand due to the nature of the site, it is also very difficult to fly into for the pilots.

Let's hope that this happens because Wales needs some good news. I'm not quite sure where the £250m is coming from, but if the British Government doesn't need to cough up, then maybe they will allow this. Not quite sure for whom it would be a hub mind. Skyteam group? Would be a good one to have as it would enable connections from the states to all manner of places through airlines such as Allitalia, KLM, Delta, AirFrance etc

I think this is a good idea. It is about getting themselves back in the game. Certainly the idea that Cardiff take the strain from the south east is not a new idea so maybe this is a spark?

I am due to go to Germany in December and noticed that some of the text around KLM frequency is now comparing the time it takes to get to Heathrow and check-in etc with the time to go via Schipol. Certainly when I went to Italy last year via Schipol it was only a max +10-15 mins going from Cardiff as opposed BA from Heathrow - and Alitalia was playing La Boheme as I boarded the plane!

Below is a further commentary on hub status from Martin Evans, but I wish he would name some of the places he is using as a comparison, instead of just saying he could list other places where this system has worked (or wont work). Then we could get a better sense of the practicalities of what is proposed.


http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/2012/10/31/cardiff-airport-can-become-an-interntional-hub-western-gateway-91466-32132945/

This whole thing sounds completely absurd. The rail link would cost billions, interesting to see them mentioning the non-existent barrage as part of it. A total non-starter IMO.

Ambition is all very well, but HS2 will bring Birmingham airport to within about 40 minutes of London. If the hub option was explored as an alternative to a third runway, why on earth would the government look at Cardiff?

Yesterday seemed to be a day for fantasy news in the WM. There was this, Heseltine's endorsement of the Severn Barrage which Peter Hain interpreted as 'building up a head of steam' for the whole project, two contractors being appointed for the proposed Circuit of Wales project that will turn Ebbw Vale into Monza and an alleged 7,000 jobs for Anglesey connected with Wylfa.

I like the fact there is some 'big thinking ' going on but I'd prefer to see a raft of stories about Welsh companies increasing staff by 30 here or 50 there, turnover and profits increasing, patents being rolled out of Welsh universities at a rate of knots etc etc. All the boring stuff that actually matters.

It's all a bit pie in the sky isn't it, but imagine cardiff got the barrage, the high speed rail to London, and the airport upgrade.

Is even consider voting Tory if they delivered all that.