Adam Brown - Cardiff Airport

I know how much you love this airport so I thought i'd share my experience as I sit in Cardiff airport, a few years ago it was a ghost town but times are certainly changing, each checkin deal had queues every seat on departure lounge taken and the small poxy WH Smith was empty, stock on the shelves at all! Now this could be the fact that it's half term but it's hardly the ghost town it used to be. It's certainly not an eyesore anymore.

What I thought was a piss take is the sports shop is selling Swansea football kits or blues rugby kits but not a Cardiff city kit in sight!

I know how much you love this airport so I thought i'd share my experience as I sit in Cardiff airport, a few years ago it was a ghost town but times are certainly changing, each checkin deal had queues every seat on departure lounge taken and the small poxy WH Smith was empty, stock on the shelves at all! Now this could be the fact that it's half term but it's hardly the ghost town it used to be. It's certainly not an eyesore anymore.

What I thought was a piss take is the sports shop is selling Swansea football kits or blues rugby kits but not a Cardiff city kit in sight!

Well bearing in mind passenger numbers have dropped year on year Im surprised that you think that its not a ghost town anymore.?

I notice that Ryanair has announced a Dublin route today now bearing in mind other airlines have an existing Dublin route there then what they done to CityJet last week they are going to do to another airline surely..?

i dont understand why prices there are so high compared to Bristol. im flying out in my holiday a week saturday and just for flying from Bristol instead of Cardiff i save £350. crazy really even tho i would have liked to flown from Cardiff. its a no brainer really.
i was in Cardiff airport last night. its done up nice inside and they are currently filming a documentary on there. but there was zero people in there around 6pm. 2 flights took over in the few hours we went over the aviation pub.
totally dead. its a shame to see as its a lot more conveniant than driving to bristol

I know how much you love this airport so I thought i'd share my experience as I sit in Cardiff airport, a few years ago it was a ghost town but times are certainly changing, each checkin deal had queues every seat on departure lounge taken and the small poxy WH Smith was empty, stock on the shelves at all! Now this could be the fact that it's half term but it's hardly the ghost town it used to be. It's certainly not an eyesore anymore.

What I thought was a piss take is the sports shop is selling Swansea football kits or blues rugby kits but not a Cardiff city kit in sight!

Well bearing in mind passenger numbers have dropped year on year Im surprised that you think that its not a ghost town anymore.?

I notice that Ryanair has announced a Dublin route today now bearing in mind other airlines have an existing Dublin route there then what they done to CityJet last week they are going to do to another airline surely..?

It's only for The rugby world cup isn't it?

I know how much you love this airport so I thought i'd share my experience as I sit in Cardiff airport, a few years ago it was a ghost town but times are certainly changing, each checkin deal had queues every seat on departure lounge taken and the small poxy WH Smith was empty, stock on the shelves at all! Now this could be the fact that it's half term but it's hardly the ghost town it used to be. It's certainly not an eyesore anymore.

What I thought was a piss take is the sports shop is selling Swansea football kits or blues rugby kits but not a Cardiff city kit in sight!

Well bearing in mind passenger numbers have dropped year on year Im surprised that you think that its not a ghost town anymore.?

I notice that Ryanair has announced a Dublin route today now bearing in mind other airlines have an existing Dublin route there then what they done to CityJet last week they are going to do to another airline surely..?

It's only for The rugby world cup isn't it?

But even if it is it's still really sticking the knife into the back of the existing airline which is already doing that route!!!

I know how much you love this airport so I thought i'd share my experience as I sit in Cardiff airport, a few years ago it was a ghost town but times are certainly changing, each checkin deal had queues every seat on departure lounge taken and the small poxy WH Smith was empty, stock on the shelves at all! Now this could be the fact that it's half term but it's hardly the ghost town it used to be. It's certainly not an eyesore anymore.

What I thought was a piss take is the sports shop is selling Swansea football kits or blues rugby kits but not a Cardiff city kit in sight!

Well bearing in mind passenger numbers have dropped year on year Im surprised that you think that its not a ghost town anymore.?

I notice that Ryanair has announced a Dublin route today now bearing in mind other airlines have an existing Dublin route there then what they done to CityJet last week they are going to do to another airline surely..?

It's only for The rugby world cup isn't it?

But even if it is it's still really sticking the knife into the back of the existing airline which is already doing that route!!!

No it's just increasing supply when the demand is there. Maybe, just maybe, if they keep Ryanair sweet they may just put a few more routes on out of the airport. Tenerife is currently weekly until early next year and seems to be doing ok

Now just wait for the negative response

After your last contribution about not understand that non-direct flights are normally cheaper than direct flights then your understanding of the situation down there is very limited.

Do you want the airlines to cut each other's throat then which like CityJet will only go one way which is even less airlines doing flights there then there are at the moment ? If you want to build routes from a low base then the first thing you do is to give airlines exclusivity on certain routes for a certain time or level not basically straight away because it will only damage the routes an that's what is happening now

After your last contribution about not understand that non-direct flights are normally cheaper than direct flights then your understanding of the situation down there is very limited.

Do you want the airlines to cut each other's throat then which like CityJet will only go one way which is even less airlines doing flights there then there are at the moment ? If you want to build routes from a low base then the first thing you do is to give airlines exclusivity on certain routes for a certain time or level not basically straight away because it will only damage the routes an that's what is happening now

The weakness in your argument is that none of us will know whether the additional Dublin flights for the world cup were initially offered to the current supplier. They may well have not been in a position to take on those extra flights hence them being offered to Ryanair, just a thought

By coincidence I was picking up a family member from the airport last night. It's probably the first time I've been up there for around 10 years due to the lack of flights and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how they have spent a bit of money on it and it looks much more welcoming both in the main terminal and arrivals.

In my view Cardiff, with it's catchment area, doesn't even have to match the fares at Bristol and Birmingham. They merely have to make sure that the whole package of travel costs to the airport and flights is in the same ball park (it's too expensive, in general, at the moment) as they will clearly win on convenience for a pretty big catchment area covering South and West Wales.

A year ago I honestly thought that we would lose the airport, I now think that there is real hope and we could get back to where it was at it's peak. Good news for us as customers but also as tax payers as a profitable airport will make a pretty attractive buy to recoup the Welsh Assembly's outlay.

After your last contribution about not understand that non-direct flights are normally cheaper than direct flights then your understanding of the situation down there is very limited.

Do you want the airlines to cut each other's throat then which like CityJet will only go one way which is even less airlines doing flights there then there are at the moment ? If you want to build routes from a low base then the first thing you do is to give airlines exclusivity on certain routes for a certain time or level not basically straight away because it will only damage the routes an that's what is happening now

The weakness in your argument is that none of us will know whether the additional Dublin flights for the world cup were initially offered to the current supplier. They may well have not been in a position to take on those extra flights hence them being offered to Ryanair, just a thought

By coincidence I was picking up a family member from the airport last night. It's probably the first time I've been up there for around 10 years due to the lack of flights and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how they have spent a bit of money on it and it looks much more welcoming both in the main terminal and arrivals.

In my view Cardiff, with it's catchment area, doesn't even have to match the fares at Bristol and Birmingham. They merely have to make sure that the whole package of travel costs to the airport and flights is in the same ball park (it's too expensive, in general, at the moment) as they will clearly win on convenience for a pretty big catchment area covering South and West Wales.

A year ago I honestly thought that we would lose the airport, I now think that there is real hope and we could get back to where it was at it's peak. Good news for us as customers but also as tax payers as a profitable airport will make a pretty attractive buy to recoup the Welsh Assembly's outlay.

You are right with your point although due to the size of Ryaniar and their history of bullying then I would lump on the fact that they took control of the situation rather than the airport offering them the route.

Let's be honest here, airlines don't give a f**k what an airport looks like as long as costs are low. If anyone knows the business plan of Ryanair and other low cost airlines then if it means that it can work out cheaper for them then very often they will land a plane on an old military runway which is an hour or two hours away from the actual place they are advertising and more often than not you are met by a couple of people in a f*cking shed!!! So please don't be conned into thinking that a few extra lights and a paint job together with automatic barriers which never work properly would attract airlines as its cost then anything else.

People don't seem to understand that I want this to work but it won't and when it's in public ownership then me, you and everyone else are paying for its failure.. The best option was the Sevenside airport and that was proven with independent experts . This option would have given a sign to the outside world that Wales means business but buying this the only signal is showing is that Wales is still stuck in the last century

After your last contribution about not understand that non-direct flights are normally cheaper than direct flights then your understanding of the situation down there is very limited.

Do you want the airlines to cut each other's throat then which like CityJet will only go one way which is even less airlines doing flights there then there are at the moment ? If you want to build routes from a low base then the first thing you do is to give airlines exclusivity on certain routes for a certain time or level not basically straight away because it will only damage the routes an that's what is happening now

The weakness in your argument is that none of us will know whether the additional Dublin flights for the world cup were initially offered to the current supplier. They may well have not been in a position to take on those extra flights hence them being offered to Ryanair, just a thought

By coincidence I was picking up a family member from the airport last night. It's probably the first time I've been up there for around 10 years due to the lack of flights and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how they have spent a bit of money on it and it looks much more welcoming both in the main terminal and arrivals.

In my view Cardiff, with it's catchment area, doesn't even have to match the fares at Bristol and Birmingham. They merely have to make sure that the whole package of travel costs to the airport and flights is in the same ball park (it's too expensive, in general, at the moment) as they will clearly win on convenience for a pretty big catchment area covering South and West Wales.

A year ago I honestly thought that we would lose the airport, I now think that there is real hope and we could get back to where it was at it's peak. Good news for us as customers but also as tax payers as a profitable airport will make a pretty attractive buy to recoup the Welsh Assembly's outlay.

You are right with your point although due to the size of Ryaniar and their history of bullying then I would lump on the fact that they took control of the situation rather than the airport offering them the route.

Let's be honest here, airlines don't give a f**k what an airport looks like as long as costs are low. If anyone knows the business plan of Ryanair and other low cost airlines then if it means that it can work out cheaper for them then very often they will land a plane on an old military runway which is an hour or two hours away from the actual place they are advertising and more often than not you are met by a couple of people in a f*cking shed!!! So please don't be conned into thinking that a few extra lights and a paint job together with automatic barriers which never work properly would attract airlines as its cost then anything else.

I agree that a lick of paint won't attract airlines but it does make a difference to the way our capital city/country is perceived, particularly by business men using the commuter flights and I do know that for a fact.

Making a more comfortable environment and better customer experience also makes a difference to the leisure users such as those bog standard flights to the Greek Islands and Spanish coastal resorts.

It's not too dissimilar to the football/sport ground model. The actual tickets should cover the operating costs whereas if you can offer a good customer experience they get there earlier and then, hopefully spend more in the Duty Free, bar and food outlets generating more income and making it an attractive proposition for prospective retailers, chains, etc. but also enabling the airport to reduce the charges they demand from airlines for using the airport, subsequently reducing ticket costs (hopefully !!) so it all forms part of a bigger picture.

Airports can no longer rely on airlines to be their sole source of income, in my view that is what the previous owners of Cardiff Airport did and they paid the price. The current occupiers seem to be moving in the right direction but there is a lot of ground to make up.

I'm no airport expert but talking to a couple of people who are they believe that there is real potential there and anticipate that if they can build on the progress made in the last 12 months there is a very real prospect of WAG being able to sell on for a profit but also safeguard the future direction of the airport. However, they did say that it's all about momentum and if they lose the current momentum then they wouldn't be too sure they would be able to recover.

Fingers crossed then !!

In all fairness Cardiff knew that the British Airways maintenance depot would be the only thing to keep it brake even for years!!! Had that not been there then it would have closed decades ago.

People in the know are having serious doubts that this will ever go into a profit whether it's protential there or not

Really winds me up we didn't go for the Severnside option.Right on the M4 and London main line .Could b in London about the same time as travelling from Stanstead and about under an hour more than Gatwick with the new Hitachi trains .Could have been a huge hub.Bristol is very efficient but awkward to get to.Ah well...

Really winds me up we didn't go for the Severnside option.Right on the M4 and London main line .Could b in London about the same time as travelling from Stanstead and about under an hour more than Gatwick with the new Hitachi trains .Could have been a huge hub.Bristol is very efficient but awkward to get to.Ah well...

The Sevenside idea also included an air cargo investment within its business plan and as a previous poster mentioned that would have been another non-passenger profit maker!!! Apart from the Royal Mail flight which lands at 3am in Cardiff every morning and the British Airways maintenance depot hardly any cargo flights go through Cardiff

i dont understand why prices there are so high compared to Bristol. im flying out in my holiday a week saturday and just for flying from Bristol instead of Cardiff i save £350. crazy really even tho i would have liked to flown from Cardiff. its a no brainer really.
i was in Cardiff airport last night. its done up nice inside and they are currently filming a documentary on there. but there was zero people in there around 6pm. 2 flights took over in the few hours we went over the aviation pub.
totally dead. its a shame to see as its a lot more conveniant than driving to bristol

Convenient is one word I would definitely not use when talking about Cardiff/Barry/Rhoose airport.

Blooobirds Forever !!!

It ain't that difficult to get to really is it. Im an awful driver and managed it nearly everyday for 4 years

It ain't that difficult to get to really is it. Im an awful driver and managed it nearly everyday for 4 years

With all due respect, the transport links to Cardiff airport have always been and still are atrocious. Hopefully when/if the new Cardiff transport hub is in place, issues like this will be resolved.

Just compare that to getting to Birmingham airport from Mid Wales area - jump on train at Aberystwyth (or any other mid Wales stations) - jump off at Birmingham Airport @£28 return.

Is it any wonder Wales Premier airport is underused - bad connections, lack of airline routes and paying inflated prices for almost all flights.

The Severnside project should have been taken up at the time. Anyone know why it was not?

I Bet the Labour Leftties in the talking shop had something to do with it.

Cardiff and South Wales deserve much better.

Blooobirds Forever !!!

It ain't that difficult to get to really is it. Im an awful driver and managed it nearly everyday for 4 years

With all due respect, the transport links to Cardiff airport have always been and still are atrocious. Hopefully when/if the new Cardiff transport hub is in place, issues like this will be resolved.

Just compare that to getting to Birmingham airport from Mid Wales area - jump on train at Aberystwyth (or any other mid Wales stations) - jump off at Birmingham Airport @£28 return.

Is it any wonder Wales Premier airport is underused - bad connections, lack of airline routes and paying inflated prices for almost all flights.

The Severnside project should have been taken up at the time. Anyone know why it was not?

I Bet the Labour Leftties in the talking shop had something to do with it.

Cardiff and South Wales deserve much better.

Blooobirds Forever !!!

I was on about driving.
Train links are awful in fairness.
Regular buses from bus station though although personally ive only ever driven to an airport or got a lift.

Im not sure if the sevenside airport was ever a realistic idea.

After your last contribution about not understand that non-direct flights are normally cheaper than direct flights then your understanding of the situation down there is very limited.

Do you want the airlines to cut each other's throat then which like CityJet will only go one way which is even less airlines doing flights there then there are at the moment ? If you want to build routes from a low base then the first thing you do is to give airlines exclusivity on certain routes for a certain time or level not basically straight away because it will only damage the routes an that's what is happening now

I'm glad you said normally cheaper as this is not always the case - short haul routes are usually cheaper going direct. I'm going to Florida via New York in August and shaved hundreds off the price.

Just pulling your leg with my earlier post but I don't see these one off flights as a threat. What I would say is that whilst I'm all for private ownership I can't help thinking the only people who will truly develop the airport in the short term is the WAG

After your last contribution about not understand that non-direct flights are normally cheaper than direct flights then your understanding of the situation down there is very limited.

Do you want the airlines to cut each other's throat then which like CityJet will only go one way which is even less airlines doing flights there then there are at the moment ? If you want to build routes from a low base then the first thing you do is to give airlines exclusivity on certain routes for a certain time or level not basically straight away because it will only damage the routes an that's what is happening now

I'm glad you said normally cheaper as this is not always the case - short haul routes are usually cheaper going direct. I'm going to Florida via New York in August and shaved hundreds off the price.

Just pulling your leg with my earlier post but I don't see these one off flights as a threat. What I would say is that whilst I'm all for private ownership I can't help thinking the only people who will truly develop the airport in the short term is the WAG

I used to travel to Florida regularly with KLM from Cardiff to Amsterdam to Detroit or Minneapolis and then on to Orlando. Can't face that sort of journey any more, takes forever and when anything got delayed and I missed a connection, it has taken me over 20 hours to get there. I prefer Gatwick to Orlando direct, even though that is a pain. Years ago there were two flights a week from Cardiff to Sanford, and they were always full.

After your last contribution about not understand that non-direct flights are normally cheaper than direct flights then your understanding of the situation down there is very limited.

Do you want the airlines to cut each other's throat then which like CityJet will only go one way which is even less airlines doing flights there then there are at the moment ? If you want to build routes from a low base then the first thing you do is to give airlines exclusivity on certain routes for a certain time or level not basically straight away because it will only damage the routes an that's what is happening now

I'm glad you said normally cheaper as this is not always the case - short haul routes are usually cheaper going direct. I'm going to Florida via New York in August and shaved hundreds off the price.

Just pulling your leg with my earlier post but I don't see these one off flights as a threat. What I would say is that whilst I'm all for private ownership I can't help thinking the only people who will truly develop the airport in the short term is the WAG

I used to travel to Florida regularly with KLM from Cardiff to Amsterdam to Detroit or Minneapolis and then on to Orlando. Can't face that sort of journey any more, takes forever and when anything got delayed and I missed a connection, it has taken me over 20 hours to get there. I prefer Gatwick to Orlando direct, even though that is a pain. Years ago there were two flights a week from Cardiff to Sanford, and they were always full.

There's a couple of flights departing cardiff to Orlando international direct this yr and next. Also may next yr is a cardiff to Mexico departure.

These flights need filling and a good level of interest for these routes to become more regular than just one offs.

Done Orlando from Cardiff direct a couple of times in the 90s.

However these flights are just Thomson package holiday flights and are just seasonal through

It ain't that difficult to get to really is it. Im an awful driver and managed it nearly everyday for 4 years

With all due respect, the transport links to Cardiff airport have always been and still are atrocious. Hopefully when/if the new Cardiff transport hub is in place, issues like this will be resolved.

Just compare that to getting to Birmingham airport from Mid Wales area - jump on train at Aberystwyth (or any other mid Wales stations) - jump off at Birmingham Airport @£28 return.

Is it any wonder Wales Premier airport is underused - bad connections, lack of airline routes and paying inflated prices for almost all flights.

The Severnside project should have been taken up at the time. Anyone know why it was not?

I Bet the Labour Leftties in the talking shop had something to do with it.

Cardiff and South Wales deserve much better.

Blooobirds Forever !!!

I was on about driving.
Train links are awful in fairness.
Regular buses from bus station though although personally ive only ever driven to an airport or got a lift.

Im not sure if the sevenside airport was ever a realistic idea.

Buses from central Cardiff every 20 mins until late into the evening (drove behind one on Tuesday night arriving around 10.30pm) and only takes 35-40 mins (depending on traffic).

Certainly need at to look at developing rail i]links if/when they can attract more flights.

i dont understand why prices there are so high compared to Bristol. im flying out in my holiday a week saturday and just for flying from Bristol instead of Cardiff i save £350. crazy really even tho i would have liked to flown from Cardiff. its a no brainer really.
i was in Cardiff airport last night. its done up nice inside and they are currently filming a documentary on there. but there was zero people in there around 6pm. 2 flights took over in the few hours we went over the aviation pub.
totally dead. its a shame to see as its a lot more conveniant than driving to bristol

Convenient is one word I would definitely not use when talking about Cardiff/Barry/Rhoose airport.

Blooobirds Forever !!!

Short drive for me so much for convenient than Bristol. But see where your coming from if you didn't drive. I'm sure public transport would improve if the need was there for the airport mind

Hi Adam, on the football shirts front, the airport approached both Cardiff City and Swansea City for replica shirts. Unfortunately, Cardiff City could not supply their 'Cosway' shirts last season but I understand they have been again in communication for the upcoming season and a range of Cardiff City replica shirts and merchandise will be ranged for the 2015/2016 season.

Hi Adam, on the football shirts front, the airport approached both Cardiff City and Swansea City for replica shirts. Unfortunately, Cardiff City could not supply their 'Cosway' shirts last season but I understand they have been again in communication for the upcoming season and a range of Cardiff City replica shirts and merchandise will be ranged for the 2015/2016 season.

And I'm interested in this because.........?