Cardiff: WestJet Transatlantic News & Discussions

[Jerry]

According to the WesJet app there seems to be confirmation that the route will return in 2027. Nothings on sale yet but at the bottom it says resumes 21/5/27. That would be the YYZ-CWL flight.

 

[Jerry]

Saw this review on Facebook about the new Cardiff Airport to Toronto route with WestJet
Its great to see the person enjoyed the flight from Cardiff and chose to fly from Cardiff instead of Heathrow.

 

[Jerry]

Great video about the inaugural launch of the WestJet flights to Toronto from Cardiff Airport
Includes speeches from the dignatories and even a choir singing 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 national anthem on the apron

 

[geoff]

Nice to see our politicians praising the airport, and talking about its future in optimistic terms, it certainly seems to be going through a good phase at the moment, with the new management team.

 

[Jerry]

Nice to see our politicians praising the airport, and talking about its future in optimistic terms, it certainly seems to be going through a good phase at the moment, with the new management team.

Yep there definitely is a tone of positivity around the airport.

 

[CAN&I]

Saw this review on Facebook about the new Cardiff Airport to Toronto route with WestJet
Its great to see the person enjoyed the flight from Cardiff and chose to fly from Cardiff instead of Heathrow.



View attachment 33468View attachment 33469View attachment 33470View attachment 33471View attachment 33472

Love this review. Honest and with a touch of fun to boot. Well done that lady!

 

[Jerry]

Love this review. Honest and with a touch of fun to boot. Well done that lady!

Yeah it is good.

 

[CAN&I]

Yep there definitely is a tone of positivity around the airport.

This has been the major problem with previous governments. They have not "sold" the benefits of the airport and its contribution to the wider economy well enough to even attempt to convince negative majority of its worth.

More of this type of communication is needed to take people on the "journey", set expectations, explain why the money is being invested and how they are going to deliver a self-sufficient asset for the wider benefit of Wales.

OK, CWL isn't going to have the fortune to ride on the back of the positivity that comes with the launch of new transatlantic routes every week, but more positive, informed and enthusiastic messaging in general is exactly what is needed right now.

 

[Jerry]

This has been the major problem with previous governments

I generally believe that especially under Mark Drakeford it was more about just keeping the airport essentially open. Carwyn Jones was passionate about it but I don't think Drakeford was that bothered. Eluned Morgan did criticise him that he wasn't focused on the economy as much as he should have.

 

[Jerry]

This has been the major problem with previous governments

I generally believe that especially under Mark Drakeford it was more about just keeping the airport essentially open. Carwyn Jones was passionate about it but I don't think Drakeford was that bothered. Eluned Morgan did criticise him that he wasn't focused on the economy as much as he should have.

 

[CAN&I]

I generally believe that especially under Mark Drakeford it was more about just keeping the airport essentially open. Carwyn Jones was passionate about it but I don't think Drakeford was that bothered. Eluned Morgan did criticise him that he wasn't focused on the economy as much as he should have.

You're absolutely right. Carwyn Jones at least had the vision. He saw the direction the airport was taking under Abertis and he thought the Government could do better, which they did until 2019 when the market was more open, with Bristol was less dominant as today (1m / 6m split as of 2013). OK, the vision wasn't always implemented as it could have been but he was part of the team that brought in Flybe, Qatar, Loganair, Aer Lingus and Wizz and pursuaded Ryanair to return.

Mark Drakeford just wasn't interested. Completely agree that the money was used just to keep the place ticking over and up to scratch in terms of compliance, yet owning an airport was at odds with his net zero vision and it became an inconvenience. There was a direct lack of scrutiny and oversight at that time too. While the opposition parties went too far with their rhetoric, they were right. The government failed to step up to the plate post Covid.

Gething and Morgan at least tried to implement the next 10-year-plan and its only in the past year we've heard more about sustainable revenue streams besides passenger income. Yet for all the criticism Drakeford received for not caring about the economy, Eluned Jones put him in charge of finance when he should have been nowhere near governemt by that point.

 

[geoff]

It was amazing how he stood down as First Minister with the aim of retiring, and Eluned Morgan, brought him back into the cabinet.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

There tends to be a lot of media hype in the run up to new things happening, and CWL and the WG are certainly pushing more media activity. Otherwise its a wasted exercise. I do believe that there will be more to come soon.

 

[CAN&I]

There tends to be a lot of media hype in the run up to new things happening, and CWL and the WG are certainly pushing more media activity. Otherwise its a wasted exercise. I do believe that there will be more to come soon.

You have a point of course but would appropriate messaging necessarily be wasted beyond times of media hype? There has to be a balance somehow, otherwise Cardiff Airport will continue to be stuck in a rut of public perception and as a symbol of wider governmental failure.

Yes using good news to promote "the message" obviously helps and its great to see the media reaction, albeit with a reminder of the money invested so far. The last Government failed to get "the message" across to convince the vocal majority over the last few years, after all - we only heard about the benefits when the Government came under attack by the opposition, the media or Bristol Airport.

If the new Government are serious about building on the 10-year-plan and creating growth and global connectivity, they are going to need to do more to "sell" the vision, particularly when it comes to convincing more of the public to get behind the venture and the financial support that will be required.

To come back to your point, its absolutely not so much about regular messaging, its the quality of that messaging has to change. Hopefully, as you say, this is the sign of things to come.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

You have a point of course but would appropriate messaging necessarily be wasted beyond times of media hype? There has to be a balance somehow, otherwise Cardiff Airport will continue to be stuck in a rut of public perception and as a symbol of wider governmental failure.

The media generally aren't interested unless there's a story. Previously stories were negatives, about money being spent, lack of flights, or the odd bit of disruption. More recently there's been a lot of media coverage of new routes, a more positive spin on money being spent, things to come etc. The narrative has change. The same happened around 2016/2017 when things were back on the up, and then around 2019 when things were doing well.

Outside of those times, CWL themselves seem to go under the radar and go quiet when things are stagnant. That may have been during the times when the marketing team were changed and less experienced. It was noticeable that when they did put things out during the stagnant times, the response from the public was often negative. Now responses are a lot more positive.

 

[CAN&I]

The media generally aren't interested unless there's a story. Previously stories were negatives, about money being spent, lack of flights, or the odd bit of disruption. More recently there's been a lot of media coverage of new routes, a more positive spin on money being spent, things to come etc. The narrative has change. The same happened around 2016/2017 when things were back on the up, and then around 2019 when things were doing well.

Outside of those times, CWL themselves seem to go under the radar and go quiet when things are stagnant. That may have been during the times when the marketing team were changed and less experienced. It was noticeable that when they did put things out during the stagnant times, the response from the public was often negative. Now responses are a lot more positive.

Couldn't agree more. Positive news doesn't gernerate the clicks and traffic as opposed to bad news as far as the media are concerned. As for public comment, there has been a notable shift from overwhelmingly bad, with the same mindless rhetoric and falsehoods repeated over and over, to a more 50-50 positive / negative balance. People seem to be more prepared to offer their support online today.

 

[Jerry]

Gething and Morgan at least tried to implement the next 10-year-plan and its only in the past year we've heard more about sustainable revenue streams besides passenger income.

The irony of that is that the work and support for this route was done under Labour and tbf to Drakefords government the airport wouldn't be open without the support they gave but it quite ironic it was a Plaid politician that gets the political credit at the launch event.

There tends to be a lot of media hype in the run up to new things happening, and CWL and the WG are certainly pushing more media activity. Otherwise its a wasted exercise. I do believe that there will be more to come soon.

The media surrounding the WestJet flight was pretty big lots of social media and as well regular media so they should get some good pr from it. It's noticeable that the media team were around the Saudia cargo flight so possible some social media from there.

Looked on WestJet website for what one stop options were available via Toronto from Cardiff. Some of the Caribbean destinations do have overnight layovers & Mexico City is with AeroMexico. They do serve destinations like Los Angeles & San Francisco but via Calgary & Vancouver.
Its worth remembering that Toronto is a secondary hub for WestJet Calgary is their biggest hub.


Also seen a post elsewhere about Canadian visitors praising the flight and its convenience compared to going to Heathrow.

 

[Jerry]

 

[Jarvo]

Don't suppose anyone has seen any of the GLA figures popping up anywhere? Would be interesting to compare the two relatively smaller and new routes from WestJet

 

[Jerry]

Don't suppose anyone has seen any of the GLA figures popping up anywhere? Would be interesting to compare the two relatively smaller and new routes from WestJet

Haven't seen any. Problem won't know until the CAA stats come out but also Glasgow started a week earlier.