Lufthansa

[TheLocalYokel]

Cardiff-Dusseldorf

It's been announced that Lufthansa will operate a seasonal route using Eurowings CRJ 900 aircraft in summer 2013.

The service will operate on Saturdays from May till September.

It's aimed at German tourists visiting Wales and seems to be predicated on the success of similar LH summer routes for inbound tourism to both Newquay and Inverness, both of which have been running since 2008/2009.

It's very good news for CWL. The past few weeks have seen several fillips for an airport that's been struggling for several years.

 

[Em0866]

This is good news, and even though this has not been announced by the airport yet, it will be I am sure. CWL had flights to DUS many years ago when Manx had a hub at CWL. These routes were eventually taken over by BA, although the DUS route only lasted for a year or two on a J31/J41.

I wonder if there is any more good news on the way?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I wonder if there is any more good news on the way?

One or two hints there might be but I don't know the quality of the sources so it might just be people indulging in wishful thinking or saying things for the sake of it.

It looks as though this is intended as a leisure route, mainly for German tourists visiting Wales which is obviously a good thing for the economy in the Principality; one rotation per week is not really conducive to business travel.

Newquay has had a summer Saturday service from DUS with LH since 2008. In summer 2012 an additional rotation was added on Wednesdays for the peak summer period (end July-Sept).

Flybe also operates a Saturday route to DUS in summer from Exeter.

If the CWL route goes as well as the NQY one the airline might expand it as they did at NQY.

 

[Em0866]

I think, for now, what we have seen is a big improvement and it is a start and a chance for the airport to build on this after S13. I am aware of the success of the German route with NQY since 2008. There is a market for inward tourism and South Wales has a lot to offer the tourist in and around Cardiff, Brecon Beacons National Park, Swansea and the Gower Peninsular, and beyond to Pembrokeshire where there is so much to see. We shall see how this goes, but there must be a market for this route given that it is to run weekly from the beginning of May

 

[TheLocalYokel]

We shall see how this goes, but there must be a market for this route given that it is to run weekly from the beginning of May

It will probably rely mainly on inbound German tourists so let's hope there are enough of them. Marketing will be extremely important though I believe a German tour company has block-booked a number of seats (not sure how many) on each flight.

Because this is just 1 x weekly I wonder how many Wales-originating passengers will use it.

Helvetic was well supported by Swiss passengers coming into Wales but relatively ignored by people from Wales going the other way. Had they come out in similar numbers to the Swiss it seems pretty certain that the route would not have been withdrawn from CWL this winter.

 

[Aviador]

Once weekly? It sounds more like a charter operation.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Once weekly? It sounds more like a charter operation.

In a sense I suppose it is.

The LH NQY-DUS was shown in CAA stats as a scheduled route for the first two years, then a charter route for the next two, and back to scheduled this year.

The corresponding Inverness-DUS has always been listed as a scheduled route in the CAA stats.

I suppose the actual status of the route is not important if the majority of passengers are inbound German tourists, many of whom will have booked with a tour company.

The route does not yet appear on the LH booking website and long haul LH connections from DUS are extremely limited in number.

 

[Aviador]

It sounds like a niche market for the Germans. Although not at the Welsh airport, the number of German tourists visiting the UK through Leeds Bradford airport always amazes me. The Germans seem to really like coming to the UK so I personally think the route will do really well.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-sout ... s-30050861

The LH CWL-DUS route that Germanwings has operated on summer Saturdays for the past two years will not feature next summer.

 

[Em0866]

Hi there Local. I am not really surprised that this route has been axed as it was mostly aimed at German tourists coming into Wales. A once a week service does not work for business customers and I suspect they would rather fly into Bristol, Birmingham or Heathrow which have more regular connections. Although the airport say they are in discussions with airlines about German routes, they really need to work a lot harder. Getting the airlines to CWL is one thing, but getting bums on seats is another.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Hi there Local. I am not really surprised that this route has been axed as it was mostly aimed at German tourists coming into Wales. A once a week service does not work for business customers and I suspect they would rather fly into Bristol, Birmingham or Heathrow which have more regular connections. Although the airport say they are in discussions with airlines about German routes, they really need to work a lot harder. Getting the airlines to CWL is one thing, but getting bums on seats is another.

Hello there again, E m.

I wonder that if to some extent the CWL-DUS route is a casualty of the LH fleet reorganisation. They are also implementing huge cost-cutting plans which can't have helped. In 2009 when SAS were having major financial problems they axed numerous routes that had seemingly been doing well loads-wise including the summer-only Bristol to Oslo and Stockholm, the latter of which made a return in summer 2014.

I'm not sure that the comment from Spencer Birns, CWL's routes man, at the end of last week about the reports of the loss of the DUS route being misleading are anything but spin that airport spokespeople love to impart. He speaks of being in talks with airlines including Germanwings regarding German routes. I have no doubt this is true in the same way that he's almost certainly been talking to airlines about flying to other countries.

Links Air appears to be suggesting more routes from CWL but its statement is somewhat ambiguous. If more do appear that will obviously be a positive step for the airport although 19-seat aircraft have limited potential in terms of routes. However, if some did start and were successful (and 19 seats is not a huge total to fill even if fares were fairly high) Links Air is already talking about sourcing larger aircraft in the future. I'd be extremely surprised if Germany featured though.

You are right about frequencies. The Germanwings Saturday-only summer service was of no use except to leisure travellers and the passenger numbers, especially in August, showed it was quite well supported. The trick will be to find an airline with the right-sized aircraft to operate at least daily on weekdays and Sundays to one or two important German cities.It might not be that easy to accomplish.

 

[Em0866]

I have to admit I find some of the comments made on another forum who seem to be putting the blame on Welsh Government. It is natural, I think, to point a finger at the owners of CWL, however, if certain routes are not working from CWL then it is just the wrong route to have from there.

As you say, LH are probably cutting back due to their fleet reorganisation...as well as a few other reasons I suspect (I don't think that is just one reason imho).

The recent press releases are a bit vague to say the least, but all will be revealed in due course.

With regards to the other forum, I find some of the comments quite negative. It begs the question though, had the Welsh Government not bought the airport from the previous Spanish owner, what would have happened to CWL?? Sorry, rant over 🙂

 

[TheLocalYokel]

With regards to the other forum, I find some of the comments quite negative. It begs the question though, had the Welsh Government not bought the airport from the previous Spanish owner, what would have happened to CWL?? Sorry, rant over 🙂

It's all become very political with the Conservatives in Wales blaming the current lack of real progress at the airport on nationalisation yet, as you point out, was there a serious alternative?

The First Minister suggested when privatisation plans were first made public that there was a danger of closure had the government not stepped in but then went on to say that he was confident that a private sector partner could be found to bear any financial risk.

It now seems the government is content to wholly own the airport for the foreseeable future whilst they attempt to turn around its fortunes. I have a feeling that the upturn of last year will return perhaps as soon as 2015.

 

[Em0866]

Of course, bringing politics into it is something that cannot be avoided. Had the First Minister not gone ahead with purchasing the airport, the Conservatives would have been asking why the WG had not bought the airport. You know how politics works.

I am more than sure that both parties are working together to get more flights and new destinations, but it will not be easy to win some pax from BRS. I have just come back from Malaga for a few days, and went with EZY from BRS instead of Vueling as the timings of the return flight was better. I know this is going off the point of this thread to some degree, but I think the airport when discussing with airlines on possible routes should consider (if it is possible) to look at not just which desitnations but to get the best flights times. The CWL-BCN is a good example of bad timings for just 2 flights a week. Monday and Friday would be so much better.