celtic_warrior

Just to clarify, it's either Cawl or Soup. Food offerings at the lounge are sparse. Enjoy your trip.

IAN-UK

i was looking forward to at last trying laver bread

But maybe it'll be offered on board as an effort to theme the Qatar Doha connection .....

celtic_warrior

I will be interested to see what you make of the lounge and it's offerings. IMO by offering some sandwiches and maybe a veggie pasta dish, their low bar could be raised to acceptable.

bmibaby737

I would agree about getting the airport express bus from Cardiff, but if you're going to get the train, change at Cardiff Central otherwise you'll be backtracking. The Bus from the train station to the terminal, costs £1 and is more than adequate ( there is virtually no traffic on the route it uses and is very hassle free) , it will be waiting to pick you up from the railway station (which is just a slab of concrete).

Just out of interest, where are you heading?

Ben_W

I flew DOH-CWL on July 17th and I would say the flight was only about 60% full but I returned last Wednesday (14th Aug) and it was pretty much a full flight (Probably 95%).
I've noticed that prices from CWL are cheaper than from LHR which would certainly persuade those living in between. Especially with the ease of parking (and cheaper parking too I guess?) Of course, those who want the premium experience will still travel to London. In fact, I would say prices from the UK are cheaper than they used to be. Whilst those of use flying from DOH have never had it so expensive!

As for the train, its only one train an hour and there is one bus an hour from the airport to the station. I missed the bus by about five minutes so I got an Uber to the station. As I got out of the car the level crossing went down as the train was pulling into the opposite platform (where I wanted to go!) Luckily it opened as soon as the train passed so I was able to leg it across the road, up the platform and onto the train with about 5 seconds to spare! If I had missed it I probably would have just spent the £30 or so it would have cost to get an Uber to Bridged where I would have then got a train to Swansea.

Rogerpt

The big fault with Cardiff is the dreadful lounge for business class in Cardiff, Qatar are by far the best airline for business class.
.I have flown them from Cardiff several times in business and pray they stay with us

celtic_warrior

Sorry, I only just read this. This time Muscat. I usually fly to Bangkok.

celtic_warrior

Totally agree re the lounge. As it stands, if I was paying for a business class flight with Qatar from the UK, I would definitely opt for Heathrow.

TravelDream

July's figures are out.

10,558 passengers used the route in July which is up 4% on last year. That means an average of 170 on each flight or a LF of 67%. Reasonable loads, but the growth from last year is quite poor. Birmingham's figures aren't out yet, but EDI grew 36% and MAN 48% compared to last July. At least the figures are positive though.

Cardiff itself grew 8.3% compared to last year. I'm still surprised to see the AMS route with KLM go from strength to strength. It's up 8% on last year with 14,058 passengers or 79 on each flight meaning a LF of 89%. I really thought QR would suck away lots of passengers from KLM. It's good for CWL that this isn't the case.

celtic_warrior

Well my flight out on the 24th August was maybe 60% full but my return yesterday was totally full. 28 of us in J ( a few op ups as economy was full).

Service on the 24th was dire( the worst on any QR flight I have ever had) yesterday's flight was good but I have had way better.

TravelDream

Just a quick update as Birmingham have finally released their figures. I like to compare as both routes have a very similar schedule and the same seat capacity.

So, Birmingham and Cardiff both operated daily on a 787-8 in July - though the Birmingham route has been running for a number of years and Cardiff just began last year.

As I said above, CWL saw a load factor of 67% and growth was 4% on last year.

Birmingham's figures are 196 per flight and a LF of 77%. Quite a bit better than CWL, though it was a fall of 1% compared the CWL's growth of 4%.

Actually, QR must be really struggling at BHX if they are falling behind when routes like EDI have grown dramatically. Do note though they compete against two Emirates A380 and two Etihad 787s each day

Shuttle_Endeavour

It’s an interesting situation, as load factor is one element, but we have no idea on yield, or success of cargo on the route. As a local to Cardiff airport I am always on the look out for good fares, and I note that QR do not feel the need to cut fares significantly on flights from Cardiff, they always are comparable to London originating prices.

DYKWIA

I don't believe EY fly from BHX?

TravelDream

You're right. I was thinking of Manchester.

They do however compete with two Airbus A380s from Emirates.

TravelDream

August's figures are out and it's been a reasonable, if not good, month for CWL.

In total, 11,714 passengers sued the route in August 2019. That makes an average of 189 passengers per flight and a load factor of 74%. Birmingham, by comparison, had a LF of 83%.

You might remember that in August 2018, figures were 11,568 in total which made it 187 passengers per flight and a load factor also of 74%. Birmingham's LF in 2018 was 79%.

Actually, growth at Cardiff has been anemic in comparison to other routes from Doha to the UK. CWL grew 1.2%, Birmingham 5%, Heathrow 6%, Manchester and Edinburgh over 30% and Gatwick 57%.

So it's not great, but not terrible either.

It does tell us little about profitability though. Gatwick is almost always the cheapest departure point from the UK so the growth there is unsurprising.