Cardiff airport

I don't know if I'd call it a PR coup exactly.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/b ... le-9280018

I see that Cardiff Airport has finally broken through the 1 million passenger barrier!

Last time it was below a 1m Pax was back in1994.

CAA May 2015 rolling year Estimates:

CARDIFF WALES PAX 998623 -8% on last year.

BRISTOL PAX 6451800 +3%

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data_prov/201505/May_2015_Provisional_Airport_Statistics.pdf

Used Flybe for a short break to Paris on the weekend.

Overall I was impressed with their service, it is better than the traditional budget carriers but not as good as the traditional legacy carriers. Something in the middle. Check in was easy printing out boarding cards etc before you leave, flight on time. Return leg we were able to use the Air France automatic checkin stations at Charles De Gaulle (CDG) and found that Flybe use the very modern Terminal 2E where the A380s go from. This certainly beats the usually shitty terminals you get with Ryanair and Easyjet.

We flew out on Friday afternoon and the flight was almost full, perhaps 8-10 seats empty. However on the return leg on Monday afternoon the plane was barely a quarter full, which does not bode well for them maintaining a daily service to Paris. Hopefully the fuller flights closer to the weekend will make it viable for them.

In terms of using Cardiff Airport..hmm good and bad. They have clearly spruced things up inside, the duty free section now looks like any modern airport but the food and bar offering was amateur to say the least and you can't get away from the fact it is still a very tired building (reminded me of the high school I used to go to). We used the carparking onsite which was automated reading my registration automatically on the way in and out which worked well, but there was no sign of anyone to ask questions to should the technology have gone wrong. We also faced a fairly long walk to the terminal as the shuttle bus didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. There was also loads of building materials and rubbish left all over the place in the car park.

As for convenience it was brilliant, as within 1.5 hours of leaving Paris I was in my house. Makes a big difference to travelling from Bristol or the London Airports. I will definitely consider using Cardiff to get to CDG and transfer from there, even if it is a bit more expensive. Would rather spend a few hours relaxing in CDG than on the road travelling to London.

Don't get me wrong I am not against CWL
I have flown from there many times, long haul via AMS. The C class lounge with only 3 or 4 people in it is great!
Best thing is when you arrive back you are (for me) 20mins drive home.
But, airports should not be a peaceful refuge. keep busy or die.

BSL now has the destinations and that's never going to change.

The assembly should bite the bullet and merge with BSL rename it South Wales/West of England Airport Hub (Shirley Bassey meets Brunel Airport)
Pay for better M5 access to BSL out of WAG funds (like the way ROI pay for roads in NI with strategic ROI interest)

This region ain't big enough for the both of us. aka sparks...

Flights to Munich plus 22 extra Cardiff Airport journeys - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-sout ... s-34073128

Flights to Munich. Fair play let's have some of that.

Yep, it will be very handy for me for work trips and will save me using other airports.

I like the fact that there's a flight each day of the week in particular, that's been the problem for me with other destinations at the airport previously. I don't want to have to arrange a couple of days working in another country around the fact that there's just one flight out a week when I can just use Bristol.

More of this please !

We are at last beginning to see something approaching usable and useful services to some places.

Also added

Cork - boosting the current Saturday service with a second weekly flight on Tuesdays
Dublin – increase to double daily flights Monday – Friday timed for convenient day returns, and addition of an early
morning flight on Saturdays
Dusseldorf - an extra three flights a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to boost the existing Saturday
service
Edinburgh – increase to twice daily service Monday – Friday, and Sundays
Glasgow – now operating five flights a week Monday – Thursday, and Sundays
Milan Malpensa – Increase to three flights a week with addition of Thursdays and Sundays
Paris Charles de Gaulle - new daily service, up from existing four flights a week.

These are very credible improvments. There's a long way to go but well done.

Before everyone gets carried away with the good news....
I tried to book a flight from Cardiff to Munich in early December.

I can't understand flights out every day but back only 3 flights a week?

So the weekend return from Munich would be at 10:20 am on Saturday!
Ok so out Thursday and Back Saturday, Both stupid timings 1 full day in Munich
extra legroom nice and hold baggage fine, how MUCH £791 I could get a taxi to Munich!

Cardiff ‭(CWL)‬ to Munich ‭(MUC)‬
Thursday 03 December 2015
Depart 16:10 Arrive 22:30

£ 555.57
Munich ‭(MUC)‬ to Cardiff ‭(CWL)‬
Saturday 05 December 2015
Depart 10:20 Arrive 11:25

£ 236.37
TOTAL£ 791.94
CONTINUE
(maybe Not)

Those prices are for 'all in fares' which as well as hold luggage and extra legroom include such things as executive lounge access, fast track security and complimentary food and drink. And you expect that to come cheap?! By and large the basic fares seem very reasonable, and if you want hold luggage you can add that individually, without having to hit one of the more extravagant fare types. If I was a cynical person (which of course I am not), I might suggest you've just hunted out the most expensive fares possible so you can find a way to indulge in some good old-fashioned CWL-bashing, rather than admitting that this is actually some good news for a change.

Also, flights in December are (currently) on 3 days a week in both directions. One of your selections is via Paris CDG.

That is shocking! There is no reason for that cost apart from not wanting it to work. They must have been blackmailed into running the service, so they thought "f**k you then".

DID NOT SEE THE ABOVE REPLY BEFORE MINE