jonbvn wrote:Lewisbeecham wrote:August statistics are in:
11,568 passengers used the Qatar route. That's an average of 187 per flight (74.8%).
Is that % sustainable? I certainly hope so, since IMHO this route has put Cardiff on the world map. It is also proving a very convenient route for me.
There's no way of really telling. Birmingham in August was around 80%. Figure wise, I'd say it's healthy. But it's impossible to know the yield, basically it depends on how many people are spending money of full Y farw economy tickets and buisness class seats. We already know the cargo is doing well. Id say it's safe, especially since these statistics are for the 4th month of operation. For a airport that goes nowhere having almost 12,000 passengers pass it's doors to go to Doha and beyond to Austrailia, Thailand, Japan, China etc .. it's pretty good.
As Ash states, I do think the team at Cardiff Airport and Welsh Government deserve credit for turning it around and putting it on the right track. Even the Tories have come out and said they deserve credit.
It's interesting that now Welsh Government, Labour, Tories and Plaid are all lobbying for devolution of Air Passenger Duty, this will be the main game changer. Interestingly they are now open to only having it devolved for long haul routes.
I used the Air France code share yesterday and flew from Tokyo to Cardiff via Paris. Paris flight was full and it was interesting to see a third of the plane were international students (I assume). Mixture of Chinese, American and one guy from Samoa.