- Posts: 444
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2017 10:44 am
Qatar need to sort out their airspace issues in the gulf. And naturally it's a new route, and it's not a route to Spain, it needs time to mature. People aren't immediately thinking to look at Cardiff when booking trips the Middle East, Asia, Australia etc. Although the marketing has been great people are still learning about this route, and you don't exactly book to fly next week typically long haul. Cardiff for a few years has suffered with that reputation of being expensive and flying to nowhere. Neither are true if you have the right dates and the right destination. Qatar has some fantastic offers but some are being overlooked by the airports reputation. The culture of that is slowly turning around, but it's going to take time and marketing money.
The passenger numbers are not the most important factor for the airline, but it is the most important factor for the airport. The airline is after a healthy yield, which is achievable from the cargo and buisness class passengers. But the airport needs healthy passenger numbers to sell to future airlines and to possible investors.
The cargo is busy on these flights, the first flight I was on was at capacity with cargo. And as we were told, Qatar are in this for the long haul and plan on building a warehouse at the airport to manage the cargo. This route isn't going anywhere right now.
But at the end of the day, Qatar are a business who need to make money. If planes of low PAX are happening two years from now, it doesn't spell good for the routes existence. I'm pretty positive it will be successful in the long run.
The passenger numbers are not the most important factor for the airline, but it is the most important factor for the airport. The airline is after a healthy yield, which is achievable from the cargo and buisness class passengers. But the airport needs healthy passenger numbers to sell to future airlines and to possible investors.
The cargo is busy on these flights, the first flight I was on was at capacity with cargo. And as we were told, Qatar are in this for the long haul and plan on building a warehouse at the airport to manage the cargo. This route isn't going anywhere right now.
But at the end of the day, Qatar are a business who need to make money. If planes of low PAX are happening two years from now, it doesn't spell good for the routes existence. I'm pretty positive it will be successful in the long run.