Cardiff Airport has made up passenger numbers lost as a result of Wizz Air pulling its base after just one summer season, while saying it stands ready to go as soon as Qatar Airways gives the green light to recommence its scheduled route to Qatar.
Wizz Air, which initially said it intended to recommence its base at the Welsh Government-owned airport for the current summer season - having mothballed it during the winter after its inaugural summer season last year - pulled out in January.
However, with other airlines increasing their capacity, including KLM and Ryanair, the airport was able to backfill the 13% contribution that Wizz Air made to its 54,000 passenger number in April last year in April this year. For the rolling year from April 2022 to March 2023,the airport handled 910,000 passengers. This means it is currently at around 60% recovered on its pre-Covid annualised figure of 1.6 million. As part of a five year recovery plan it is targeting getting back to its pre-pandemic level in 2026.
Having launched the first scheduled route from Cardiff to the Middle East, with a daily service to the hub airport of Hamad International in Doha, Qatar Airways suspended the service at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Next month Qatar Airways will recommence its Birmingham to Doha service, leaving Cardiff its only UK route yet to reboot. The airline’s chief executive Akbar Al Baker recently held talks with Vale of Glamorgan MP Alun Cairns and UK Government Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kemi Badenoch, where he reaffirmed the position of seeking to restart the Cardiff route.
Whether that is in December this year or in the airline’s current financial year up to next summer, Cardiff Airport chief executive Spencer Birns said it is ready to go as soon as a restarting date is communicated. He added: “I can confirm we are still in detailed discussions with Qatar Airways about how soon they can resume their services to Cardiff Airport. We are excited in anticipation that we are likely to hear about their planned start dates soon.”
What is not known is the type of aircraft Qatar Airways would deploy on a recommended route. Pre-pandemic it used a Dreamliner aircraft with capacity for just over 250 passengers with 10 tonnes for freight. It could potentially restart with around three to four flights a week before building back up to a daily service. In the year prior to Covid - March 2019 to February 2020 - the route handled 94,000 passengers.
Encouragingly for its UK originating passengers, some 18% were from England — a much higher contribution than for all flights from the airport (around 4%). Moreover, 25% of passengers who travelled specifically between Qatar and Wales were travelling for business purposes.
Europe’s biggest airline of passengers, Ryanair, has ordered 300 aircraft from Boeing in a £32bn investment which will double its capacity over the next decade. While the airline currently has a relatively small but recently growing number of routes from Cardiff, Mr Birns is cognisant of the Dublin-based airline’s expansion potential.
He added: “We are absolutely talking to Ryanair about them increasing their presence at Cardiff. There is a positive story here in that when Wizz Air pulled out it was not the end of the world and we have back filled that capacity. So, it shows that if one airline goes there are opportunities all year round for others. Our commercial partners are also investing in the airport, like our catering company with investment to also improve the duty free area. Our partners wouldn’t be investing if there wasn’t a business case for it, underpinned by increasing passenger footfall and a positive outlook.”
In line with all UK airports with passengers in 2019 exceeding one million, Cardiff Airport is also investing significantly in a new security system which at the front end will see passengers being able to put liquids and laptops into their luggage without having to take them out at security screening. Legally the new system has to be operational by next June, but the airport is hoping it can be in place in the spring.
Last month a daily service from Cardiff to Paris-Orly was launched by Eastern Airways in partnership with Air France. A previous route between the two capital cities was operated by Vueling, which continues to offer a number of destinations to and from the Rhoose-based airport.
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