Take-off for budget City flights
The Air Wales service to London will operate three times a day.
The first London to Wales air service for more than 35 years began on Monday.
The Air Wales flights from Swansea and Cardiff to go to London City Airport three times a day.
Passengers using the route will fly on two new 50-seater aircraft.
Some flights will cost as little as £19 plus tax, and flight times will be 80 minutes from Swansea and 55 minutes from Cardiff.
The last time a service operated between Cardiff and London was in 1967, when Cambrian Airways flew to London Heathrow Airport.
Swansea was last served in 1965 when Morton Air Services operated between Swansea Airport and Gatwick.
Air Wales chairman Roy Thomas bought Swansea Airport last November for an undisclosed sum.
The local property financier pledged to plough money into the airport and improve services.
At the time the service was announced, he said: “But we’re not just linking up capital with capital, we’re linking west Wales with London too, as the service will run between Swansea and London as well as Cardiff and London.
The company is promising comfort at budget prices
“As the only options of getting from Wales to London to date have either been via lengthy train rides or car journeys, we’re expecting a stampede for the service.
“Business travellers will be able to get to London and back in a morning or an afternoon and, even for people wanting a short-break in London, the chance of doing so using our low fare structure should prove an irresistible opportunity.”
Air Wales has already doubled its workforce at its operating base in Swansea Airport from 50 to 100 since Christmas and hopes to double the number again over the next 18 months.
Air Wales had hit the headlines last year by appealing for cabin crew under 5ft 3 inches – a height restriction it insists on because of tight space on the aircraft.
Two new planes were ordered by the airline to cope with the planned increase in flights to and from Swansea, Cardiff, and Plymouth Airports.
Air Wales has been operating for four years and has so far been flying from Swansea to Dublin, Cork and Jersey, and from Cardiff and Plymouth to Dublin and Cork.
—————————————————————————–
Nice to see a samll independant airline doing well!- unargubaly the welsh flag carrier?
By: EGNM - 6th May 2003 at 20:50
yea Brendon they’ll all be standard press releases – this was from the bbc website
By: brenmcc1 - 6th May 2003 at 17:49
yes and i live Aprox 30 mins from swansea airport 😀 and the person who left the first message im shure i have read all that on the swansea airport and airwales sites before lol.
bren
msn : [email]brenmcc1@hotmail.com[/email]
By: Saab 2000 - 30th April 2003 at 18:32
“It is nice to see small independent airlines making a go of things “
Comet, I totally agree with you. More emphasis should be put on the independent domestic carriers like Flybe., Eastern and Air Wales. They provide a very valuable service, which is reliable and regional, orientated so you can be dependent on them. Sadly in the days of low cost we seem to be loosing these impeccable airlines that were such a joy to fly. Says something about the UK aviation scene….
By: IKBrunel - 30th April 2003 at 10:55
Good luck to Air Wales 🙂
By: Comet - 30th April 2003 at 10:51
It is nice to see small independent airlines making a go of things – all too often these smaller carriers either go under or are swallowed up by bigger carriers like BA. Good luck to Air Wales, I really hope they are successful with their new routes. LCY is a good airport for a small airline to use, there is no real competition from big carriers. Look how successful VLM are on their LCY routes, FlyBe also use the airport and then there is Scotairways, they have several flights a day and seem to do well. Air Wales should do quite nicely there.
By: Saab 2000 - 29th April 2003 at 18:10
Considering the infrastructure around the area I think it will be a success. Just the minimum distance to support a flight.
Just to make the bottom clearer, Air Wales are operating Plymouth, Cardiff and Swansea to Jersey at a weekend.
By: Bhoy - 29th April 2003 at 16:56
yeah, well, it flies the 35 miles from Swnasea to Cardiff, stops to pick up pax there, then flies the 170 miles from Cardiff to London.
By: T5 - 29th April 2003 at 16:49
Good news and good prices too, seems to be quite a long flight time of 80 minutes from Swansea, it’s only just over twice as long by road.
Sign In
April 29, 2003 at 3:49 pm