Air Wales will cease operating all scheduled flights next month with the loss of 80 jobs at CWL. The airline blamed “spiralling costs” and “agressive competition from low cost airlines”. It will now reposition itself as a charter and freight airline. This is a huge blow and a big shame. I feel for the workers who have lost their jobs. I guess it’s been on the cards for a while now, but I never thought that they’d actually go under. Well, I know they havn’t gone under as a business, but they are effectively starting from the scratch in a completly different market, so its as good as. I only hope this grabs the attention of Aer Arann, Air Southwest, Eastern & SN to come in and take over the routes to DUB, ORK, NCL, JER & BRU. A black day for Welsh aviation. I expect this will seriously impact on CWLs pax figures this year unless airlines come in and take over with immediate effect. Its possible- when CitiExpress left bmibaby immediately took over the CDG service. Lets hope for a repeat.
By: philgatwick05 - 25th March 2006 at 14:37
Thanks guys – I guess it’s poor reputation couldn’t have been good for business then!
By: bmi-star - 25th March 2006 at 14:02
Was known in North Wales for its poor reputation @ LPL 🙁
By: Spence_CWL - 25th March 2006 at 13:43
Well, certainly in South Wales it was fairly well known, but mostly for it’s delays and ridiculous schedules. Business’ complained about the useless schedules and gave up using the few useful flights becuase they couldn’t trust to get to their destination on time. Leisure travellers had the same issues, but also didn’t really know what routes the airline served, only that their was an airline called Air Wales. Some also had the image that Air Wales still used tiny 19 seater planes, which put them off flying with them. North Wales I’m not sure about, but recognitions probably low seeing as they don’y fly there, and in mid Wales its non existent. At the north had the possibilty that 6G would fly ther, wheres nid didnt.
By: philgatwick05 - 25th March 2006 at 13:34
How well was Air Wales known within Wales?
By: Spence_CWL - 25th March 2006 at 13:31
The aim is that redununcies will be minimal- nearly all cabin crew and airport based staff willl find work with the 3 airlines taking over the routes. The relatively small number of workers who arn’t going to be taken on by the 3 airlines are those in admin/management.
By: LGKR - 24th March 2006 at 18:48
As an ex employee of Air Wales todays news was very sad if not unexpected.
Speaking to ex-collegues, ALL flying will cease from the 23rd April , and all of the ATR’s will be returned to their lessors.
No freight or charter work to be carried out. That apparently is just a smokescreen to lessen the blow. 🙁
sorry to hear it, i was in a similar boat two years back just stay positive and hopefully one of the airlines in question in terms of taking over the new routes will have something going at CWL for most of you.
LGKR
By: PlymouthCity - 24th March 2006 at 17:56
Has all of there routes being taken on by other airlines or are the others like EXT and NQY just gonna dissapear?
By: bmi-star - 24th March 2006 at 16:52
Quite a bit of coverage of the collapse here in Wales. Daily Post have a large article on it, whilst Wales Today on BBC1 had a long article on it this lunchtime!
Viewed as a large loss of national identity here 🙁
By: wozza - 24th March 2006 at 16:48
You’ve lost me here. Are you saying WOW have axed NWI-BRS?
As for Air Wales at Norwich, they left when BE announced NWI-DUB I think
No, re-reading it it is a typo, they’re not axing it, sorry.
I doubt it will be re-instated by anyone but is there any chance of it what so ever?
By: Red Dragon - 23rd March 2006 at 22:55
As an ex employee of Air Wales todays news was very sad if not unexpected.
Speaking to ex-collegues, ALL flying will cease from the 23rd April , and all of the ATR’s will be returned to their lessors.
No freight or charter work to be carried out. That apparently is just a smokescreen to lessen the blow. 🙁
By: Humberside - 23rd March 2006 at 21:25
Was wondering, how many ATRs are they keeping and how did the Norwich route go, with WOW not flying to Bristol is their any chance of it being re-instated?
You’ve lost me here. Are you saying WOW have axed NWI-BRS?
As for Air Wales at Norwich, they left when BE announced NWI-DUB I think
By: wozza - 23rd March 2006 at 19:32
I reckon its Cardiff’s luck day, sure it will be a shame to see the airline and its ATRs in a stunning scheme almost dissappear (this pic is brill http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1021767&WxsIERv=NGE%20NGE-42-300&Wm=1&WdsYXMg=Nve%20Jnyrf&QtODMg=Oehffryf%20-%20Angvbany%20%28Mniragrz%29%20%2F%20Zryfoebrx%20%28OEH%20%2F%20ROOE%20%2F%20ROZO%29&ERDLTkt=Orytvhz&ktODMp=Znepu%2014%2C%202006&BP=1&WNEb25u=Avx%20Qroynhjr&xsIERvdWdsY=T-XAAL&MgTUQtODMgKE=Avpr%20gb%20frr%20gur%20%27Erq%20Qentba%27%20ntnva%20ng%20OEH%21&YXMgTUQtODMgKERD=124&NEb25uZWxs=2006-03-23%2013%3A20%3A03&ODJ9dvCE=&O89Dcjdg=346&static=yes&width=1198&height=810&sok=JURER%20%20%28nveyvar%20YVXR%20%27Nve%20Jnyrf%25%27%29%20%20beqre%20ol%20cubgb_vq%20QRFP&photo_nr=1&prev_id=&next_id=1018177&size=L) however know with no monopolistic carrier competition will be rife with low prices and all carriers on their toes trying to stay ahead, as previously mentioned I reckon passenger numbers will go up and to get one over on competitors we will see a number of new routs introduced in the future.
Was wondering, how many ATRs are they keeping and how did the Norwich route go, with WOW not flying to Bristol is their any chance of it being re-instated?
By: Spence_CWL - 23rd March 2006 at 18:55
Just seen Wales Today (BBC Wales news). Air Wales ending scheduled ops was one of the main stories. They had aviation experts, and said the reason behind 6Gs troubles was that it never advertised in it’s 6 year history, so quite simply hardly anyone knew about it. They also didn’t use travel agents, they relied only on the call centre and website, which apparently can only be done if you are a large carrier which 6G isn’t. And they didn’t offer any extras to business travellers, and their timings & frequencies were often not suited to anyone. They were also criticised for their eratic changing of routes. And heres the staggering thing; Roy Thomas, the chairman, in total invested £30million into Air Wales, none of which was spent on advertising, apart from a brief sponsorship deal with the Ospreys.
By: Spence_CWL - 23rd March 2006 at 18:47
I doubt EXT-ORK will be taken over directly by another carrier to start operations on the 24th. It was an isolated service within 6Gs network, and I don’t think anyone knew about it. It’ll probably be started by an airline fairly soon, but not as immediate as the services from CWL. Talking of CWL, I don’t think anyone will step up to the plate and servcie JER either. With babys 737 service I think thats enough capacity, and scales of economy will mean baby will undercut any smaller rivals and their advertising presence in Cardiff is massive. The natural choice would be Aurigny, but I don’t think they’ll bother. You never know, if Air Wales is becoming charter, baby might increase the frequency but charter Air Wales’ ATRs to operate it. As for NQY-ORK its obviously going to be WOW.
By: PlymouthCity - 23rd March 2006 at 17:07
Does anyone know the fate of the other routes that have not been taking on by other airlines yet;
EXETER-CORK
NEWQUAY-CORK
CARDIFF-JERSEY
By: caaardiff - 23rd March 2006 at 17:05
Great news! Is a baby 737 viable on the Jersey route though??
By: PeterP - 23rd March 2006 at 17:00
A sad day. They tried really hard.
Aer Arann and Eastern have announced ORK, NCL and BRU. Ryanair is still on DUB, bmibaby on JER. Eastern is adding ABZ. baby has already announced 737s on Glasgow and Belfast. So pax figures might actually go up.
By: allmcc - 23rd March 2006 at 16:59
Fingers crossed someone will step in and start CWL – BHD!
By: philgatwick05 - 23rd March 2006 at 16:42
Bad news – but at least the “reputable” operators have stepped in.
By: Spence_CWL - 23rd March 2006 at 16:38
ALL IS NOT LOST!!!!
It seems the airline has been preparing for this for some time. CWL-MAN & NQY were going to be operated by Air Wales initially, but when they realised things were going **** up they agreed to give it to WOW. Also, it’s already been agreed that:
CWL-ORK goes to Aer Arann
CWL-NCL, ABZ & BRU goes to Eastern
and then of course WOW already have the planned MAN & NQY services. More routes from other airlines are set to be announced shortly. At least they have prepared for this, so job losses will be minimal and the services will remain. All of a sudden things seem a little brighter. Theres is also this BBC article I read below:
Airline to end scheduled flights
Air Wales will cease flights on 23 April
Air Wales has announced it is to stop running scheduled passenger flights from next month.
Up to 80 jobs will be lost as the Cardiff International Airport-based company moves to charter flights and freight transport only.
It blamed the move on “spiralling costs” and “aggressive competition” from larger low-cost airlines.
Three airlines are expected to take over routes to destinations including Aberdeen, Cork and Manchester.
The news came as ferry operator Stena Line announced it was cutting sailings between Holyhead and Ireland, also blaming budget airlines and rising fuel costs.
In a statement, Air Wales said it was becoming “increasingly impossible for independent regional airlines such as Air Wales to operate profitably without substantial subsidy”.
Air Wales currently flies to 10 destinations from Cardiff and a number of others from bases in France, Manchester and Ireland.
The company is holding discussions with other carriers over handing on its routes to them.
Three have been announced already, with Aer Arann flying Cardiff to Cork, Eastern Airlines taking over Brussels, Aberdeen and Newcastle services and Air Southwest flying to Manchester and Newquay.
Increased costs and high competition in the market place have made it virtually impossible to exist as a passenger focused airline
Roy Thomas, Air Wales chairman
Just last month, it re-launched the service linking Cardiff with Brussels, with Welsh assembly government support.
An assembly government source said the money was awarded to the airport rather than the airline, so it had not been lost but would need to be taken over by another airline.
It is also hoped that staff losing their jobs will be offered posts with the companies taking over the routes.
Air Wales chairman Roy Thomas said they had made the decision “with sadness and regret”.
‘Red herring’
“Increased costs and high competition in the market place have made it virtually impossible to exist as a passenger focused airline,” he said.
“Without the vast economies of scale required to sustain and successfully compete in the passenger airline business today, it has become clear that Air Wales now needs to centre on charter and freight services to continue operating in the airline industry.”
WHERE FLIGHTS ARE SWITCHING
Aer Arann – six flights a week, Cardiff to Cork, from 24 April
Air Southwest – twice-daily Cardiff to Manchester, Cardiff to Newquay, from 10 April
Eastern Airlines – Cardiff to Aberdeen, Cardiff to Brussels, Cardiff to Newcastle, from 24 April
Source: Cardiff International Airport
He added all passengers booked with the airline after 23 April would get a full refund and help finding alternative flights.
The airline began operating in November 1999, flying from Cardiff International Airport and Pembrey in west Wales to London, before expanding to Cork and other routes.
Cardiff International Airport’s managing director Jon Horne said: “We are sad to learn that Air Wales is to cease scheduled operations and hope that the impact on jobs can be minimised.
“Meanwhile, other airlines are preparing to announce scheduled operations from Cardiff International on routes that Air Wales will be giving up.”
The announcement of the end of scheduled services came hours after Stena Line ferries announced it was cutting back fast ferry services between Holyhead and Dun Laoghaire, near Dublin.
Dr Anthony Beresford, a lecturer in transport in the Cardiff Business School said the ferry companies faced long winters and “peaky” sailing times.
He said: “Fuel costs are high yes, but they would be better off running smaller ships. The problem they’ve got is that they have very large vessels which are very thirsty to run.
“The impact of this is that if you cut the frequency, it is directly going to tend to push jobs into the part-time and informal sector”.
Dr Beresford said the rising cost of fuel being blamed for the airline cuts was “quite frankly a red herring because other airlines are experiencing the same problem”.
He added: “Yes, there is competition from other airlines, but the main competition budget airlines face [within the UK] is from people driving to their destination.”
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March 23, 2006 at 4:17 pm