Quote: “pity as it would have been my first trip there” – wouldn’t fret, you aren’t missing much – unless, of course, you have a burning desire to visit an airport firmly stuck in an 80s time warp with orange tails everywhere!

Its a crying shame because a little investment in the right places could make such a difference – BHD is space age in comparison!

Well at least it’s been updated – pity the timetable for CWL – BHD doesn’t show the full flight nos although the booking engine does – the return fares seem to be around £80 incl taxes etc – a casual check on WW’s from BFS don’t show any significant savings.

On the subject of CWL – BHD, despite Aer Arann assuring me by e-mail that their fares would be bookable from the beginning of this month, still nothing showing on their website – does anyone else suspect they will quietly drop this one before it even gets off the ground?

Had a look at some of the media reports today – mention is made of a new route from Belfast – anyone any ideas where that might be? – can’t really think of anywhere apart from LCY perhaps!! – would be good to get that one back at BHD since Flybe ditched it a couple of years back.

Well this morning has come and gone and, not surprisingly, CWL – BHD still not bookable! Mind you, Aer Arann said their fares on the same route would be bookable mid December and we’re still waiting!

This all seems very strange unless of course, reading between the lines, the BHD announcements are a precursor to closer co-operation between the two airlines. If you look at the business model of both, they are very similar – operating niche routes which traditional locos wouldn’t look twice at because they are looking for maximum yield for minimum outlay. In addition, both airlines operate a one type fleet, in both cases happen to be ATR42/72s. It is obvious that there will be a massive over capacity to BHD if both go ahead notwithstanding the WW service to BFS.

This will be Aer Aranns’ first venture into Air Wales’ main base directly competing with them on one route – does anyone else suspect what I do? – a merger or even a takeover on the cards! There definitely seems to be more to this than meets the eye.

I’ve had a quick look at Air Wales’s website today – despite saying that CWL – BHD would be bookable from midnight on Monday, guess what it isn’t! I’ve spoken to a couple of friends who work at BHD and they’ve heard nothing about it!

Perhaps it is a mistake after all – anyone know different?

It should also be remembered that Air Wales did operate CWL – BHD up until a couple of years ago when WW started from BFS – I suppose it will all come down to Air Wales frequency and timings from BHD – they have the opportunity to capitalise on WW’s 1X daily and offer 2X daily to attract the business “there and back same day” fraternity.

In any event, WW seem to have a somewhat disinterested attitude on this route – looks more as if they will be maximising aircraft utilisation rather than actively marketing the service – better to have an aircraft doing something rather than sitting at CWL for 2/3 hours.

All CWL/BFS/CWL flights are by Air Wales ATR42 operating on behalf of WW.