A Welsh good news story told as bad by the media – FFS

Did you know that the 2014 NATO Summit is being hosted by Wales at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport Wales ?

That’s two mentions of Wales in the opening sentence – tidylike.

 Anyway, the point is that, the NATO summit is fantastic news for Wales. A chance for us to showcase ourselves to the world. A chance to showcase our culture, our history, our cuisine, our castles, our fantastic landscapes, our scenery, our creativity in fact everything that is great about Wales to the rest of the world.

 Yup On 4 to 5 September 2014, Wales will host the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place in Britain as the UK hosts the NATO summit. President Obama, Chancellor Merkel, and President Hollande are expected to attend along with leaders and senior ministers from around 60 other countries.

 This is what the UK Prime Minister had to say about it:

“It’s a great moment for Wales to advertise its modern and economically brilliant face to the world. We are going to have up to 60 world leaders coming to Wales for this vitally important NATO conference, so I think it’s a very good moment for Wales to put its best foot forward”

(Source) https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/nato-summit-wales-cymru-2014/about

Good news you'd think ?

Not according to the front page of at least one of the local papers – who decided to focus on the upheaval, disruption, security fences and school closures.

You know what, we really do wonder if next time Derek the weatherman forecasts some light showers it will be portrayed by the press as an imminent typhoon about to hit the green, green grass of home.

 FFS

Por favor Vueling, you are missing an oportunity

Don't know about you but when we went on weekend city breaks BC (before Children) we'd either come back on a Sunday evening or a Monday.

Back in 2012 when it was announced that Vueling would start flying from Cardiff direct to Barcelona, we jumped for joy.

2 years later the flight still departs Cardiff at Friday 14.50 PM and returns Sunday 10.05 AM. Which means that you’d  get Friday evening and all day Saturday to explore the city using Timeout’s itinerary

http://www.timeout.com/barcelona/features/35/20-great-things-to-do-in-barcelona

These flight times are not exactly conducive to maximising your precious leisure time away.

For a  keen football fan there would be no chance to watch Barca with Lionel “the wizard” Messi because you'd be back on the flight to Cardiff way way before kick off. 

So come on Vueling. We love you. We love that you sponsor the local weather here in Wales, we get fantastic feedback from your Welsh passengers  after they fly with you

 but ....

We think you are missing an opportunity by not having departure times that enable your Welsh customers to maximise their time in your wonderful home city.

Por favour Vueling piense de nuevo

Team Wales

It is imperative that our nation, no matter how small or inward looking that we unfortunately tend to be, has a functioning airport in its capital. It just has to have it" said Lord Beddoe in a recent interview (He is the chairman of Cardiff Airport).

We believe that as a confident nation and to be connected in the global market place that Wales needs an international airport and for that airport to be in the capital city.

All the way through our campaign we have said airports are good for economies. They create jobs and allow business travellers to connect with suppliers, new markets etc.

Inbound tourism brings money in to our economy but. .....we would prefer it if tourists could access Wales through a Welsh Airport.

As the international gateway to Wales, Cardiff can't be the only capital city airport without an express bus link to the city centre.

So we continue to applaud the Welsh Government for their decision to buy the airport, put on the T9 express bus route and for creating an enterprise zone around the airport and St.Athan. The fact that the Welsh Government owns the airport and is in charge of promoting tourism, in time, will produce synergies in these two businesses.

Things won't change overnight but with the likes of Ryanair coming back to Cardiff and the relentless pursuit of other carriers by the airport - the future is a lot brighter.

We ask all political parties to unite on this issue and support Team Wales. The issues here transcend party boundaries.

It's FlyCardiff's anniversary

The other day, whilst logging in to Linkedin I found lots of people congratulating me on completing three years at FlyCardiff. As most of you know the FlyCardiff campaign is run by a small team of enthusiastic volunteers who fit it in around their day jobs.

Our third anniversary, got us thinking and reflecting about the past three years. To quote Andrias Maszcyzk, the general manager of the St Davids Hotel and Spa in Cardiff, " There is an airport which has huge potential when it comes to attracting flights from Europe and further afield. But it has to attract people from Europe and North America." Here here

 In 2011 when we started the campaign, after the news that BMI Baby was to cease operations from Cardiff in the Autumn, this represented the lowest ebb for our national Airport. An unispiring head to head on local Radio with the then Airport MD (Patrick Duffy) did nothing to reassure us about the airport's future in fact quite the opposite. But against all the odds the 4th largest low-cost operator, www.Vueling.com, were enticed to Wales serving Barcelona initially (in 2012) later adding Palma, Alicante and Malaga to their Cardiff routes network.

I don't know about you but we are quietly confident that your airport has a brighter future. Not even the "hammer blow", as the press described it, of Flybe pulling the Glasgow and Paris routes was able to deflect the current management team in their bid to revitalise the airport. In a very short space of time (maybe a world record) www.cityjet.com were in place to take on the routes, so there was no gap in service.

Add to that the recent small, but significant, step which saw Ryanair come back to Cardiff to offer the Tenerife route from October this year.

One of the FlyCardiff team took some photos on Tuesday this week (which we've posted on our Facebook page) which showed a full to the rafters Cardiff Airport. So as long as the public continue to get behind and support Vueling, CityJet, KLM, AerLingus, Thomson. Thomas Cook, Air Malta etc the future looks a lot better than it did in 2011. 

Like we've said many times, Success breeds Success.

Cardiff to Glasgow in style with CityJet

Guest blog by Deborah Louise Blake - talented author

As a writer and author, part of my job is to research and to meet other authors. These are two vital parts of the job because even fiction writing needs to be researched and meeting other authors is both stimulating and inspiring, we feed from each other in a way which only another writer understands. It is not a lonely job, but we do spend a lot of time on our own because that is how we best work, so meeting like minded people is also an outlet. 

I recently took a trip to Glasgow to meet up fellow writer and author James Forrest. Not having many days to spare, the best way to get there was to fly. I chose to fly from my local airport which is Cardiff. Cardiff airport is situated just outside of the capital, it is not a huge airport but that is what makes it such a delight to travel from. As soon as you walk through the doors you know it is going to be easy. The check in desks of which there are not too many, are directly in front of you and it is impossible to get lost. 

Once you have checked in your bags there is a set of stairs going up to the airport lounge where a restaurant, bar and a few shops can be found, again this area is compact and easy to use.

On the morning I was travelling it was evident that the airport was going through some structural changes but still everything was clearly signposted with minimum disruption to passengers. I enjoyed a relaxing coffee from the restaurant and was greeted by Robin, Rose and Simon who were chatty and friendly, everything was clean and well presented.

At this easy to use airport, you do not have to walk for miles to get to your departure gate and there are a variety of shops to use once you get through to the departure lounge.

I was traveling with City Jet who had only recently taken over the flights from Cardiff to Glasgow. The aircraft was on time and ready, there was no waiting and I was very impressed with the friendliness of everyone.

The aircraft a Fokker 50, had plenty of leg room and the leather seats were very comfortable and it was very clean. Complimentary drinks and snacks were served and the cabin crew were polite and courteous and Karin the hostess was very friendly and helpful. 

The flight took around 1 hour and 20 minutes and was very pleasant. When we began our decent into Glasgow airport there was a lot of turbulence and I think we felt this more because it was a smaller aircraft and I have to admit to feeling a bit nauseous on approach but the pilot was fantastic, despite the fact that the aircraft was obviously feeling the wind quite a bit he landed it beautifully. 

After working with James on his Scottish music magazine "Amped Up" and having a tour of Glasgow by day and night, it was soon time to return to Cardiff. Again, I have no complaints, the staff at Glasgow were friendly and helpful, the aircraft was again on time, clean and cabin crew where friendly and helpful. I will have to travel to Glasgow from time to time to work with James and I would have absolutely no hesitation at all about flying with city jet from Cardiff airport again. As a Cardiff author this connection is of great importance to me because it is excellent value for money and extremely convenient. 

Thank you to Cardiff airport and to Cityjet for making my trip such a pleasure to take.

Author Deborah L Blake

Author of 

"The adventures of ginger bread willie"

"The adventures of ginger bread willie, the revenge of Fanny"

"A Russian rose in an English garden"

"Where the river ends"

Hoorah for the T9 Cardiff Airport Express Bus – A personal story

Thursday morning I get a text from a mate, who I know is skiing in the Alps. “ Don’t like to really ask but do you have a spare room or a sofa tonight for my stranded in Cardiff daughter. She flew over (from Belfast) for a job that’s been cancelled and there are no flights back today. I’m in France”

“No problem” I replied. Whilst as it turned out his daughter (Nicky)wasn’t a teenager with no life experience, thanks goodness for the airport express which took her into the city centre. She killed a few hours and I met her at 4PM and we caught the train for the short hop back to the family home.

This morning we did the train journey again and she caught the T9 (the airport express – how convenient.

BUT……..   how different could this have been if this had happened prior to the introduction of the T9. Nicky could have found herself not just stranded in Cardiff but stranded at Cardiff Airport. Given that my friend’s daughter lives close to Belfast City Airport, where there are 3 buses an hour to the centre – what sort of message would it give about Wales if she had been faced with the historical challenges of getting to the Capital City.  In the past, I’ve found myself at Cardiff Airport with a two hour weight for a bus back to Cardiff or an hour’s wait for the shuttle bus to Rhoose station to get the train back to central. The journey from the airport was longer the flight time-wise !

So I for one want to applaud the owners of the airport for having the foresight, vision and guts to put on the T9 service, when Cardiff bus withdrew the X91 service.

And I’m sure this six nations weekend, others will be grateful for the introduction of the T9

A hop across the pond is easier than you think!

Hi, I’m Steve Rush, CEO of Improov Consulting and Author of Leadership Cake. I coach and train executives all over the world, but as a Cardiff lad, I have been left frustrated over recent years to because I’ve  been forced to travel from Heathrow to meet my international clients, even more frustrating when I have to literally drive past Cardiff Airport.

Well all that changed for me in November, when I made an earth shattering discovery. Aer Lingus introduced daily routes to the US via Dublin, as intrigued as I was; I booked to visit some clients in New York.

My trip started with a short morning trip to Dublin from Cardiff, which is also a daily route. I checked my bags in at Cardiff and didn’t see them again until New York.

When in Dublin, I followed signs saying “This way to the US”. The airport has ingenuously partnered with the US Government Immigration and as part of any connecting flight, you can clear immigration in Dublin. These guys are absolutely geared up for it, over a dozen entry points with US marshals at hand, a quick, “Hi, how are you? What are your plans? and is this your bag” conversation and I had cleared US immigration. All that was left for me to do was to grab a coffee and breakfast and an hour later I was airborne to Stateside.

For those who after a long flight fear the US immigration processes the other end, this is a dream! No sooner as you have passed this checkpoint then you’re technically on US soil and therefore from here in you are on a domestic flight.  As soon as you land, you grab your bags and go! I have since learned that Aer Lingus from Dublin fly twice a day to New York, Florida, Washington, Chicago and California.

I am already booked to fly to New York in February and San Francisco in March. Given that these tickets were also under £700 (economy) the flight itself is cheaper than the London carriers but you also remove the hassle and the cost of travel to London as well as saving time. Most importantly after a long flight, I’m nearly home. I’m converted!

So why not discover what I’ve learnt and use Aer Lingus from the ‘Diff (Cardiff – sorry) when looking to hop across the pond to the land that gave us Bagels, the Superbowl, Budweiser, George Clooney, Starbucks, Amazon, Billy Joel, Baseball Caps, Skyscrapers  and so on.

Have a nice day !

Steve