Exploding some myths about Cardiff Airport

Good debate on twitter the other night about Cardiff Airport.

“Get  them to reduce their landing fees because they are so expensive to fly from”.

Myth number one – landing fees only make up 5-7% of the ticket price. Cardiff doesn’t have high landing fees, they are competitive and is there is normally room to negotiate the published tariff downwards.

“So why have so many airlines e.g. BA and BMi Baby pulled out ?”

Not due to landing fees, but more about the aggressive expansion and ambition shown by Bristol Airport’s owners. Success breeds success is the moral of this story.

“Why is Cardiff (Flybe) so expensive on the Glasgow Route compared to flying from Bristol”

It’s all about competition. If two airlines are competing on the same route this will create some downward pressure on pricing of tickets. Glasgow has two carriers competing on that route from Bristol (or so I thought) but I was wrong.

Nonetheless in an indirect way it is all about competition. Easyjet who operates the Glasgow route  benefits from some economies of scale. Let me explain, by basing several aircraft at Bristol Easy Jet  benefits from reduced maintenance and crewing costs whereas Flybe who only have a couple of aircraft based in Cardiff don’t – so the ticket pricing reflects this.

Additionally, Flybe operates a 70 seater plane compared to Easy Jet’s 140 seater on the Glasgow route. So in addition to the economies of scale above, this means Easy Jet benefits from higher passenger numbers and increased on board sales (passenger yields) which means it can charge a much lower fare than Flybe on this route.

So whilst this isn’t great news for Glasgow passenger who’d like to fly from Cardiff, it does explain these price disparities.

At the end of the day it is the airlines that set the fares and not the airport and only when economies of scale come into play for the carriers or increased competition on routes will we see these unfavourable comparisons disappear. It does all come down to economics.

We are so proud of Cardiff as a city and want an airport and air services that reflect the vibrancy of our capital  ………and city regions (getting a bit ahead of ourselves there).

In the meantime, as a pro Cardiff Airport Campaign, we would ask you to support your local airport when it is financially viable and beneficial for you to do so.