Qatar Airways is looking to recommence its Cardiff to Doha route in what would prove a much needed boost for Cardiff Airport. The global airline mothballed the route at the start of the pandemic three years ago.
Chief executive of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, told trade press publication Business Travel that its Cardiff route could return this year.
The airline has been asked to clarify the position and whether his reference to this year was in fact the financial year which for Qatar Airways runs from April to March. Cardiff Airport’s understanding, based on its ongoing dialogue with the airline, is that a return is planned for 2024.
The airline recently ended a fuselage surface degradation dispute with Airbus which saw it grounding around 20 of its Airbus A350 wide body aircraft. The airline's chief executive said that once the A350s are back in service it will free up aircraft for routes such as Cardiff.
Qatar Airways last week confirmed it would restart its daily Birmingham to Doha route in July after it was also paused at the start of the pandemic.
However, it would take time to prepare an aircraft and assembly a crew for a Cardiff to Doha route, as well as requiring a good led in time to drive forward ticket sales.
Chief executive of Cardiff Airport, Spencer Birns, said: “We are encouraged by the comments made by Akbar Al Baker as we continue our positive dialogue with Qatar Airways about recommencing the Cardiff to Doha route in 2024.”
A return would be a welcomed boost for the airport after the decision in January of low-cost carrier Wizz Airport to pull its base operation. The Hungarian-owned airline, having launched its base with nine routes for the 2022 summer season, had indicated it would recommence the base for the current summer after a decision to mothball it over the winter.
In what was the first scheduled direct route between Wales and the Middle East, Qatar Airways, launched a daily service in May, 2018, with a daily service between the Welsh Government owned airport and Hamad International in Doha.
In its first year the route carried just over 82,000 passengers with a significant number using Hamad’s hub status for onward journey connecting flights, with particular strong demand for Australasia and the Far East. In the 12 months prior to the pandemic (March 2020) the annualised passenger number had reached 92,000.
Encouragingly for its UK originating passengers, some 18% were from England — a much higher contribution than for all flights from the airport (around 4%). Moreover, 25% of passengers who travelled specifically between Qatar and Wales were travelling for business purposes.
The Dreamliner aircraft used on the route, with capacity for just over 250 passengers, had freight capacity for 10 tonnes. It was being increasingly utilised for both import and export related activities prior to the route being suspended.
Latest figures from the Civil Aviation Authority show that in 2022 the airport handled 857,000 passengers, compared to 123,000 in 2021 when it was impacted by year long Covid related travelling restrictions. The airport is still well below pre-Covid numbers with 1.63 million passengers in 2019.
Holiday giant TUI has also confirmed 45 flights a week for its summer season at Cardiff Airport serving 22 routes. The largest number of flights are to Palma Majorca with six per week and Dalaman, Ibiza and Tenerife with three each.
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