bmibaby is considering cutting flights from Cardiff Airport this winter because of rocketing fuel bills, the Wales on Sunday reports. The budget airline, which flies to 14 destinations across the UK and Europe, has become the first airline using the Welsh airport to confirm it is looking at scaling back.
A spokeswoman for the airline, which launched flights from Cardiff Airport in 2002, said it was ‘re-evaluating’ its winter schedule because of the tough market conditions. She told the newspaper: ‘It’s a challenge for everyone. Everything is being looked at.’
The Wales on Sunday says that bmibaby – which flies to Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow, Jersey, Malaga, Murcia, Palma Mallorca and Warsaw from Cardiff – is vulnerable to rising oil prices as it operates older aircraft which are less fuel efficient than those of its rivals.
Steve Hodgetts, business development manager at the airport, told the newspaper that all the airlines were watching winter bookings closely before making decisions on their schedule. He said: ‘The whole industry is vulnerable. At the moment we have got no indication from any airline that they are making cutbacks at Cardiff. We are keeping in touch with them to see what they are planning. Things can change at a moment’s notice.'
He said the airport was concerned, but that Cardiff’s routes are less vulnerable as it was not hugely exposed to low-volume destinations in Eastern Europe that he feels are most at risk.
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