Bits: Aer Lingus launches Starlink, easyJet launches Gatwick to Newquay, new Sofia lounge
News in brief:
First Starlink installation on Aer Lingus is now live
Aer Lingus has become the second airline at IAG to launch Starlink wi-fi, just over a week after British Airways.
This should come as no surprise given that the Starlink contract was signed at group level by IAG for all its constituent airlines – Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, LEVEL and Vueling. In total, it has agreed to install the wi-fi service on over 500 aircraft.
Customers on EI105 from Dublin to New York on Sunday were the first to try the service, which promises (and delivers) speeds up to 500mbps – faster than most people’s home broadband. In my experience you’ll normally get around 200mbps but even this is more than enough to watch multiple 4K streams at once!
The flight was operated by an A330 with the registration EI-EIN, the first of Aer Lingus’ planes to get the antennas installed. As this is a larger aircraft it actually has two antenna dishes installed for additional capacity.
Aer Lingus is prioritising the installation of Starlink on its long haul fleet and expects to have all A330s and A321LR/XLRs complete by early next year. Short haul services will follow, although the Aer Lingus Regional fleet, operated by Emerald Airlines as a franchise, is not included.
As with the service on BA, it is free to use for all passengers and won’t require an AerClub login. Aer Lingus has also introduced passenger rules for the use of the service and will allow video and voice calls on board:
“Please be mindful when watching or listening to anything on your devices. And if you need to take a call during the flight, we’d appreciate it if you could keep your voice low and use headphones.”
easyJet launching Gatwick to Newquay flights
easyJet has announced that it will run a limited service between London Gatwick and Newquay this summer.
It follows the decision to end the subsidised flights operated between Gatwick and Newquay by Skybus from the end of May. Skybus took over the route following the failure of Eastern Airways.
Cornwall Council was unwilling to meet the expected £14m-£16m cost to operate year-round flights under a proposed new four year contract.
easyJet will operate two flights per week from 23rd June, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The last flight is scheduled for 29th August.
Ryanair has four scheduled flights per week between Newquay and Stansted, currently timetabled until the end of October. British Airways is not currently flying the route, with ba.com only offering flights from Heathrow to Manchester, connecting to the Loganair flight from Manchester to Newquay!
New lounge in Sofia
Before the changes to The British Airways Club, Sofia was a very popular route amongst a certain section of the membership.
It earned 80 tier points each way in Club Europe (so 25% of a Silver card per return trip) and fares were often around £250 return! Whilst I never flew this, there are many reports of Club Europe cabins going all the way back to the emergency exit at weekends ….
If you are still travelling to Sofia (interestingly BA has now cut its service to just four flights per week!) Primeclass has opened a new lounge. It is currently in a ‘soft opening’ phase so may be operating odd hours today, but it officially opens on 1st April at which point the existing lounge will close.
Reader Andy was there over the weekend and sent me some images, one of which is above. He says it is a huge improvement, not least because it is on the top floor of the terminal with an open rooftop area.