Eastern Airways

Eastern Airways are a relatively modern airline founded in 1997. Only about 800,000 passengers fly with them every year and their route network is pretty small, as you can see from the picture below. Most of their flights are UK domestic routes, but they also operate some charter flights and routes on behalf of other airlines.

Newquay Airport

With the exception of a dirt airstrip in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, Cornwall’s Newquay Airport is by far the smallest airport I’ve been to. Serving just over 400,000 passengers in 2023 it’s the 27th busiest airport in the UK. About 20% of the flights here are actually the very route I’m flying today to London Gatwick. Other destinations include Manchester, Faro, Alicante and Dublin from top notch airlines such as Ryanair, EasyJet, Aer Lingus and Eastern Airways.

The airport terminal is very small. We travelled by bus from Newquay, which runs every hour. Inside you’ll find a cafe which was closed when we visited and a tiny checkin area (picture below). That’s it for the pre-security area. There’s a single security check line which was very efficient. Then the departure area includes a small cafe, gift shop and bar, all of which were operated by the same two staff. For the few flights operating, there was plenty of seating.

And an interesting fact about Newquay Airport… it’s a “Spaceport“! Formerly used by Virgin Orbit to launch satellites into space. Those missions are on hold to now since Virgin Orbit went bankrupt. But still cool I guess, and definitely a unique feature of Newquay Cornwall Airport.

The Plane & Seat

Our aircraft today was a 9 year old Eastern Airways ATR72-600 with registration G-CMEI. The astute among you will notice it’s not Eastern Airways’ usual blue and red livery. That’s because it’s been through many airlines over its life. Starting at Avianca, then going to a Nigerian airline called Green Africa Airways before ending up in Newquay. Today our flight was only about 40% full, if that. So I’m guessing they only make money on these routes thanks to government subsidies. Hopefully they don’t go the way of FlyBe which operated similar routes before going bankrupt.

The cabin is actually quite stylish with modern seats and kept very clean. It’s definitely on the cramped side though given the size of the aircraft. But as long as you watch your head when standing up it should be okay. The seats are pretty slim so aren’t the comfiest. But they’re well padded enough for the short 1 hour flights Eastern Airways operate.

The seat has a pitch of 29″, meaning slightly below average legroom. But the slim setbacks help increase legroom slightly. As you can see from the picture below, my 5’6″ body has plenty of room. The seats are also 18″ wide, which is pretty good as far as economy seats go. One downside though is that the curvature of the cabin is really quite noticeable where your feet go. Especially with the metal support beam under the seat, this makes it hard to move your legs about.

Besides that it’s pretty typical, there’s a small tray table. And an empty pouch to store your bits and bobs in. There’s also a seperate slot for the safety card and inflight magazine. I was pleasantly surprised such a small aircraft even has an inflight magazine. It basically just covers the destinations that Eastern Airways fly to though, so the UK, France… and that’s about it.

Food & Service

The biggest surprise of the flight was the in-flight service. First of all, the cabin attendants were very friendly and professional. Even though this is just a 1 hour domestic flight, they actually give you both a snack and a drink, plus unbelievably, a hot towel. I don’t think I’ve been given a hot towel in Economy class since about 2010, let alone of a short domestic flight!

You get a choice of hot or cold drink. I went for a coffee. Then best of all, a choice of a (very big) bag of mini cheddars or some Scottish shortbread. Considering the snack on British Airways is usually just a tiny bag with 4 mini pretzels, I found this very generous. I think they usually only give out one snack, but I asked for both and they were more than happy to oblige.

As far as I could tell there’s no inflight menu, just the drinks and snacks provided free of charge. Overall, a very good service for a domestic flight. Most airlines would only give you a drink on such a short journey. And the hot towel just really added to the experience (I’m a sucker for a hot towel).

Final Thoughts

Overall I was really pleasantly surprised but the Eastern Airways ATR72 Experience. The flight only cost £39.99, which is a bargain for a domestic flight in the UK from a small airport. Obviously there’s only so much an airline can do using a small aircraft on a sub-1 hour route, but Eastern Airways did everything excellently. The generous drink and snack service were much appreciated, and they’re the only airline in years who have given me a hot towel. Lastly, the service was just really friendly and professional, so I can’t really fault anything about Eastern Airways. (Except perhaps that the seats aren’t the most spacious).

More from me…

Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:

• British Airways Boeing 787 from Hong Kong to London – Avoid Economy Class!
• The Sofitel Luxembourg Review – Chic Business Hotel
• The Plaza Premium Lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 2

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