Saint Carthage joins Aer Lingus fleet
Aer Lingus took delivery of its 63rd aircraft on Wednesday, an Airbus A330-300 named Saint Carthage, registration EI-GAJ, list price $200 million (€178.8m). It will join the Transatlantic fleet. The first trip was as the EI109 from Dublin to New York. The Saint Carthage will bring available transatlantic seats to 2.5million this year over 11 routes. Los Angeles goes up to a daily service, Chicago expands to double daily for summer, and Orlando will have four times a week services. Dublin to Miami will begin on September 1st, with four flights a week.
BA introducing high speed wifi
British Airways has introduced high-speed inflight internet on some international services. Domestic and European flights will follow by the end of the year. Prices will range from £4.99 to £17.99. The Boeing 747 fleet is being fitted with the satellite-based service, followed by the A380s, B777s and the B787 Dreamliners. The service will use the 2KU technology from Gogo Air, which will supply 70mbps per aircraft. The signal must be shared among all passenger and devices. Wifi over Europe will use ground-based 4G base stations and an Inmarsat Europasat high-speed communications satellite.
Ryanair making friends
How times have changed for Ryanair. First it was the always getting better programme. Recently it was connecting flights at Rome airport, and this week it is a flight partnership with Air Europa. The Spanish airline has an extensive network to north, south and central America. You can browse the Air Europa routes by searching from Madrid on the Ryanair site. Later in the year it will be possible to make bookings and connect to Air Europa flights. Ryanair announced record bookings for the summer season from Ireland across 130 routes.
Cuba’s first luxury hotel is a Kempinski
Cuba’s first luxury hotel opened this week – a five-star renovated property in central Havana called the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski. The 246-bedroom hotel will have all the services people expect, and will cost from $440 for the luxury. There are 50 suites. The builders had to bring in workers from abroad to ensure the hotel was finished in time. There are four bars, two restaurants and a rooftop swimming pool. The ground floor is a high-end shopping mall selling luxury goods from Versace, Lacoste, and Mont Blanc.
jscales@irishtimes.com