ES CARNATGE
15 reviews
As a Spanish national living in England, I often find myself on Ryanair's services from Bournemouth - something which is unavoidable when Europe's largest airline is also the largest operator from this south-coast airport.
Ryanair offers two daily flights between Bournemouth's Hurn Airport and Palma's Aeroport de Son Sant Joan, with the later service occasionally being operated by Lauda Europe. This was a carrier with which I had not previously flown, but I felt that the six years which had passed since my last A320 flight meant that a new experience was long overdue - as such I made sure to choose the Lauda-operated flight.
Lauda, incorporated in Austria as Laudamotion GmbH and in Malta (where its AOC is located) as Lauda Europe Limited, was founded in 2018 by prominent F1 driver Niki Lauda after the collapse of Niki, which he had sold to Airberlin some years prior. Shortly before its launch, Ryanair invested in the new carrier, and later increased to a 100% shareholding.
The airline currently operates 28 A320s, and there have recently been talks of an increase to 50 aircraft, with the majority to be based in Vienna. Whilst no announcement has been officially made, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary stated that such an expansion would occur "by Summer 2024."
I fly from Bournemouth regularly due to its rather convenient location, and it is usually a pleasure to travel from. However, the airport has recently increased its drop-off charge once again to £5 - whilst in line with other UK airports, it must be added that there is no option to access Bournemouth other than by road, with there now being a £100 fine if caught attempting to drop somebody off to walk from the main road!
Alongside passenger services, Hurn is the sole base of European Cargo, which aims to become the UK's largest widebody cargo operator with 21 A340s owned (the majority of which remain in storage).
I was faced with a 40-minute delay as the airport didn't wish to let passengers through its security checkpoint even at the recommended 3 hours prior to departure - however, that was perfectly acceptable with such a small terminal which was already handling two simultaneous departures from TUI and Ryanair.
Once finally through security (and having convinced the check-in agent that yes, Lauda is a real airline!), I made my way into the departures area which contains a small, but perfectly acceptable, selection of duty-free shops as well as a newsagent and bar/restaurant. The adjacent cafeteria was, however, closed - on the otehr hand the one prior to security was doing a brisk trade due to the backlog of passengers.
The airport's Navigator bar is thankfully a very pleasant establishment - as such I was not particularly disheartened even when seeing that our flight would have a 45-minute delay. Eventually, the aircraft arrived, and thus it was time to board.
We were initially scheduled to travel aboard 9H-LON (the first aircraft pictured above) - however, as appears to be standard with Lauda, this was changed three hours prior to departure with the new aircraft to be 9H-LOW.
9H-LOW has an interesting history having first been delivered to SilkAir in 2004 as 9V-SLG. It remained with the Singaporean carrier until 2019 when it was withdrawn from use and subsequently leased to Lauda by owner BBAM. It was fully refitted and took on registration OE-LOW until 2020, when it was shifted to the current 9H mark.
Usually, this is the point of the report where one may speak of "finding my seat" - however, with seat 1A this was not at all necessary. With an almost full aircraft, this row was very much my preference - it also offers an excellent wing view so is highly recommended. It is also priced at a £20 upgrade from the base fare, versus £28 on Ryanair.
The Lauda cabin is uniform across the fleet, and, in my opinion, is very smart. The aircraft's age is not particularly evident thanks to it having been refitted only four years ago - I also do have a fond spot for the A320 with most of my prior experiences on the type having been with Monarch Airlines. Indeed, my last A320 flight was on that carrier's G-OZBX in 2017.
Following the completion of a somewhat humorous safety demonstration - all of our crew were Spanish and constantly engaging and making jokes with the passengers - we quickly pushed back and made our way out of Bournemouth's 26, giving us a view of Poole Harbour before turning to the east and then banking right past Bognor Regis.
Once over the Channel, our crew were quick to begin the inflight service - though it was conducted in a more leisurely fashion than on Ryanair services. At one point, the seemingly highly experienced and very jovial cabin manager made an announcement that there was "no ice onboard" and that he did "not want to hear anybody else asking for it!", prompting many calls of "ice please" from the passengers in the forward cabin. The only downside of this unique service concept was that the trolley service did take considerably longer than on most flights, but this can surely be overlooked.
In terms of the service itself, I had pre-ordered a meal deal via the Ryanair website when booking, and was thus asked for my choice shortly after departure. I opted for the Barilla-branded bolognese meal alongside a chocolate bar and tea, with these setting me back by just over 11€. The meal was surprisingly good considering the length of the flight, and certainly offered reasonable value for money.
The aircraft's forward lavatory was also well-equipped, though it will come as a challenge for taller individuals due to the sloping side-wall. I expect that this would not be so prominent at the rear. The lavatories, just as with the seat warnings, also show the airline's Austrian lineage with all signage repeated in German.
It may be of note that the crew did not perform a duty free service, though the avgeek in me did manage to persuade our cabin manager to provide me with a couple of Lauda-branded A320 models!
After a thoroughly enjoyable flight, we began to make our descent over the Mar Balear, before entering the island of Mallorca over the Serra de Tramuntana and looping towards the Badia de Palma. This approach, which I have only experienced on a few occasions, afforded views of the mountain range and later Calvià and the various resort towns along the coast towards Palma itself. We then made a final approach past Cala Gamba - perhaps most notable to locals for the presence of the Sant Joan de Déu hospital - and directly over Es Carnatge which is one of my favourite walking spots due to its location.
On arrival, it appeared that not all was as anticipated - we pulled onto a bus stand before being informed by our captain that the local Azul Handling agents had "not noticed" our arrival (one would like to hope that this was at least partly a joke!), and that he was unsure of when we would be able to disembark as we were left without any ground equipment.
This did turn out to be a somewhat entertaining experience thanks to the high spirits of the crew, at least: the captain exited the flight deck in order to greet the passengers, and those in the forward cabin once again exchanged jokes with the cabin manager, who proceeded to relay these to the rest of the aircraft via the PA. Once vehicles did begin appearing, he even encouraged passengers to inform the crew of their locations, for they "knew nothing."
Overall, Lauda provides a somewhat more personal service than Ryanair - at least on its more leisure-oriented routes. Despite being let down by inefficient ground services, the flight was very much a pleasant experience.
2 Comments
Thanks for sharing!
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