easyJet to serve Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee in-flight from May 1, 2009
EasyJet Airline, the low-cost carrier based in London, will begin serving Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee on its flights from airports at Newcastle, Stansted, Gatwick and Madrid from May 1, 2009.
The Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee would be made from sachets filled with micro-ground beans rather than being brewed onboard, and were likely to cost to cost a little less than land-based Starbucks coffee, EasyJet Airline, better known as easyJet, said in a press release.
The website cheapflights.co.uk quoted Rob Pickering, spokesman for easyJet as telling reporters: “This is a significant step forward for easyJet’s in-flight product range. By serving Starbucks coffee onboard, our passengers will never need to be without great coffee or hot drinks.”
In the press release, easyJet described the particular brand of beverage it would serve onboard its flights as “a naturally roasted coffee, with no byproducts, that gives drinkers the rich flavour they expect from brewed Starbucks coffee in an instant.”
Starbucks VIA, according to easyJet, is Shared Planet-verified – which means that “the coffee comes from farmers and suppliers who follow the company’s exacting sourcing guidelines.”
Apart form Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee, easyJet said its customers also can buy on board a selection of four Tazo teas (English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Refresh and Passion varieties) and Starbucks Gourmet Hot Cocoa.
The announcement on serving Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee in-flight comes close on the heels of easyJet announcing its summer timetable – starting from July 2009 – from London’s Luton Airport, that includes new connections with Milan in Italy, Mahon in Jamaica, and Montpellier in France.
These summer-season services would use an aircraft made available by the airline’s decision to withdraw from Warsaw Airport in Poland (prompted by the Warsaw Airport doubling its charges), easyJet said.
Fares for the three routes begin at £26.99 one way.
United Airlines, based in Chicago, the United States, has served Starbucks coffee in-flight for over a decade, but it is the first that such an arrangement is being extended to other airlines, easyJet said.
easyJet, from its bases of Newcastle, Stansted and Gatwick in the United Kingdom, operates a network of flights to destinations in Europe, including connections to Barcelona, Paris, Rome and Helsinki.
- US Airways to resume serving non-alcoholic drinks free of charge on board from March 1, 2009US Airways, the low-cost airline based in Tempe, Arizona, the United States, will resume serving non-alcoholic drinks such as sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water to economy-class passengers free of charge from March 1, 2009. However, the carrier will continue to charge fees for some other items, including in-flight blankets and pillows. Also, US Airways will continue to charge alcoholic drinks at $7 each. US Airways was the only major domestic airline based in the United States that started charging for non-alcoholic drinks, from August 1, 2008 – at the rate of $2 for sodas and juices and $1 for coffee. The carrier had also jacked up prices of beer, wine and cocktails from $5 to $7 from the same date. It may be noted that flight attendants at US Airways had opposed charging passengers for non-alcoholic beverages on the ground that the responsibility for selling them in-flight and dealing with “unhappy passengers” hindered their ability to ensure safety in the cabin. Doug Parker, chief executive officer of US Airways, said in a statement that making passengers pay for sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water had become “a competitive disadvantage” for the airline. US Airways, Parker explained, was compelled to add the fees in August 2008 after the price of aviation turbine fuel skyrocketed to a record $4.36 a gallon in July 2008. The cost of fuel has since dropped by as much as 70%. The statement said US Airways was “committed to its a la carte service style” where passengers pay more to check bags into the hold or for the use of a blanket and pillow. US Airways had earlier said that it expected to earn $400 million to $500 million in 2009 from fees charged on any services beyond the basic fare, including additional costs for select seats and also the plan to sell pillows and blankets in-flight. The fees for non-alcoholic beverage, Doug Parker said in the statement, had become “a focal point that detracts from improved on-time performance and baggage-handling.” Meanwhile, the United States Transportation Department said in a press release that US Airways recorded the best on-time performance in 2008 among the six large US-based airlines that use hub airports as a part of their networks. Earlier, US Airways had ranked either last or near-last in terms of on-time performance.
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