Air Southwest operate aircraft just as one class, now that Air Southwest has abandoned its Business Class product Business Plus. Instead Air Southwest now offer a premium service called Advantage. This offers exactly the same service, except there is no curtain, and it excludes the word business. As a result, you'll pay a lot less APD tax.

Air Southwest Advantage Class offers some distinct benefits, including lounge access, free food on board, and more luggage. If you book at the last minute, the cost of this class is only six pounds more than full economy - and definitely worth it. You gain Business lounge access, free on-board refreshments (one alcoholic drink and one sandwich), and an increased baggage allowance of 30 kg, plus free changes to booking up to two hours before flight departure, and fast track security at Gatwick.

Air Southwest Bombardier Dash 8-311

Air Southwest Dash 8 cabin

Air Southwest operate just one type of aircraft, the Bombardier Dash 8-311 (previously known as de Havilland Canada Dash 8, hence their Air Southwest code of DHC-8), a 50 seat passenger version that entered service in 1989. Small, noisy and cramt, they were all bought secondhand from British Airways when BA abandoned the Newquay route.

They have a highly unusual seating plan for the first two rows: the seats are grouped together in a block of 4. This is great boon if there are four of you travelling down together, and a right pain, if you are four individuals who don't know each other - because, trust me, you'll know each other well by the end of it. If you are travelling alone, the best seats are definitely not in row 1 or 2.

Air Southwest Dash 8 at Newquay

Seat layout is 2-2 throughout the rest of the plane (seats A and D are windows) across 13 rows (1 to 14 but there is no 13). Seat pitch is 30 inches. Overhead luggage locker space is definitely at a premium, with only small overhead lockers, which will only fit a bag 53cm x 34cm x 22cm, and that 22cm is crucial: any larger, and it just won't go. Air Southwest baggage limits are even tighter for those in row 6 and row 7, where the wing means that the lockers are a mere 12cm high.

Air Southwest Dash 8 unique rear facing seats

When it comes to cabin comforts, well, there aren't any. The versions of the Dash 8 that Air Southwest have were designed and built before the Q series, for quiet, or cabin noise suppression was introduced. As a result they are very noisy. However they do have a very high aspect ratio wing ratio - and it's mounted high up too. Therefore, there is a great view of the passing Devon and Cornish countryside. All of Air Southwest's Dash 8 are all registered with the suffix G-WOWn, with the WOW supposedly for World Airlines, which was the airline's proposed name at one stage. This shows decidedly lofty ambitions.

All the aircraft are identical, except for G-WOWE, which has tiny tables hidden in the armrests of the forward facing seats of 4. This is actually a huge advantage, because in the other four aircraft you have to ask for a special table to be clipped to the front of the seat, which gives rise to the unique Air Southwest inflight call when the aircraft reaches the cruise of "anyone want any tables?"

Eastern Airways BAe Jetstream 41 at Newquay

Eastern Airways Saab 2000

Eastern Airways, just like Air Southwest, also flies small 50 seater planes, but it has gone down the route of the Saab 2000. It has 8 in the fleet, which it purchased at low cost secondhand from operators that were axeing their fleet after Saab ceased production of the Saab 2000 in 1999.

They are pretty similar to the Dash 8s, with a small 2+2 cabin, however the wings are much lower, spoiling the view.

Eastern Airways BAe Jetstream 41

Just when you thought you couldn't get on a smaller plane - up pops an Eastern Airways British Aerospace Jetstream 41 They are lovely, cute, and very very small. They seat 29.

The fleet of 20 BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft forms the majority of the fleet. Just like Air SouthWest, many of the planes are ex-British Airways, with 12 BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft and their associated routes transferred from British Airways CitiExpress in 2003, which has given Eastern a springboard into many regional UK airports.