Aer Lingus set to sponsor Capital FM

95.8 Capital FM, the Global Radio-owned London station, has signed Aer Lingus as sponsor of its breakfast show with Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon.

The six-month £800,000 deal, negotiated through MediaVest, starts next month and includes podcast sponsorship and online and on-air competitions.

The Irish carrier will replace easyJet.com when its eight-week deal expires at the end of February.

Aer Lingus opened up a number of new low-cost routes from Gatwick to European destinations such as Faro, Munich and Nice last year. The airline recently launched a Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest-created outdoor, press, radio and digital campaign to push the new routes.

Fintan Lonergan, marketing director of Aer Lingus, says the airline is looking to “engage” with Capital’s listeners to increase awareness of the Gatwick hub.

The Capital breakfast show has had a series of short-term sponsorship deals since Kellogg’s’ three-year £6m deal ended in 2006, including agreements with brands such as Sunsilk and bmi, which had a year-long deal that ended last June.

Capital’s breakfast pairing retained their title of London’s number one commercial radio breakfast show, according to fourth-quarter Rajar figures, with 879,000 listeners in the 6-9am slot.

Snowdon was officially unveiled as Vaughan’s partner last August, but had been sitting in for then co-host Denise Van Outen since the beginning of July.

Former All Saints singer Nicole Appleton and model Jodie Kidd will co-present the breakfast show with Vaughan, for a week each, from 16 February through to 27 February while Snowdon is on holiday.