British Eagle International Airlines was a major British independent airline that operated from 1948 until it went into liquidation in 1968. It operated scheduled and charter services on a domestic, international and transatlantic basis over the years.
162-402: Harold Bamberg, a former wartime pilot, formed the airline on 14 April 1948 with a nominal capital of £ 100 as Eagle Aviation Ltd at Aldermaston . The initial fleet comprised two wartime bombers converted for carrying fruit and vegetables. The first aircraft to enter service was a converted Halifax Mk 8 with the civil registration G-AJBL. It operated Eagle's first commercial flight, carrying
324-637: A Neutrality Pact in April 1941, and Japan adopted the doctrine of Nanshin-ron , promoted by the Navy, which took its focus southward and eventually led to war with the United States and the Western Allies. In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming more aggressive. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria , again provoking little response from other European powers. Encouraged, Hitler began pressing German claims on
486-564: A cautious French probe into the Saarland . The Western Allies also began a naval blockade of Germany , which aimed to damage the country's economy and war effort. Germany responded by ordering U-boat warfare against Allied merchant and warships, which would later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic . On 8 September, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw . The Polish counter-offensive to
648-611: A 113-seat Britannia 310 commenced on 10 October 1960. All revenues – including those from first-class passengers – were shared with BOAC. Schedules were complemented by additional Britannia and DC-6 charters during the peak summer season. On 27 February 1962, after a 2 year wait, Cunard Eagle took delivery of its first jet aircraft – a Boeing 707-465 bearing the Bermudan registration VR-BBW. Exactly one month later, on 27 March 1962, commercial 707 operations commenced, initially supplementing Cunard Eagle Airways (Bermuda) Viscount schedules on
810-481: A Britannia, intended for a run to the Far East was commandeered at short notice as the emergency escalated. The plan British Eagle developed in early 1966 for its future fleet requirements aimed to have 25 aircraft in service by the end of the decade, envisaging the operation of 15 jet aircraft – including two widebodies — and 10 turboprop planes. The former were to comprise two Boeing 747 freighters, five 707-320Cs for
972-458: A British Eagle BAC One-Eleven proving flight from Heathrow on 2 May 1966 coincided with the opening of the city's new Abbotsinch Airport . This event was followed by British Eagle's first Heathrow—Glasgow One-Eleven revenue service on 9 May, making it the second British independent airline after BUA to operate scheduled jet services on domestic trunk routes. Although BUA's services preceded BEA's and British Eagle's by four months, this occasion marked
1134-740: A cargo of cherries from Verona to Bovingdon . It subsequently transported fruit from Italy and Spain for the Covent Garden merchants. It was joined by a second Halifax, registered G-ALEF and christened Red Eagle . Both aircraft saw extensive service along with a further two others during the Berlin Airlift . The airline acquired Air Freight Ltd with three more Halifaxes later the same year. Eagle acquired three Avro York aircraft in late 1949, followed by eight others, and used these until early 1955 for both passenger and freight charters . Eagle aviation moved to Luton in 1950. For most of its existence,
1296-590: A cheaper and faster alternative to BOAC's DC-7C services which routed via New York. However, the terms of the licence permitting Eagle to operate scheduled services on this route required it to share its revenues with BOAC. In November 1958, Eagle applied to the Air Transport Advisory Council (ATAC), the contemporary UK Government department in charge of air transport economic regulation, for permission to offer low fares on existing and planned scheduled routes to Cyprus , Gibraltar , Malta , Singapore,
1458-480: A contract basis. These were mainly wet leases . KLM , Scandinavian Airlines and Swissair were among the airline's most prominent wet lease customers. By 1966, annual passenger numbers had increased to 944,488 (up from 153,000 in 1963) while profits had reached £585,000. The end of 1966 also saw the completion of the Eagle group of companies' reorganisation. This had resulted in setting up Eagle International Airlines as
1620-488: A cost substantially below the aggregate of each individual component if purchased separately. This new concept enabled the airline to circumvent regulatory restrictions that prevented private airlines from competing with their state-owned counterparts. It also helped increase fleet utilisation. When the Thomas Cook & Son travel agency declined Eagle's offer to take on the role of the airline's tour operator, Eagle acquired
1782-490: A deficit of £300,000 on its domestic scheduled operations. Load factors on the Belfast route averaged only 13%. Persistent refusal of British Eagle's requests for a frequency increase led to Bamberg's decision to suspend his airline's domestic operations as of 20 February 1965. British Eagle's financial and traffic results for 1964 were published at the start of 1965. These showed that after writing off losses of up to £350,000 for
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#17328521520871944-477: A foreign-registered aircraft on the London route enabled it to circumvent restrictive licensing provisions (including those contained in the forthcoming Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act 1960 ( 8 & 9 Eliz. 2 . c. 38)) as it only applied to UK aircraft. Bermuda's status as a British colony furthermore meant that no reciprocal approvals from overseas authorities were needed. Eagle's new direct Bermuda—London flights were
2106-581: A full-fledged scheduled transatlantic competitor on its Heathrow—JFK flagship route by forming BOAC-Cunard as a new £30 million joint venture with the Cunard Steamship Co. BOAC contributed 70% of the new company's capital and eight Boeing 707s. Cunard Eagle's long-haul scheduled operation — including the two new 707s – was absorbed into BOAC-Cunard before delivery of the second 707, in June 1962. BOAC-Cunard leased any spare aircraft capacity to BOAC to augment
2268-637: A further three options, heralding Eagle's comeback as a jet operator. Part of the come back strategy was to provide London passengers a better experience with its check in facility in Knightsbridge, it required a coach service to Heathrow, this resulted the acquisition of Rickards Coaches and the purchase of twenty new luxury coaches, around 9,000 passengers a week used this service. By late 1965, British Eagle placed an order for two Boeing 707-320Cs . The aircraft, which were to be delivered in early 1967, were primarily intended for passenger and freight charters to
2430-580: A large number of inclusive tour flights from Heathrow and other British airports. Lunn Poly was its largest tour operator customer. World War II Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers . Nearly all
2592-399: A leased BOAC aircraft. In 1972, the company became part of Thomson Travel Group . Lunn Poly became an early trade innovator, by splitting its leisure and business travel. High street shops concentrated on package holidays, specialized offices were structured to serve the needs of business and industry. This business model was highly successful throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By the end of
2754-522: A licence to operate transatlantic scheduled services — that running a fully fledged scheduled operation was the only way to build an airline with a long-term, stable future. It argued that the non-scheduled nature of its business – mainly trooping, ad hoc charters and IT flying – made planning ahead difficult because of extreme seasonality and generally low margins. Therefore, Eagle saw its future primarily as an international scheduled passenger and freight carrier with transatlantic ambitions. In March 1960,
2916-567: A new livery displaying the British Eagle name in full on the company's aircraft was adopted. This was a legal requirement following BEA's objection to Bamberg's original plan to incorporate the abbreviation BEIA into the new livery to avoid confusion between them. In November 1963, British Eagle launched daily scheduled services between London Heathrow and Glasgow Renfrew with 103-seater, two-class Britannias. The inaugural London—Glasgow service – operated by ex-BOAC Britannia 310 Enterprise —
3078-561: A new Caribbean charter programme. The arrival at Nassau of Boeing 707-138B G-AVZZ Endeavour on a pre-inaugural IT flight in February 1968 marked the airline's return to the Bahamian capital six years after Cunard Eagle's transatlantic operations had been absorbed into BOAC-Cunard. These services were subsequently extended to Jamaica, Antigua and Barbados . By the time of its 20th anniversary on 14 April 1968, British Eagle ranked fourth among
3240-499: A new group holding company. Apart from British Eagle International Airlines, other subsidiaries included British Eagle (Liverpool)—the former Starways, Eagle Aircraft Services, Knightsbridge Air Terminal and Sky Chefs, the group's own catering company. This period furthermore saw Bamberg regaining 100% control of the Eagle group, as a result of his exercising an option to buy back Cunard's remaining 40% interest in British Eagle. 1967
3402-582: A precedent. Despite being offered a mixed-traffic version of the Super VC10 and acknowledging that aircraft's superior passenger appeal, British Eagle favoured the 707-320C because of its greater payload and range . This made the 707 a more attractive aircraft for the kind of charter operations envisaged. British Eagle played a part in the British evacuation of Aden in 1967. The 2008 book "From Barren Rocks...to Living Stones" by Jon Magee records how one of its fleet,
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#17328521520873564-514: A pretext to initiate the invasion. The first German attack of the war came against the Polish defences at Westerplatte . The United Kingdom responded with an ultimatum for Germany to cease military operations, and on 3 September, after the ultimatum was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany. During the Phoney War period, the alliance provided no direct military support to Poland, outside of
3726-715: A pretext to worsen relations. On 29 August, Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to negotiate the handover of Danzig , and to allow a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the German minority would vote on secession. The Poles refused to comply with the German demands, and on the night of 30–31 August in a confrontational meeting with the British ambassador Nevile Henderson , Ribbentrop declared that Germany considered its claims rejected. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag border incidents as
3888-469: A secret protocol that defined German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania for Germany; eastern Poland , Finland, Estonia , Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet Union), and raised the question of continuing Polish independence. The pact neutralised the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and assured that Germany would not have to face the prospect of
4050-492: A separate first class cabin. On 31 December 1963, British Eagle took over Liverpool-based Starways . This gave it access to a fast-growing network of regional scheduled routes from Liverpool – including the busy London route – and to several IT contracts from locally based tour operators. British Eagle's ability to control the important Liverpool—London route strengthened its position in the UK's internal air travel market generally and on
4212-485: A sharp reduction in the IT business's annual rate of expansion—down to 12% to just over a million passengers after three years of spectacular growth. This in turn led to the implementation of a major cost-reduction programme at British Eagle following an estimated drop of 20% in projected summer holiday traffic, as a result of the challenging economic conditions. As a consequence, flightdeck personnel numbers were reduced by 48 (out of
4374-743: A similar pact and rejected ceding part of its territory to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, and was subsequently expelled from the League of Nations for this crime of aggression. Despite overwhelming numerical superiority, Soviet military success during the Winter War was modest, and the Finno-Soviet war ended in March 1940 with some Finnish concessions of territory . In June 1940,
4536-448: A third aircraft) in expectation of being granted traffic rights for transatlantic scheduled services. The airline took delivery of its first Bristol Britannia aircraft on 5 April 1960 (on lease from Cubana ). Cunard Eagle was also the first independent airline in the UK to be awarded a license by the newly constituted Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB) to operate a scheduled service on the prime Heathrow – New York JFK route. This license
4698-734: A total of 246). In 1967, British Eagle—as well as BUA, Caledonian and Transglobe—also applied to the ATLB for licences to operate scheduled and non-scheduled services in competition with BOAC on several long-haul routes. British Eagle sought a 15-year licence for a London – New York passenger service to be operated with Boeing 707-320Cs from 1 April 1969 between either Heathrow or Stansted and JFK at an initial frequency of two daily return flights during summer (April—October) and one round-trip per day in winter (November—March). Similar licences were sought to operate to Los Angeles / San Francisco and Toronto/Montreal with Chicago as an intermediate stop. In addition,
4860-519: A two-front war, as it had in World War I. Immediately afterwards, Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26 August, but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact with Poland and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he decided to delay it. In response to British requests for direct negotiations to avoid war, Germany made demands on Poland, which served as
5022-509: A virtual monopoly on scheduled services. This resulted in the Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act of 1960, which abolished BEA's and BOAC's statutory monopoly on principal domestic and international scheduled routes and – theoretically – gave the independents equal opportunities to develop such routes in their own right. Eagle concurred with BUA and Caledonian Airways — an independent upstart that would subsequently compete with it head-to-head for
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5184-524: A year later by the launch of secondary scheduled services in association with British European Airways (BEA), from whom Eagle had purchased a large fleet of Vickers Vikings . During 1953, Eagle Aviation's steadily growing passenger charter operations included for the first time aerial cruises around the Mediterranean . Following Eagle's decision to sell the Yorks to rival UK independent Skyways for £160,000,
5346-588: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression . The situation became a crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise against the Polish border. On 23 August the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany, after tripartite negotiations for a military alliance between France, the United Kingdom, and Soviet Union had stalled. This pact had
5508-562: The Bahamas , the Caribbean as well as East and West Africa . For instance, Eagle's £19 proposed fare to Malta compared with BEA's £52.60 and its £199 Singapore fare compared with a £351 fare charged by BOAC. This marked the first occasion on which a private British airline sought approval to offer scheduled fares that undercut the equivalent published fares of the state-owned airlines by a substantial margin. Eagle's low fares were designed to increase
5670-662: The British Empire , with fighting in the Balkans , Mediterranean, and Middle East , the aerial Battle of Britain and the Blitz , and naval Battle of the Atlantic . Through a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany took control of much of continental Europe and formed the Axis alliance with Italy , Japan , and other countries. In June 1941, Germany led the European Axis in an invasion of
5832-532: The Cunard Steamship Company bought a 60% controlling stake for £30 million, resulting in a rebranding to Cunard Eagle Airways . The support from this new shareholder enabled Cunard Eagle to become the first British independent airline to operate pure jet airliners , as a result of a £6 million order for two new Boeing 707-420 passenger aircraft in May 1961. The order had been placed (including an option on
5994-610: The Far East and Australia. To avoid paying the 14% tax the British Government had imposed on imported, new foreign aircraft to protect competing British models, the airline needed to persuade the Board of Trade that there was no equivalent home-grown alternative. It also cited the Board's earlier decision to approve BOAC's application for an import duty waiver on two new Boeing 707-336Cs as
6156-566: The German Revolution of 1918–1919 , and a democratic government, later known as the Weimar Republic , was created. The interwar period saw strife between supporters of the new republic and hardline opponents on both the political right and left. Italy, as an Entente ally, had made some post-war territorial gains; however, Italian nationalists were angered that the promises made by the United Kingdom and France to secure Italian entrance into
6318-814: The German invasion of Poland and the United Kingdom and France 's declaration of war on Germany two days later on 3 September 1939. Dates for the beginning of the Pacific War include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the earlier Japanese invasion of Manchuria , on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor , who stated that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously, and
6480-567: The Italian mainland , and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced them into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France at Normandy , while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and pushed Germany and its allies westward. At the same time, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled
6642-537: The Japanese Navy and captured key islands . The war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories ; the invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the fall of Berlin to Soviet troops; Hitler's suicide ; and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 . Following the refusal of Japan to surrender on the terms of the Potsdam Declaration ,
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6804-682: The League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations, but the League did little when the former clearly violated Article X of the League's Covenant . The United Kingdom and France supported imposing sanctions on Italy for the invasion, but the sanctions were not fully enforced and failed to end the Italian invasion. Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria . When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to
6966-693: The Nationalist rebels , led by General Francisco Franco . Italy supported the Nationalists to a greater extent than the Nazis: Mussolini sent more than 70,000 ground troops, 6,000 aviation personnel, and 720 aircraft to Spain. The Soviet Union supported the existing government of the Spanish Republic . More than 30,000 foreign volunteers, known as the International Brigades , also fought against
7128-672: The Pacific to Australasia , hoping to convert this into a supersonic operation by the early 1970s. Caledonian sought transatlantic scheduled services linking its main operating bases at Gatwick and Prestwick in the UK with a number of destinations in the US and Canada, with particular emphasis on the West Coast of the United States to take full advantage of its growing fleet of long-range Boeing 707-320Cs. Transglobe Airways sought to operate scheduled passenger/cargo services from its Gatwick base to points on
7290-677: The Rome–Berlin Axis . A month later, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact , which Italy joined the following year. The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allies and new regional warlords . In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Empire of Japan , which had long sought influence in China as
7452-560: The Sir Henry Lunn Ltd travel agency chain. This made the airline one of the pioneers of the British package holiday industry and probably marked the first occasion in the UK an airline became vertically integrated with its own in-house tour operator (i.e. where an airline owns or is owned by a tour operator or both are part of an integrated travel group) British Eagle also acquired the Polytechnic Touring Association in
7614-581: The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. By contrast, the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, massing forces on the Soviet border. Hitler believed that the United Kingdom's refusal to end the war was based on the hope that the United States and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Germany sooner or later. On 31 July 1940, Hitler decided that
7776-580: The Stresa Front in April 1935 in order to contain Germany, a key step towards military globalisation ; however, that June, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany, easing prior restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned by Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of Eastern Europe , drafted a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect, though, the Franco-Soviet pact
7938-689: The Sudetenland , an area of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population. Soon the United Kingdom and France followed the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and conceded this territory to Germany in the Munich Agreement , which was made against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, in exchange for a promise of no further territorial demands. Soon afterwards, Germany and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary, and Poland annexed
8100-428: The Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933. Thereafter, Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria , and Chahar and Suiyuan . After the 1936 Xi'an Incident , the Kuomintang and CCP forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan. The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war began with
8262-466: The Trans-Olza region of Czechoslovakia. Although all of Germany's stated demands had been satisfied by the agreement, privately Hitler was furious that British interference had prevented him from seizing all of Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent speeches Hitler attacked British and Jewish "war-mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major build-up of the German navy to challenge British naval supremacy. In March 1939, Germany invaded
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#17328521520878424-506: The Treaty of Craiova . The loss of one-third of Romania's 1939 territory caused a coup against King Carol II, turning Romania into a fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu , with a course set towards the Axis in the hopes of a German guarantee. Meanwhile, German-Soviet political relations and economic co-operation gradually stalled, and both states began preparations for war. In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect shipments of iron ore from Sweden , which
8586-401: The United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany. Poland was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , in which they had agreed on " spheres of influence " in Eastern Europe. In 1940, the Soviets annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania . After the fall of France in June 1940, the war continued mainly between Germany and
8748-426: The Wehrmacht rapidly advanced to the Channel and cut off the Allied forces in Belgium, trapping the bulk of the Allied armies in a cauldron on the Franco-Belgian border near Lille. The United Kingdom was able to evacuate a significant number of Allied troops from the continent by early June, although they had to abandon almost all their equipment. On 10 June, Italy invaded France , declaring war on both France and
8910-451: The aftermath of World War I and the rise of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan . Key events leading up to the war included Japan's invasion of Manchuria , the Spanish Civil War , the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War , and Germany's annexations of Austria and the Sudetenland . World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany , under Adolf Hitler , invaded Poland , prompting
9072-404: The reunification of East and West Germany to take place and resolved most post–World War II issues. No formal peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union was ever signed, although the state of war between the two countries was terminated by the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 , which also restored full diplomatic relations between them. World War I had radically altered
9234-399: The 1950s and formed Lunn Poly from the two agencies in the mid-1960s. Eagle's first inclusive tour (IT) flights operated to destinations in Italy and Spain (including Majorca ). To make its packages more affordable and increase sales, Lunn began offering hire purchase facilities. Between 1955 and 1960, many of the airline's aircraft carried the Eagle Airways operating name. By 1957,
9396-440: The 1950s by the British Eagle airline group, and combined into Lunn Poly in 1965. It became a nationalised industry as part of the Transport Holding Company (THC) in 1969, a controlling stake costing £169,000. Trading losses during the ownership were estimated at £1.2m before the sale to Sunair in 1971 for £175,000. In October, Sunair and Lunn Poly operated the first Boeing 747 package holiday charter flight to Majorca using
9558-424: The 1980s, Lunn Poly had over 500 shops, and by the mid-1990s it was the largest travel agency in the UK. In 1995 it entered the holiday voucher market, valued at £400million to compete with Thomas Cook . The rivalry with Thomas Cook, and Going Places , led to a fierce price war in which Lunn Poly estimated it was sacrificing £10m per year to attract new customers away from it's competitors. In 1998, Lunn Poly were
9720-409: The Allies were attempting to cut off . Denmark capitulated after six hours , and despite Allied support , Norway was conquered within two months. British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , who was replaced by Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940. On the same day, Germany launched an offensive against France . To circumvent
9882-460: The American carriers on a level playing field . It also felt that it would take the independents too long to make these services profitable. In British Eagle's case, the ATLB was impressed with the airline's well-equipped and competent engineering organisation but questioned its ability to finance the envisaged expansion because it considered the company seriously undercapitalised for its existing operations. Meanwhile, British Eagle's unhappiness at
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#173285215208710044-400: The Axis war against the Soviet Union, in Romania's case partially to recapture territory ceded to the Soviet Union . In early June 1940, the Italian Regia Aeronautica attacked and besieged Malta , a British possession. From late summer to early autumn, Italy conquered British Somaliland and made an incursion into British-held Egypt . In October, Italy attacked Greece , but the attack
10206-627: The BOAC mainline fleet at peak times. As part of this deal, BOAC-Cunard also bought flying hours from BOAC for using the latter's aircraft in the event of capacity shortfalls. This maximised combined fleet utilisation. The joint fleet use agreement did not cover Cunard Eagle's European scheduled, trooping and charter operations. Although Bamberg was appointed to the board of BOAC-Cunard, he became disenchanted with Cunard's corporate culture . He resigned from BOAC-Cunard's board in 1963 while continuing as managing director of Cunard Eagle Airways. His growing disenchantment with BOAC-Cunard's culture resulted in
10368-408: The Bermuda – New York JFK run on an ad hoc basis. This made Cunard Eagle the first British independent airline to operate jet services with fare-paying passengers. On 5 May 1962, the airline's first 707 inaugurated scheduled jet services from London Heathrow to Bermuda and Nassau. The new jet service – marketed as the Cunarder Jet in the UK and as the Londoner in the western hemisphere — replaced
10530-421: The Blitz , but largely ended in May 1941 after failing to significantly disrupt the British war effort. Using newly captured French ports, the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy , using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic . The British Home Fleet scored a significant victory on 27 May 1941 by sinking the German battleship Bismarck . In November 1939,
10692-506: The British economy by strengthening Britain's overall competitive position vis-à-vis overseas rivals in a dollar-earning market and thus complement rather than damage BOAC. British Eagle's applications competed with BUA's, Caledonian's and Transglobe's. BUA sought unrestricted frequencies across the North Atlantic to several destinations in the US and Canada, beginning with a thrice-weekly Gatwick—Belfast—JFK VC10 service. It also wanted to extend its existing South American routes via Lima and
10854-474: The British market share on routes the state airlines had monopolised by stimulating demand. The airline argued that the British economy as a whole would benefit if it was granted permission to offer these fares, as a consequence of additional foreign exchange earnings accruing to the UK Exchequer that resulted from boosting Britain's share of total traffic. Loss-making BEA and BOAC lodged objections with ATAC against Eagle's low-fare proposals, which were upheld. By
11016-405: The European Axis declaring war on the US. Japan conquered much of coastal China and Southeast Asia , but its advances in the Pacific were halted in mid-1942 after its defeat in the naval Battle of Midway ; Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and
11178-410: The French possessions of Syria and Lebanon , assisted by the Free French . With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union made preparations for war. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany, and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia , the two powers signed
11340-426: The Germans, and the last large operational unit of the Polish Army surrendered on 6 October . Despite the military defeat, Poland never surrendered; instead, it formed the Polish government-in-exile and a clandestine state apparatus remained in occupied Poland. A significant part of Polish military personnel evacuated to Romania and Latvia; many of them later fought against the Axis in other theatres of
11502-452: The Government's refusal to exempt it from paying duty on its new Boeing 707-365Cs led to a decision to postpone from February to December 1967 delivery of the first aircraft, swapping the second aircraft's delivery position for the first and arranging to take delivery of the second in mid-1968. The airline estimated that this delay had cost it US$ 1m in lost North Atlantic revenue. It also pointed out that this would have been enough to pay for
11664-531: The Heathrow—Glasgow route at a higher frequency. By early 1965, British Eagle had a fleet of 24 turboprop aircraft in service, comprising 17 Bristol Britannia 300s – out of a total of 23 that were eventually operated – and seven Vickers Viscount 700s. By the end of that year, the airline's turnover had increased by 37% to almost £12 million and net profit had recovered to £350,000. In addition, Bamberg announced an order for three series 300 One-Elevens including
11826-674: The Liverpool—Heathrow route at a frequency of three flights a day in each direction. Two of these were non-stop, using both Britannias and Viscounts. An additional Viscount service routed via Chester Airport . The same day, the new airline combine assumed the former Starways operation between Liverpool and Glasgow. The remaining Starways routes were taken over by 1 April. By that time, the joint Eagle – Starways fleet comprised 18 aircraft, consisting of 10 Britannias, five Viscounts and three DC-6s. Of these, three Viscounts were stationed at Liverpool . By October 1964, British Eagle had accumulated
11988-516: The Nassau—Miami and Bermuda— JFK sectors grew such that it was possible to run a four-times-a-day Viscount shuttle on the former and a similar, thrice-daily operation on the latter profitably. This increased Eagle's, as well as the overall British market share on these routes. This success provided the impetus for Eagle Airways (Bermuda) to launch weekly low-fare through-plane scheduled services to London with all- coach -configured DC-6Cs . The use of
12150-505: The Nationalists. Both Germany and the Soviet Union used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in combat their most advanced weapons and tactics. The Nationalists won the civil war in April 1939; Franco, now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War II but generally favoured the Axis . His greatest collaboration with Germany was the sending of volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front . In July 1937, Japan captured
12312-505: The Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission after a carrier attack at Taranto , and neutralising several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan . Italian defeats prompted Germany to deploy an expeditionary force to North Africa; at the end of March 1941, Rommel 's Afrika Korps launched an offensive which drove back Commonwealth forces. In less than a month, Axis forces advanced to western Egypt and besieged
12474-584: The Soviet Union occupied the entire territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region . In August 1940, Hitler imposed the Second Vienna Award on Romania which led to the transfer of Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In September 1940, Bulgaria demanded Southern Dobruja from Romania with German and Italian support, leading to
12636-690: The Soviet Union , opening the Eastern Front and initially making large territorial gains. Japan aimed to dominate East Asia and the Asia-Pacific , and by 1937 was at war with the Republic of China . In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories in Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific , including Pearl Harbor in Hawaii , which resulted in the US and the UK declaring war against Japan, and
12798-621: The Soviet Union and Mongolia . The Japanese doctrine of Hokushin-ron , which emphasised Japan's expansion northward, was favoured by the Imperial Army during this time. This policy would prove difficult to maintain in light of the Japanese defeat at Khalkin Gol in 1939, the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War and ally Nazi Germany pursuing neutrality with the Soviets. Japan and the Soviet Union eventually signed
12960-738: The Soviet Union should be eliminated and aimed for the conquest of Ukraine , the Baltic states and Byelorussia . However, other senior German officials like Ribbentrop saw an opportunity to create a Euro-Asian bloc against the British Empire by inviting the Soviet Union into the Tripartite Pact. In November 1940, negotiations took place to determine if the Soviet Union would join the pact. The Soviets showed some interest but asked for concessions from Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Japan that Germany considered unacceptable. On 18 December 1940, Hitler issued
13122-460: The UK and additional international services to secondary western European destinations. Eagle's expansion was supported by 22 Vickers Vikings that had been retained from an earlier purchase of 37 former BEA examples. In 1954, the Ministry of Aviation granted Eagle permission to operate a limited programme of a new type of low-fare service that combined air travel and overseas holiday accommodation at
13284-505: The UK carrier's first three One-Eleven 300s between the end of May and July. British Eagle marketed its 79-seat, all- tourist Heathrow—Glasgow One-Eleven jet services as a better and faster alternative to BEA's Comet 4B services and as a less time-consuming option compared with BUA's Gatwick—Glasgow InterJet One-Eleven service. In addition to operating the new One-Elevens on its own scheduled and non-scheduled services, British Eagle also offered its new short-haul jets to other airlines on
13446-573: The UKs largest wholly owned retailer of air-holidays with 2.3m air inclusive holidays sold, representing 20% of the market. At the turn of the millennium, Lunn Poly unveiled alternative store formats including a megastore which had five key areas - long haul, short breaks, summer sun, families and late trips - the first of which opened in Leicester . A trial of family holiday only stores took place in Coventry but
13608-402: The US dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago , the possibility of further atomic bombings, and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria , Japan announced its unconditional surrender on 15 August and signed a surrender document on 2 September 1945 , marking
13770-462: The US and Canadian west coasts. Caledonian objected to the other independent airlines' applications. BOAC opposed all the independents' applications. Before the route licensing hearings began, the BOT directed the ATLB to prejudge the four contenders' applications in order to concentrate only on those that stood a reasonable chance of success under existing bilateral arrangements. As far as British Eagle
13932-568: The United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence ; when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939, the same guarantee was extended to the Kingdoms of Romania and Greece . Shortly after the Franco - British pledge to Poland, Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel . Hitler accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying to "encircle" Germany and renounced
14094-538: The United Kingdom attacked on 3 July in an attempt to prevent its seizure by Germany. The air Battle of Britain began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and harbours . The German campaign for air superiority started in August but its failure to defeat RAF Fighter Command forced the indefinite postponement of the proposed German invasion of Britain . The German strategic bombing offensive intensified with night attacks on London and other cities in
14256-455: The United Kingdom. The Germans turned south against the weakened French army, and Paris fell to them on 14 June. Eight days later France signed an armistice with Germany ; it was divided into German and Italian occupation zones , and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime , which, though officially neutral, was generally aligned with Germany. France kept its fleet, which
14418-640: The United States was assisting China and the Western Allies, and had amended the Neutrality Act to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies. In 1940, following the German capture of Paris, the size of the United States Navy was significantly increased . In September the United States further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases . Still, a large majority of the American public continued to oppose any direct military intervention in
14580-590: The Yellow River ; this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan , but the city was taken by October. Japanese military victories did not bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve; instead, the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the war. In the mid-to-late 1930s, Japanese forces in Manchukuo had sporadic border clashes with
14742-624: The airline expanded from charter work into scheduled services from its new base at Blackbushe Airport, using Vickers Vikings. The first of these were acquired from Crewsair, another rival UK independent. Eagle, which by that time had set up Eagle Airways as a new company to run the scheduled side of the business (leaving Eagle Aviation in charge of all non-scheduled operations, including trooping flights), inaugurated its first scheduled service on 6 June 1953 from London (Blackbushe) to Belgrade (via Munich ), followed by London— Aalborg and London— Gothenburg . It also began operating domestic flights within
14904-490: The airline sought licences for a London—Bermuda—Nassau— Kingston / Montego Bay mid-Atlantic and Caribbean service, with Chicago as an intermediate stop between London and Bermuda or Nassau. There were also plans to seek licences for a transatlantic all-cargo service between London, New York and six other points on the East Coast of the United States , as well as for a mixed passenger/cargo service between London and Hong Kong . As
15066-524: The airline's first pressurised aircraft. They were also its first imported aircraft (the initial batch of three had been sourced from the US ). This acquisition marked an important change regarding UK airlines' aircraft procurement policies as new legislation permitted (for the first time) that aircraft imported from abroad – usually American models – could be paid for in dollars . The lack of access to foreign exchange to finance overseas aircraft purchases prior to
15228-470: The beneficiaries included BEA, BOAC, BUA and Skyways. From 1 October 1960, all-coach DC-6Cs flying the London—Bermuda—Nassau route were replaced with Britannias featuring a 98-seat, three-class layout comprising 14 first-class , 66 economy and 18 Skycoach seats (British residents only). Like its predecessors, these were Bermudan -registered. An additional weekly all- Skycoach operation using
15390-560: The brand disappearing in 2004, Lunn Poly Limited was retained as a dormant company, registered at TUI's UK headquarters in Luton until it's dissolution from the UK companies house register in June 2024. In 2011, former employee Robert Bonnar was jailed for admitting to laundering £500,000 through a Lunn Poly store in Glasgow between 2002 and 2003. Lunn Poly Television began broadcasting on June 1, 2004 via Sky Digital. The 18 hour per day broadcast
15552-456: The capital Nanking in December 1937. After the fall of Nanking, tens or hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered by the Japanese . In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at Taierzhuang , but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by the Japanese in May. In June 1938, Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding
15714-462: The carriage of both passengers and cargo and eight BAC One-Elevens – the last three of which were to be Quick Change (QC) models that could either be used as passenger or freight carriers. The latter were to consist of 10 Britannias. The end of a number of Ministry of Defence contracts in 1966 saw the airline with surplus aircraft and two Britannias were sold to Air Spain . The simultaneous arrival at Glasgow of BEA's first Comet 4B revenue service and
15876-399: The challenge on its three most important domestic routes by scheduling additional flights that departed and arrived at the same time or within 10 minutes of its rival's scheduled departure and arrival times. This had the effect of "sandwiching" British Eagle's flights. BEA's response also included the introduction of trickle loading and subsequent introduction of full onboard catering as well as
16038-554: The change in legislation had compelled all private UK airlines to equip their fleets either with British-built civilian/ex-military aircraft or war -surplus, or foreign-built military transport planes that had served with the RAF Transport Command — mainly Douglas Dakotas . Their state-owned counterparts had to seek Government dispensation to import foreign aircraft, which was only granted when no suitable British alternatives were available. These measures had been designed during
16200-578: The company insisted that there were no plans to rebrand Lunn Poly. The headquarters was moved from Lunn Poly House in Leamington Spa to London during the acquisition. In October 2004, TUI sold a number of Travel House Group stores to Martin Morgan Travel, before confirming the remainder would be rebranded to Lunn Poly. On 2 November 2004, the announcement was made that all Lunn Poly shops in the United Kingdom were to be rebranded as Thomson. Despite
16362-592: The company's head office was located at 29 Clarges Street , Central London . By 1951, Eagle Aviation had won its first regular Government trooping contracts, including the first regular contract awarded by the War Office for trooping flights between the UK and Singapore starting in August 1951. This helped keep its fleet of six Halifaxes and nine Avro Yorks busy and provided employment for 100 people including 12 pilots. Operations moved to Blackbushe Airport in 1952, followed
16524-424: The conclusion of the transatlantic scheduled licensing hearings in mid-1968, the ATLB rejected British Eagle's and Caledonian's applications. It felt that the independents generally lacked the financial strength to acquire the then latest widebodied and supersonic transport (SST) aircraft for their proposed services and that these airlines had insufficient economies of scale to enable them to compete with BOAC and
16686-403: The conflict well into 1941. In December 1940, Roosevelt accused Hitler of planning world conquest and ruled out any negotiations as useless, calling for the United States to become an " arsenal of democracy " and promoting Lend-Lease programmes of military and humanitarian aid to support the British war effort; Lend-Lease was later extended to the other Allies, including the Soviet Union after it
16848-515: The creation of a " New Roman Empire ". Adolf Hitler , after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923, eventually became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 when Paul von Hindenburg and the Reichstag appointed him. Following Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany and abolished democracy, espousing a radical, racially motivated revision of
17010-442: The decision to reconstitute Eagle by buying back control from Cunard. Having raised his holding to 60% in February 1963, on 9 August, the airline's official name changed to British Eagle International Airlines Ltd (the name Bamberg had given the new holding company on 1 March). It had a fully paid-up share capital of £1,000,000. Initial equipment included Vickers Viscount and Bristol Britannia turboprop planes. From 16 September,
17172-428: The development of domestic scheduled services, the airline earned an operating surplus of £853,700. The retained net profit amounted to £101,500. This represented 2% of total assets employed (£4.9 million), after allowing for depreciation and other charges. This set of figures marked the first profitable period of operation following reconstitution. Following the suspension of British Eagle's scheduled operations on
17334-678: The directive to prepare for an invasion of the Soviet Union. Lunn Poly Lunn Poly was a large chain of travel agents in the United Kingdom . TUI Travel acquired Lunn Poly in 2003, and by the end of 2004 had retired the brand absorbing it within the wider Thomson Travel group. The company originated from two successful travel agencies established in the 1890s, the Polytechnic Touring Association and Sir Henry Lunn Travel . The latter an early travel innovator for winter sports trips to Switzerland and Italy, as well as religious tours to Israel. Both firms were acquired in
17496-739: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires. To prevent a future world war, the League of Nations was established in 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference . The organisation's primary goals were to prevent armed conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament , as well as settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration. Despite strong pacifist sentiment after World War I , irredentist and revanchist nationalism had emerged in several European states. These sentiments were especially marked in Germany because of
17658-486: The duty. The unresolved dispute between British Eagle and the BOT over the payment of import duty on two new 707-365Cs held up the first aircraft's delivery at the beginning of February 1968, with HM Customs demanding payment of £440,000 before releasing the aircraft. The dispute was resolved with the airline agreeing to pay the duty once the Bermudan-registered aircraft was operating in British Eagle livery . This
17820-507: The earlier Britannia operation on this route. Cunard Eagle succeeded in extending this service to Miami despite the loss of its original transatlantic scheduled licence and BOAC's claim that there was insufficient traffic to warrant a direct service from the UK. A load factor of 56% was achieved at the outset. Inauguration of the first British through-plane service between London and Miami also helped Cunard Eagle increase utilisation of its 707s. BOAC countered Eagle's move to establish itself as
17982-445: The early post-war years to conserve as much of Britain 's scarce US dollar -denominated foreign exchange reserves as possible. Eagle Airways (Bermuda) launched commercial operations in May 1958 between Bermuda and New York, competing head-on with three of the world's most powerful airlines – BOAC, Pan Am and Eastern Air Lines . Other regional services in the western hemisphere followed. Stimulated by low fares, traffic volumes on
18144-637: The end of May completed the German conquest of the Balkans. Partisan warfare subsequently broke out against the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia , which continued until the end of the war. In the Middle East in May, Commonwealth forces quashed an uprising in Iraq which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria . Between June and July, British-led forces invaded and occupied
18306-463: The end of the war. World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the world, and it set the foundation of international relations for the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st century. The United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US—becoming
18468-566: The first step of what its government saw as the country's right to rule Asia , staged the Mukden incident as a pretext to invade Manchuria and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo . China appealed to the League of Nations to stop the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion into Manchuria. The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai , Rehe and Hebei , until
18630-506: The first time jets were used to operate scheduled services on a domestic trunk route from Heathrow. It also marked the first time parallel jet competition was introduced on a UK domestic trunk route, as well as the fourth time such competition was introduced anywhere. British Eagle initially operated its scheduled domestic jet services with a pair of 200 series One-Elevens leased from the Central African Airways , pending delivery of
18792-437: The five major contemporary UK airlines (behind BEA, BOAC and BUA, and ahead of Caledonian). The airline's 24 aircraft included eight jets, six of which had been acquired direct from their manufacturers. These included a Boeing 707-365C leased out to MEA and five BAC One-Eleven 300 series . Kleinwort Benson were the owners of the 707-365C and two second-hand -138Bs that had been acquired from Qantas, while Kuwait Finance Agency,
18954-843: The former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after instigating the Marco Polo Bridge incident , which culminated in the Japanese campaign to invade all of China. The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to lend materiel support, effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany . From September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan , engaged the Kuomintang Army around Xinkou , and fought Communist forces in Pingxingguan . Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai , but after three months of fighting, Shanghai fell. The Japanese continued to push Chinese forces back, capturing
19116-512: The invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia ) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy ( Regno d'Italia ), which was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea . The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa ( Africa Orientale Italiana , or AOI); in addition it exposed the weakness of
19278-553: The late 1950s, all aircraft carried the Eagle Airways name. Following Blackbushe's closure to commercial air traffic in 1960, Eagle moved its base to London Heathrow, then simply known as London Airport . Eagle along with British United Airways (BUA) — its principal contemporary independent competitor – had successfully lobbied the Government to bring about a change in legislation that had given their state-owned counterparts
19440-455: The latter was an unrestricted cabotage route, British Eagle intended to seek approval for a £125 one-way fare that would have undercut the existing fare by £83. At the forthcoming ATLB hearings, British Eagle planned to back up its case with detailed traffic statistics showing a marked decline in Britain's traffic share over a period of five years on routes shared with foreign flag carriers where BOAC
19602-439: The launch of transatlantic scheduled services between Bermuda and New York, using Viscount 800 turboprop aircraft. Within a year of launching its first transatlantic scheduled route, the airline's North Atlantic scheduled operation extended to Montreal , Baltimore , Washington and Nassau . In 1958, Eagle acquired the first three of an eventual six Douglas DC-6s for long-range charter and scheduled operations. These were
19764-420: The main domestic trunk routes from Heathrow in particular. The Starways fleet – two Vickers Viscounts, three Douglas DC-4s and three DC-3s – was not included in the takeover and subsequently disposed of. Instead, to provide sufficient capacity to operate the combined airline's flying programme, British Eagle purchased an additional three Viscount 700s . Despite losing £80,000 during its first year of operation,
19926-514: The meantime the airline acquired two further Britannia aircraft in March and May 1961, both ex- Canadian Pacific Air Lines aircraft. In April 1960, the Government approved a range of new Colonial Coach fares for travel by British residents only on cabotage routes linking the UK with its remaining colonies . Despite opposition from IATA, British airlines – including British IATA members – were free to introduce them from 1 October 1960 as UK authorities controlled fares at both ends. Apart from Eagle,
20088-612: The overseas investment arm of the Kuwait government, and British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) respectively owned three and two of the five One-Elevens. British Eagle operated all of these aircraft under lease purchase agreements with the owners. By that time, the company's scheduled service network included routes from London Heathrow to Liverpool, Glasgow , Newquay , Luxembourg , Dinard , La Baule , Lourdes , Perpignan, Gerona , Palma de Mallorca , Ibiza , Pisa , Rimini , Stuttgart , Innsbruck , Djerba and Tunis . The firm also operated
20250-497: The permanent members of its security council . The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers , setting the stage for the Cold War . In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia . Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion . World War II began in Europe on 1 September 1939 with
20412-440: The person would disappear into thin air and end up at a holiday spot. In 2003, Lunn Poly relaunched its Getaway slogan as part of a new advertising campaign. In late 2003, Lunn Poly introduced Whispering Windows created by Newlands Scientific. The technology would allow the windows to effectively talk to the customer, designed to encourage more interaction with the high street stores. The estimated increase in footfall during
20574-571: The political European map with the defeat of the Central Powers —including Austria-Hungary , Germany , Bulgaria , and the Ottoman Empire —and the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia , which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies of World War I , such as France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Greece, gained territory, and new nation-states were created out of
20736-583: The port of Tobruk . By late March 1941, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact ; however, the Yugoslav government was overthrown two days later by pro-British nationalists. Germany and Italy responded with simultaneous invasions of both Yugoslavia and Greece , commencing on 6 April 1941; both nations were forced to surrender within the month. The airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete at
20898-407: The prospect of placing a follow-on order for an additional two 707-365Cs in the case of these applications being approved and relevant licences awarded. In addition to taking delivery of the first of a pair of brand-new 707-365Cs ordered directly from Boeing, British Eagle also began operating two second-hand, shorter-fuselage 707-138Bs sourced from Qantas . The latter aircraft were used to operate
21060-586: The reconstituted airline gradually regained profitability. In January 1964 the airline acquired two Britannia aircraft (ex-Transcontinental SA) for modification to freighters. Following modification they entered service in July 1964 in support of the UK's Blue Steel missile programme ferrying equipment and personnel to the Woomera Test Range in Australia . On 1 January 1964, British Eagle – Starways began operating
21222-693: The remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state , the Slovak Republic . Hitler also delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania on 20 March 1939, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda Region , formerly the German Memelland . Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig ,
21384-401: The right to serve Manchester , Glasgow Prestwick , Philadelphia , Baltimore , Boston and Washington . However, the carriage of passengers on UK domestic sectors and of mail on all sectors was denied, as well as requests for traffic rights to Toronto , Montreal , Detroit and Chicago . The decision to open these transatlantic routes to Cunard Eagle angered BOAC, which was losing money at
21546-458: The significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles . Under the treaty, Germany lost around 13 percent of its home territory and all its overseas possessions , while German annexation of other states was prohibited, reparations were imposed, and limits were placed on the size and capability of the country's armed forces . The German Empire was dissolved in
21708-521: The spring of 1959, Eagle Airways (Bermuda) was operating scheduled passenger flights with Vickers Viscount 805 turboprop aircraft between Bermuda and Baltimore , Washington, D.C. and New York City in the U.S. as well as between Bermuda and Montreal in Canada. Following six years of losses, Eagle managed to break even on what it claimed to be Britain's biggest network of independent-operated scheduled services comprising 12 routes to Europe by 1959. By
21870-494: The start or prelude to World War II. The exact date of the war's end also is not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 15 August 1945 ( V-J Day ), rather than with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, which officially ended the war in Asia . A peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was signed in 1951. A 1990 treaty regarding Germany's future allowed
22032-575: The strong Maginot Line fortifications on the Franco-German border, Germany directed its attack at the neutral nations of Belgium , the Netherlands , and Luxembourg . The Germans carried out a flanking manoeuvre through the Ardennes region, which was mistakenly perceived by the Allies as an impenetrable natural barrier against armoured vehicles. By successfully implementing new Blitzkrieg tactics,
22194-488: The summer IT programme included for the first time 15-day, all-inclusive packages to Spain's Costa Brava . These combined flights to Perpignan in Southern France with onward coach connections, with prices starting from £32.50 for travel on Mondays (£36 for weekend travel). 1957 was also the year Eagle joined IATA. On 26 July 1957, Eagle formed an overseas subsidiary, named Eagle Airways (Bermuda) , in preparation for
22356-482: The three main UK domestic trunk routes resulted in the latter's decision to resume operations on Heathrow—Glasgow on 5 July 1965, at a frequency of three return flights per day. Two of these operated non-stop while the remaining one routed via Liverpool. Combining its licences for unrestricted frequencies between Heathrow and Liverpool, a maximum of two daily return flights on Heathrow—Glasgow as well as 17 weekly Liverpool—Glasgow round-trips, enabled British Eagle to operate
22518-495: The three main domestic trunk routes from Heathrow to Glasgow , Edinburgh and Belfast , BUA applied to the ATLB to have these licences transferred to itself. BUA wanted to operate the former British Eagle routes with its new BAC One-Elevens from its Gatwick base at similar frequencies (10–12 round-trips per week). It argued that its proposed services were primarily intended as domestic feeders for its growing international scheduled and non-scheduled operations at Gatwick, that this
22680-490: The time. It appealed to Aviation Minister Peter Thorneycroft , who was empowered to accept or reject the ATLB's recommendations and to uphold or quash appeals against its decisions. The state airline cited its order for 45 Standard and Super VC10 long-haul jets and an earlier ministerial promise not to permit another British competitor on this route in support of its appeal. The appeal was upheld, resulting in revocation of Cunard Eagle's transatlantic licenses in November 1961. In
22842-577: The two wars became World War II in 1941. Other proposed starting dates for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939. Others view the Spanish Civil War as
23004-542: The use of Wedgwood china and fine-quality glassware in first class. British Eagle differentiated itself by introducing assigned seating and "trickle loading". The former was a first for a UK scheduled domestic carrier while the airline claimed to have started the latter in the UK as well. Although British Eagle provided a standby aircraft to maintain the integrity of its schedules, flights were timed to provide eight-hours' work per day for one aircraft to maximise utilisation. BEA, whose frequencies were not restricted, responded to
23166-504: The war were not fulfilled in the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist, totalitarian , and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed socialist, left-wing, and liberal forces, and pursued an aggressive expansionist foreign policy aimed at making Italy a world power, promising
23328-475: The war. Germany annexed western Poland and occupied central Poland ; the Soviet Union annexed eastern Poland ; small shares of Polish territory were transferred to Lithuania and Slovakia . On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected and Hitler ordered an immediate offensive against France, which
23490-503: The west halted the German advance for several days, but it was outflanked and encircled by the Wehrmacht . Remnants of the Polish army broke through to besieged Warsaw . On 17 September 1939, two days after signing a cease-fire with Japan , the Soviet Union invaded Poland under the supposed pretext that the Polish state had ceased to exist. On 27 September, the Warsaw garrison surrendered to
23652-687: The world order , and soon began a massive rearmament campaign . France, seeking to secure its alliance with Italy, allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia , which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was legally reunited with Germany, and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, accelerated his rearmament programme, and introduced conscription. The United Kingdom, France and Italy formed
23814-439: The world's countries —including all the great powers —participated, with many investing all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in pursuit of total war , blurring the distinction between military and civilian resources. Tanks and aircraft played major roles , with the latter enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II
23976-554: Was invaded by Germany. The United States started strategic planning to prepare for a full-scale offensive against Germany. At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact formally united Japan, Italy, and Germany as the Axis powers . The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country—with the exception of the Soviet Union—that attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three. The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary , Slovakia , and Romania joined. Romania and Hungary later made major contributions to
24138-507: Was a bad year for the British travel industry. The brief Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbours caused a temporary spike in oil prices while both the military coup in Greece and new Spanish access restrictions to Gibraltar resulted in fewer people visiting these places. In addition, the value of sterling dropped by 14.7%, as a result of many Arab countries switching their sterling balances in London to dollars and moving them to Zürich . These events were responsible for
24300-451: Was also the first time a scheduled airline had offered a separate first class cabin on a UK domestic route. As British Eagle was restricted to a single daily round-trip on each route, it sought to differentiate itself from BEA. While BEA served these routes with 132-seat Vickers Vanguards in an all-tourist configuration with minimal onboard catering, British Eagle provided full catering on all flights. This included top-quality wines as well as
24462-606: Was concerned, the applications seeking licences for scheduled/non-scheduled services to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal and Jamaica with Chicago as an intermediate stop were not heard. These were withdrawn prior to the hearings' commencement on 16 January 1968. BUA withdrew its own applications but objected to British Eagle's and Caledonian's. Transglobe withdrew its applications as well. British Eagle and Caledonian objected to each other's applications. The ATLB heard British Eagle's applications, Caledonian's counter applications and BOAC's objections in early 1968. Following
24624-448: Was followed by daily two-class Britannia services from Heathrow to Edinburgh and Belfast the next day. Two Britannia aircraft were leased from BOAC to provide additional capacity. This was the first time an independent airline was allowed to compete with the corporations on the main UK domestic trunk routes and only the fourth time there was direct competition between private and state-owned airlines on domestic trunk routes anywhere. It
24786-432: Was not going to be the case for at least another year as the aircraft had been wet-leased to Middle East Airlines (MEA) as of 1 March. British Eagle had made operating the aircraft in its own colours dependent on the outcome of the applications to the ATLB for licences to operate scheduled and non-scheduled services between London and New York as well as London, Bermuda and Nassau from 1 April 1969. The airline had held out
24948-558: Was not pursued further by Lunn Poly. At the time, a number of South Wales stores rebranded from Lunn Poly to Travel House due to the latter's enhanced reputation in the region. By January 2003, Lunn Poly began to refine the megastore concept further, reducing the size of the new out of town stores to around 4,000 sq ft compared to the original Leicester stores floor span of 10,000 sq ft. The first new concept store opened in Swansea . When TUI UK, which had acquired Thomson Travel, rebranded Britannia Airways as Thomsonfly in November 2003,
25110-403: Was postponed until the spring of 1940 due to bad weather. After the outbreak of war in Poland, Stalin threatened Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania with military invasion, forcing the three Baltic countries to sign pacts allowing the creation of Soviet military bases in these countries; in October 1939, significant Soviet military contingents were moved there. Finland refused to sign
25272-473: Was produced by The Travel Channel, and was backed by a £1million advertising campaign across the Sky platform. As part of TUI retiring the Lunn Poly name, the TV channel was rebranded as Thomson TV before the end of 2004. Lunn Poly was famous for a long-running advertising campaign on television . These adverts featured people looking into what holidays the company offered. Another person would then say to them in disbelief "Lunn Poly? Get away!", at which point
25434-657: Was repulsed with heavy Italian casualties; the campaign ended within months with minor territorial changes. To assist Italy and prevent Britain from gaining a foothold, Germany prepared to invade the Balkans, which would threaten Romanian oil fields and strike against British dominance of the Mediterranean. In December 1940, British Empire forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa . The offensives were successful; by early February 1941, Italy had lost control of eastern Libya, and large numbers of Italian troops had been taken prisoner. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats, with
25596-441: Was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations, which rendered it essentially toothless. The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August of the same year. Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno Treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in March 1936, encountering little opposition due to the policy of appeasement . In October 1936, Germany and Italy formed
25758-764: Was supported by contemporary Government policy giving preference to that airport's development to improve utilisation and enable it to become profitable, and that it would relieve congestion at Heathrow. BUA furthermore argued that the use of a different London terminal serving a distinct catchment area would divert little traffic from BEA, thereby minimising the competitive impact on the corporation. In addition to requesting revocation and transfer of British Eagle's licences for London—Glasgow, London—Edinburgh and London—Belfast, BUA also sought scheduled service licences for London— Birmingham and London—Manchester (to be operated from Gatwick as well). BUA's attempt to have British Eagle stripped of its licences to operate scheduled services on
25920-480: Was the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in 70 to 85 million deaths , more than half being civilians. Millions died in genocides , including the Holocaust of European Jews, as well as from massacres, starvation, and disease. Following the Allied powers' victory, Germany , Austria , Japan , and Korea were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders . The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in
26082-417: Was the sole British flag carrier. These figures indicated that in the case of the transatlantic scheduled air market between Britain and the United States, the American market share rose by 10% between 1962 and 1966 while the British share fell by 7% within that period. British Eagle wanted to use these findings to argue that licensing a second British scheduled carrier on these routes would substantially benefit
26244-432: Was valid for 15 years – from 31 August 1961 to 31 July 1976. Cunard appointed Eagle's original founder, Harold Bamberg, as their new aviation director, hoping that his knowledge of the industry would help them to capture a significant share of the 1 million people that crossed the Atlantic by air in 1960. This was the first time more passengers chose to make their transatlantic crossing by air than sea. The airline also won
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