Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering ) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline ).
113-503: British United Airways ( BUA ) was a private, independent airline in the United Kingdom formed as a result of the merger of Airwork Services and Hunting-Clan Air Transport in July 1960, making it the largest wholly private airline based in the United Kingdom at the time. British and Commonwealth Shipping (B&C) was the new airline's main shareholder. At its inception, BUA assumed
226-517: A BR train to Gatwick Airport railway station . At Gatwick they transferred to a BUA Viscount, which flew them to Le Touquet Airport . At Le Touquet Airport an SNCF train was waiting to take them to Paris's Gare du Nord station. The entire journey took five hours and the minimum return fare was £10 9 s . This compared with Skyways Coach-Air 's London Victoria Coach Station — Lympne Airport — Beauvais Airport — Paris République Coach Station £11 return coach-air-coach fare. BUA's Silver Arrow service
339-469: A BUA BAC One-Eleven became the type's first example to enter commercial service. The simultaneous launch of daily One-Eleven jet services from Gatwick to Glasgow , Edinburgh and Belfast on 4 January 1966 made BUA the first scheduled all-jet operator on UK domestic trunk routes. In 1968, the BUA group of companies underwent a major reorganisation to improve its financial performance. This included adoption of
452-469: A Comet 4, and Pan Am followed on 26 October with a Boeing 707 service between New York and Paris. The next big boost for the airlines would come in the 1970s, when the Boeing 747 , McDonnell Douglas DC-10 , and Lockheed L-1011 inaugurated widebody ("jumbo jet") service, which is still the standard in international travel. The Tupolev Tu-144 and its Western counterpart, Concorde , made supersonic travel
565-430: A crusade to create an air network that would link America to the world, and he achieved this goal through his airline, Pan Am , with a fleet of flying boats that linked Los Angeles to Shanghai and Boston to London . Pan Am and Northwest Airways (which began flights to Canada in the 1920s) were the only U.S. airlines to go international before the 1940s. With the introduction of the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-3 in
678-457: A dedicated SNCF train that took them direct to Gare du Nord train station in the centre of Paris. BUA's new London—Paris rail-air-rail service via Gatwick replaced a coach-air-coach/rail service it had operated on this route via Lydd . BUA Silver Arrow fares were less than what BEA and Air France charged their passengers to fly non-stop between Heathrow and Paris to compensate for the longer travelling times (5 hr vs. 2 hr 45 min.). The first of
791-449: A downturn in the nation's economy occurred. New start-ups entered during the downturn, during which time they found aircraft and funding, contracted hangar and maintenance services, trained new employees, and recruited laid-off staff from other airlines. Major airlines dominated their routes through aggressive pricing and additional capacity offerings, often swamping new start-ups. In the place of high barriers to entry imposed by regulation,
904-571: A gift from the taxpayers. (Passenger carriers operating scheduled service received approximately $ 4 billion, subject to tax.) In addition, the ATSB approved loan guarantees to six airlines totaling approximately $ 1.6 billion. Data from the U.S. Treasury Department show that the government recouped the $ 1.6 billion and a profit of $ 339 million from the fees, interest and purchase of discounted airline stock associated with loan guarantees. The three largest major carriers and Southwest Airlines control 70% of
1017-467: A greater choice of flights and shorter journey times between the UK, Argentina and Chile, made BUA's schedules more competitive with rivals. In late 1964, Air Ferry joined the BUA group of companies as a consequence of Air Holdings' acquisition of Leroy Tours, Air Ferry's owners, thereby restoring the cross-Channel vehicle ferry services monopoly of British United Air Ferries. In early April 1965, BUA received
1130-576: A limited number of all-cargo services to Africa. Moreover, BUA acted as Sudan Airways 's technical advisers and operated that airline's Blue Nile Viscount services between Khartoum and London Gatwick . BUA was a full member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) since its inception as a result of inheriting Hunting-Clan's membership. This included membership of IATA's trade association as well as participation in tariff co-ordination with other member airlines in
1243-461: A major international carrier. In 1933, Aéropostale went bankrupt , was nationalized and merged into Air France . Although Germany lacked colonies, it also began expanding its services globally. In 1931, the airship Graf Zeppelin began offering regular scheduled passenger service between Germany and South America, usually every two weeks, which continued until 1937. In 1936, the airship Hindenburg entered passenger service and successfully crossed
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#17328588099201356-517: A mixed fleet of 43 airliners and 47 helicopters. The former included Douglas DC-3 Dakota / C-47 Skytrain , DC-4 / C-54 Skymaster and DC-6 piston airliners as well as more modern Bristol Britannia and Vickers Viscount turboprops . These continued serving the all- economy Safari and colonial coach class (British residents only) routes to East , Central , Southern and West Africa pioneered by both Airwork and Hunting-Clan, as well as operating trooping flights from Stansted under contract to
1469-494: A negative result of more than £1 million in 1968 and an even higher deficit the year after. This scenario undermined the board's case for additional shareholder funds to finance the purchase of new long-haul jet equipment to replace the remaining Britannias and caused growing anxiety among shareholders, who threatened to withdraw their support unless there was a marked improvement in the airline's long-term prospects. A detailed analysis of BUA's financial results had shown that raising
1582-429: A new strategy for BUA that aimed to replace the dwindling number of unprofitable trooping flights with growing engagement in the more rewarding European inclusive tour (IT) and transatlantic affinity group charter markets. It also resulted in relocation of the head office and concentration of engineering activities at Gatwick. Successful implementation of these organisational and strategic changes enabled BUA to make
1695-415: A new two-tone, sandstone and blue colour scheme. VC10 G-ASIX was first to appear in the new livery . This was sometimes unofficially referred to as the "hockey stick" livery. BUA followed up its initial order for ten 200 series One-Elevens with an additional order for five stretched One-Eleven 500s . These were larger capacity aircraft with a higher takeoff weight that were primarily intended for use on
1808-589: A newly created Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB). The applications to DOT for reimbursements were subjected to rigorous multi-year reviews not only by DOT program personnel but also by the Government Accountability Office and the DOT Inspector General. Ultimately, the federal government provided $ 4.6 billion in one-time, subject-to-income-tax cash payments to 427 U.S. air carriers, with no provision for repayment, essentially
1921-540: A proving flight across the English Channel , despite a lack of support from the British government. Flown by Lt. H Shaw in an Airco DH.9 between RAF Hendon and Paris – Le Bourget Airport , the flight took 2 hours and 30 minutes at £21 per passenger. On August 25, 1919, the company used DH.16s to pioneer a regular service from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome to Paris's Le Bourget , the first regular international service in
2034-547: A reality. Concorde first flew in 1969 and operated through 2003. In 1972, Airbus began producing Europe's most commercially successful line of airliners to date. The added efficiencies for these aircraft were often not in speed, but in passenger capacity, payload, and range. Airbus also features modern electronic cockpits that were common across their aircraft to enable pilots to fly multiple models with minimal cross-training. The 1978 U.S. airline industry deregulation lowered federally controlled barriers for new airlines just as
2147-636: A request for twice-weekly all-economy/colonial coach class flights linking Gatwick with Istanbul , Teheran , Karachi , Delhi , Calcutta , Bangkok and Singapore , with a weekly extension to Hong Kong and Tokyo , respectively. BUA intended to inaugurate its first-ever scheduled services to Asia with DC-6Cs or Britannias, which were to be replaced with the new VC10s at a later stage. The airline planned to charge standard IATA fares on all sectors. In addition, it proposed to offer British residents flying to Singapore and Hong Kong in Skycoach an 18% discount on
2260-428: A result of the high depreciation charges its newly acquired jet fleet incurred and substantial losses the ex-BOAC South American routes generated. Over the following two years, the airline's financial situation rapidly deteriorated. In 1966, the loss amounted to £250,000. The following year it almost doubled. Preliminary loss projections released during summer 1967 had shown that a continuation of this trend would produce
2373-500: A result of the terrorist attacks. This resulted in the first government bailout of the 21st century. Between 2000 and 2005 US airlines lost $ 30 billion with wage cuts of over $ 15 billion and 100,000 employees laid off. In recognition of the essential national economic role of a healthy aviation system, Congress authorized partial compensation of up to $ 5 billion in cash subject to review by the U.S. Department of Transportation and up to $ 10 billion in loan guarantees subject to review by
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#17328588099202486-515: A scheduled airline was one of the first major policy decisions the BUA group's main board took in the early 1960s. The Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act of 1960, which abolished the statutory monopoly British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA) had enjoyed on principal domestic and international scheduled routes since the beginning of the post- war era and – theoretically – gave independent airlines equal opportunities to develop scheduled routes in their own right, formed
2599-497: A scheduled airline. This was also the first time a private British airline had placed a launch order for a new jet. In January 1962, BUA absorbed British Aviation Services , the holding company of rival British independent airlines Britavia and Silver City Airways . This made BUA the largest unsubsidised airline outside the United States . Silver City's pre-merger status as the main independent provider of air ferry services in
2712-467: A serious competitive threat to the legacy carriers. However, of these, ATA and Skybus have since ceased operations. Increasingly since 1978, US airlines have been reincorporated and spun off by newly created and internally led management companies, and thus becoming nothing more than operating units and subsidiaries with limited financially decisive control. Among some of these holding companies and parent companies which are relatively well known, are
2825-436: A staff of 3,000. Airwork was formed in 1928. During the 1930s, it helped establish the predecessors of the post- World War II national airlines of India , Egypt and Rhodesia . By the time Airwork merged with Hunting-Clan to form BUA, the former's air transport subsidiaries already included Airwork Helicopters, Air Charter , Bristow Helicopters , Channel Air Bridge , Transair and Morton Air Services . Hunting-Clan
2938-520: A substantial amount of which was fluctuating, low-margin short-haul trooping between the UK and Germany, constituted a large part of its business. On the other hand, scheduled services generated inadequate revenues, which were insufficient to support the airline. Simultaneous development of new scheduled services and integration of existing regional operations in the Channel Islands and on the Isle of Man with
3051-484: A third weekly frequency, which routed through Freetown to/from Buenos Aires, were added subsequently. The third frequency permitted BUA to alter its South American route pattern. As a result, one flight terminated in Brazil and end-to-end travelling times on the new Gatwick – Freetown – Buenos Aires – Santiago service reduced by over two hours compared with the previous routeing. The consequent overall capacity increase, including
3164-469: A trooping flight from Gatwick to Aden . This made BUA the first British independent airline to commence uninterrupted jet operations. While negotiations with relevant authorities in the UK and destination countries for the grant of interim operating permits to enable the transfer of BOAC's loss-making routes to South America and to ensure continuity of service were still in progress, BUA's first proving flight to that continent took place on 12 October 1964. It
3277-447: A twice-daily rail-air-rail service between the city centres of London and Paris. The service, which was marketed as Silver Arrow in the UK and as Flèche d'argent in France , was a joint operation between British Rail (BR), BUA and Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer français (SNCF). At London's Victoria Station, where BUA check-in facilities were available, Paris-bound passengers boarded
3390-447: A viable business, Bristow simplified the unwieldy organisational structure of the BUA group of companies and implemented a new growth strategy. Airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers or freight . Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements , in which they both offer and operate
3503-520: A £100,000 city centre check-in facility in London's West End in a disused part of Victoria Station , which opened in late-April 1962. This enabled BUA's scheduled passengers to complete all check-in formalities, including dropping off their hold luggage, before boarding their train to Gatwick. At its inception, Bristol Britannias operated most of BUA's long-distance charter flights . A large number of these were trooping flights. Developing BUA primarily as
British United Airways - Misplaced Pages Continue
3616-557: The Farman F.60 Goliath plane flew scheduled services from Toussus-le-Noble to Kenley , near Croydon , England. Another early French airline was the Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes , established in 1919 by Louis-Charles Breguet , offering a mail and freight service between Le Bourget Airport , Paris and Lesquin Airport , Lille . The first German airline to use heavier than air aircraft
3729-626: The Ford Motor Company bought out the Stout Aircraft Company and began construction of the all-metal Ford Trimotor , which became the first successful American airliner. With a 12-passenger capacity, the Trimotor made passenger service potentially profitable. Air service was seen as a supplement to rail service in the American transportation network. At the same time, Juan Trippe began
3842-486: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and assorted passenger and freight charter flights these airlines and their associates had provided. During its first year of operation, the BUA group's 90-strong fleet flew 17.8 million revenue miles (28.6 million revenue kilometres ), carrying 631,030 passengers, 143 million pounds (lb) (64,867 [metric] tonnes (t)) of freight and 25,749 cars (carried by Channel Air Bridge). In addition to
3955-607: The Safari routes to Africa, BUA also established a network of scheduled services to mainly secondary destinations in Continental Europe , including Barcelona , Gibraltar , Ibiza , Málaga , Le Touquet , Lourdes , Palma , Perpignan , Amsterdam , Rotterdam , and the Channel Islands . BUA furthermore continued Hunting-Clan's Africargo scheduled freight operation. This had given it access to Heathrow , Hunting's old base, for
4068-686: The Tupolev Tu-104 . Deregulation of the European Union airspace in the early 1990s has had substantial effect on the structure of the industry there. The shift towards 'budget' airlines on shorter routes has been significant. Airlines such as EasyJet and Ryanair have often grown at the expense of the traditional national airlines. There has also been a trend for these national airlines themselves to be privatized such as has occurred for Aer Lingus and British Airways . Other national airlines, including Italy's Alitalia , suffered – particularly with
4181-638: The UAL Corporation , along with the AMR Corporation , among a long list of airline holding companies sometime recognized worldwide. Less recognized are the private-equity firms which often seize managerial, financial, and board of directors control of distressed airline companies by temporarily investing large sums of capital in air carriers, to rescheme an airlines assets into a profitable organization or liquidating an air carrier of their profitable and worthwhile routes and business operations. Thus
4294-748: The United States Army Air Service . Private operators were the first to fly the mail but due to numerous accidents the US Army was tasked with mail delivery. During the Army's involvement they proved to be too unreliable and lost their air mail duties. By the mid-1920s, the Postal Service had developed its own air mail network, based on a transcontinental backbone between New York City and San Francisco . To supplement this service, they offered twelve contracts for spur routes to independent bidders. Some of
4407-552: The 1930s, the U.S. airline industry was generally profitable, even during the Great Depression . This trend continued until the beginning of World War II . World War II, like World War I, brought new life to the airline industry. Many airlines in the Allied countries were flush from lease contracts to the military, and foresaw a future explosive demand for civil air transport, for both passengers and cargo. They were eager to invest in
4520-593: The Atlantic 36 times before crashing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on 6 May 1937. In 1938, a weekly air service from Berlin to Kabul , Afghanistan , started operating. From February 1934 until World War II began in 1939, Deutsche Lufthansa operated an airmail service from Stuttgart , Germany via Spain , the Canary Islands and West Africa to Natal in Brazil . This was the first time an airline flew across an ocean. By
4633-489: The BUA group's shareholders created Air Holdings as a new holding company for the entire group. In January 1962, British Aviation Services joined the merged entity. Britavia and Silver City Airways were its airline subsidiaries. P&O was the largest shareholder with a 70% stake, while Eagle Star and Cable & Wireless were minority shareholders that owned 20% and 10% respectively of its share capital. BUA began operations from its new base at Gatwick Airport with
British United Airways - Misplaced Pages Continue
4746-497: The MoD. At the start of the 1961–62 winter timetable in November 1961, BUA's fixed-wing fleet numbered 43 aircraft comprising Bristol Britannia and Vickers Viscount turboprops, as well as Douglas DC-6 and Bristol 170 Freighter piston airliners. Britannias and DC-6s operated to East, Central and Southern Africa, including non-stop Gatwick— Entebbe Britannia services, while Viscounts plied
4859-753: The Russian Aeroflot (1923). Airline ownership has seen a shift from mostly personal ownership until the 1930s to government-ownership of major airlines from the 1940s to 1980s and back to large-scale privatization following the mid-1980s. Since the 1980s, there has been a trend of major airline mergers and the formation of airline alliances. The largest alliances are Star Alliance , SkyTeam and Oneworld . Airline alliances coordinate their passenger service programs (such as lounges and frequent-flyer programs ), offer special interline tickets and often engage in extensive codesharing (sometimes systemwide). DELAG , Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft I
4972-493: The U.S. passenger market. Although Philippine Airlines (PAL) was officially founded on February 26, 1941, its license to operate as an airliner was derived from merged Philippine Aerial Taxi Company (PATCO) established by mining magnate Emmanuel N. Bachrach on 3 December 1930, making it Asia's oldest scheduled carrier still in operation. Commercial air service commenced three weeks later from Manila to Baguio , making it Asia's first airline route. Bachrach's death in 1937 paved
5085-650: The UK also gave BUA a monopoly among UK-based air ferry operators. The subsequent takeover of Jersey Airlines in May 1962 resulted in further growth, giving BUA a fleet of more than 100 aircraft and 6,000 staff. A city centre check-in facility for BUA's scheduled passengers opened in London Victoria station in late-April 1962. A combined rail-air service linking the city centres of London and Paris that enabled BUA to circumvent regulatory restrictions preventing it from flying London—Paris direct began on 26 May 1963. This
5198-573: The United States until its closure in 2008. Following World War I , the United States found itself swamped with aviators. Many decided to take their war-surplus aircraft on barnstorming campaigns, performing aerobatic maneuvers to woo crowds. In 1918, the United States Postal Service won the financial backing of Congress to begin experimenting with air mail service, initially using Curtiss Jenny aircraft that had been procured by
5311-598: The United States, these flights are regulated under FAA Part 135. There are some cases where a charter operator can sell scheduled flights, but only in limited quantities. As of 2021, the FAA had made it a priority to crack down on unauthorised charter flights, according to industry experts. There are several business models which offer air charter services from the traditional charter operator to brokers and jet card programs: Charter aircraft categories include: There are an estimated 15,000 business jets available for charter in
5424-456: The aircraft and operations of its predecessors. These included a fleet of 90 assorted fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters that continued to operate mainly non-scheduled services. Gatwick became BUA's main operating base while Stansted was the main base for trooping flights until 1964. An order for ten BAC One-Eleven jet aircraft in May 1961 launched BUA's fleet re-equipment programme in support of its long-term policy to develop primarily as
5537-434: The aircraft was built to BUA's specifications featuring the same cargo door on the left side of the forward fuselage as its sister aircraft, thereby ensuring fleet interchangeability. This aircraft was delivered on 31 July 1965. It entered service in a single-class configuration featuring 127, rear-facing seats to be primarily used for long-haul trooping flights. On 4 January 1966, BUA commenced domestic scheduled services with
5650-435: The airline was still perceived as mainly a charter and freight operator. When Stuart-Shaw took over from Laker, he strengthened BUA's management organisation by developing the personnel department, expanding the planning unit, as well as reorganising operations and engineering. He also improved the quality of the airline's marketing. As a result, BUA witnessed a major improvement in the quality of its promotional material and in
5763-555: The airline was unable to use them without actual traffic rights. These needed to be negotiated on its behalf between the UK Government and its overseas counterparts. Following the ATLB's decision, BUA commenced scheduled services between Gatwick and Tenerife in October 1961 using Viscounts. The same month, the airline started Viscount trooping flights from Gatwick to Germany under contract to
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#17328588099205876-428: The airline's European IT routes. These aircraft joined BUA's fleet from May 1969. At the end of 1965, Laker decided to relinquish his post as managing director and leave the company to set up his own airline. Following Laker's departure from BUA, Max Stuart-Shaw was appointed as BUA's new MD. Stuart-Shaw was a former senior manager at Central African Airways . His brief was to oversee the successful implementation of
5989-535: The airline's VC10s, where the first class cabin was normally located. This modification permitted the carriage of additional freight instead of first class passengers on the East African routes. BUA's VC10s also had extended wingtips that were slightly bent downwards to reduce the aircraft's cruise drag and to help it overcome the instability encountered when entering a stall , as well as an intermediate, 14-degree flap setting to enable all-year round, nonstop flights from
6102-440: The airline's profile and quality during Max Stuart-Shaw's tenure meant that costs were growing faster than revenues. Other factors contributing to BUA's rapid cost escalation included high launch costs of several, initially unprofitable scheduled services, as well as an unexpected falloff in traffic as a result of a credit squeeze combined with new overseas travel restrictions due to a tightening of existing exchange controls . This
6215-464: The average domestic ticket price has dropped by 40%. So has airline employee pay. By incurring massive losses, the airlines of the USA now rely upon a scourge of cyclical Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings to continue doing business. America West Airlines (which has since merged with US Airways) remained a significant survivor from this new entrant era, as dozens, even hundreds, have gone under. In many ways,
6328-674: The basis of this decision. In early 1961, BUA applied to the Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB), a predecessor of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), for a large number of domestic and international short-, medium- and long-haul scheduled route licences to give its scheduled network the critical mass to become financially viable by 1965, and to provide sufficient work for a planned £20 million fleet of new jets comprising four long-haul Vickers VC10s and five short-/medium-haul DH 121 Tridents . BUA's applications included
6441-499: The biggest winner in the deregulated environment was the air passenger. Although not exclusively attributable to deregulation, indeed the U.S. witnessed an explosive growth in demand for air travel. Many millions who had never or rarely flown before became regular fliers, even joining frequent flyer loyalty programs and receiving free flights and other benefits from their flying. New services and higher frequencies meant that business fliers could fly to another city, do business, and return
6554-437: The board's original policy decision taken in the early 1960s to transform BUA into a scheduled airline. Although Laker had largely succeeded in welding the various constituent airlines that made up BUA into a single, integrated enterprise towards the end of his tenure while ensuring the business remained profitable, it lacked the quality of a frontline scheduled carrier. Despite the growth in scheduled activities during that period,
6667-406: The carriers that won these routes would, through time and mergers, evolve into Pan Am , Delta Air Lines , Braniff Airways , American Airlines , United Airlines (originally a division of Boeing ), Trans World Airlines , Northwest Airlines , and Eastern Air Lines . Service during the early 1920s was sporadic: most airlines at the time were focused on carrying bags of mail . In 1925, however,
6780-478: The country's flagship carrier to this day, on 17 May 1933. Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa was created in 1926 by merger of two airlines, one of them Junkers Luftverkehr . Lufthansa, due to the Junkers heritage and unlike most other airlines at the time, became a major investor in airlines outside of Europe, providing capital to Varig and Avianca. German airliners built by Junkers , Dornier , and Fokker were among
6893-467: The domestic industry operates over 10,000 daily departures nationwide. Toward the end of the century, a new style of low cost airline emerged, offering a no-frills product at a lower price. Southwest Airlines , JetBlue , AirTran Airways , Skybus Airlines and other low-cost carriers began to represent a serious challenge to the so-called "legacy airlines", as did their low-cost counterparts in many other countries. Their commercial viability represented
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#17328588099207006-502: The end of the 1930s Aeroflot had become the world's largest airline, employing more than 4,000 pilots and 60,000 other service personnel and operating around 3,000 aircraft (of which 75% were considered obsolete by its own standards). During the Soviet era Aeroflot was synonymous with Russian civil aviation, as it was the only air carrier. It became the first airline in the world to operate sustained regular jet services on 15 September 1956 with
7119-427: The equivalent economy class fares. In May of that year, BUA became the first independent airline in the UK to launch a brand-new jet aircraft, when it placed an order for ten short-/medium-haul BAC One-Eleven 200 series . The same month, the airline placed an order for four Vickers VC10 long-haul jets costing £2.8 million apiece. Laker personally negotiated these orders with both manufacturers. The combined order value
7232-604: The first flagships of the Jet Age in the West, while the Eastern bloc had Tupolev Tu-104 and Tupolev Tu-124 in the fleets of state-owned carriers such as Czechoslovak ČSA , Soviet Aeroflot and East-German Interflug . The Vickers Viscount and Lockheed L-188 Electra inaugurated turboprop transport. On 4 October 1958, British Overseas Airways Corporation started transatlantic flights between London Heathrow and New York Idlewild with
7345-463: The first of the short-haul BAC One-Elevens, for which it had placed the launch order back in 1961, into its fleet. BUA operated the world's first commercial One-Eleven flight on 9 April 1965 from London Gatwick to Genoa. The expansion of BUA's long-haul flying programme – both scheduled and non-scheduled – resulted in an order for a third VC10 in early May 1965. Technically, BUA took over an order Ghana Airways had cancelled. Practically, this meant that
7458-513: The last 50 years of the airline industry have varied from reasonably profitable, to devastatingly depressed. As the first major market to deregulate the industry in 1978, U.S. airlines have experienced more turbulence than almost any other country or region. In fact, no U.S. legacy carrier survived bankruptcy-free. Among the outspoken critics of deregulation, former CEO of American Airlines, Robert Crandall has publicly stated: "Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing shows airline industry deregulation
7571-605: The loss-making South American routes profitable by late-1968 and to become the UK's only profitable mainline scheduled domestic operator by 1969. By the end of the 1960s, BUA had become the UK's leading private scheduled airline with a 44,000 mi (71,000 km) network spanning three continents — Europe , Africa and South America . In November 1970, B&C sold BUA to the Scottish charter airline Caledonian Airways for £ 12 million (£234.5 million today). At that stage, it operated an all-jet fleet of 20 aircraft and employed
7684-405: The major airlines implemented an equally high barrier called loss leader pricing. In this strategy an already established and dominant airline stomps out its competition by lowering airfares on specific routes, below the cost of operating on it, choking out any chance a start-up airline may have. The industry side effect is an overall drop in revenue and service quality. Since deregulation in 1978
7797-540: The merger of Instone Air Line Company , British Marine Air Navigation , Daimler Airway and Handley Page Transport , to allow British airlines to compete with stiff competition from French and German airlines that were enjoying heavy government subsidies. The airline was a pioneer in surveying and opening up air routes across the world to serve far-flung parts of the British Empire and to enhance trade and integration. The first new airliner ordered by Imperial Airways,
7910-509: The merger. PAL restarted service on 15 March 1941, with a single Beech Model 18 NPC-54 aircraft, which started its daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field ) and Baguio , later to expand with larger aircraft such as the DC-3 and Vickers Viscount. Cathay Pacific was one of the first airlines to be launched among the other Asian countries in 1946 along with Asiana Airlines , which later joined in 1988. The license to operate as an airliner
8023-487: The most advanced in the world at the time. In 1926, Alan Cobham surveyed a flight route from the UK to Cape Town , South Africa , following this up with another proving flight to Melbourne , Australia . Other routes to British India and the Far East were also charted and demonstrated at this time. Regular services to Cairo and Basra began in 1927 and were extended to Karachi in 1929. The London- Australia service
8136-449: The multistop West African coastal route. Viscounts also served the airline's scheduled routes to the Canary Islands and Continental Europe. In 1962, Jersey Airlines , a former "BEA associate", and Silver City Airways joined the BUA group of companies. The operations of these airlines were reorganised into British United (C.I.) Airways (BUA (C.I.)), British United (Manx) Airways and British United Air Ferries . In May 1962, BUA revised
8249-531: The new One-Elevens from Gatwick to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast. These services were branded as InterJet . This made BUA the first UK domestic operator plying trunk routes exclusively with jet equipment . BUA also became the only airline in the world to operate One-Elevens on an intercontinental, long-haul scheduled route, when it introduced the 200 series on its multi-stop West African service linking Gatwick with Lagos via Lisbon, Las Palmas, Bathurst , Freetown and Accra . During August 1966, BUA also introduced
8362-639: The new airline's share capital . The remaining 28% was shared among the Clan Line (8%), Loel Guinness (10%) and Whitehall Securities (10%). This ownership structure made the Cayzer family the dominant shareholders. Sir Nicholas Cayzer, the Hon. Anthony Cayzer and Clive Hunting, at the time the Hunting Group 's chairman, were appointed to the main board of directors that controlled the BUA group of companies. In November 1961,
8475-636: The newly emerging flagships of air travel such as the Boeing Stratocruiser , Lockheed Constellation , and Douglas DC-6 . Most of these new aircraft were based on American bombers such as the B-29 , which had spearheaded research into new technologies such as pressurization . Most offered increased efficiency from both added speed and greater payload. In the 1950s, the De Havilland Comet , Boeing 707 , Douglas DC-8 , and Sud Aviation Caravelle became
8588-483: The number of flights departing on time, making its punctuality record one of the UK airline industry's best. Alan Bristow , the founder of Bristow Helicopters, succeeded Stuart-Shaw as BUA MD in December 1967 following the latter's decision to relinquish the chief executive role only two years after his appointment. By the time Bristow took over, BUA was losing money. BUA had recorded its first-ever loss in 1965, mainly as
8701-585: The order it had placed a year earlier for four long-haul VC10s to two firm orders and two options; the options were not taken up following BUA's failure to obtain licences from the ATLB to operate scheduled services to Asia From 20 July 1962, a Vickers-Armstrong VA-3 hovercraft was operated by BUA and ran from Leasowe embankment on the Wirral Peninsula to Rhyl in North Wales . However, due to varying reasons, including bad weather and technical difficulties,
8814-660: The organisation's annual traffic conferences. BUA also continued Airwork's and Hunting-Clan's participation in various pool agreements with foreign national airlines. On the East African routes, for example, BUA participated in a tripartite pool agreement with BOAC and East African Airways . Participating in revenue-sharing agreements with its foreign counterparts was a prerequisite for securing overseas traffic rights, especially in Africa. Freddie Laker , BUA's first managing director (MD), used his contacts to British Rail (BR) to create
8927-411: The passenger cabins were often spacious with luxurious interiors – over speed and efficiency. The relatively basic navigational capabilities of pilots at the time also meant that delays due to the weather were commonplace. By the early 1920s, small airlines were struggling to compete, and there was a movement towards increased rationalization and consolidation. In 1924, Imperial Airways was formed from
9040-424: The piston/turboprop types on scheduled services from Gatwick to Entebbe , Nairobi, Ndola , Lusaka and Salisbury . Contemporary bilateral transport arrangements prevented BUA from offering a first class on its East African routes. To compensate for this loss of competitiveness, Freddie Laker came up with the novel idea of designing a cargo door to be installed on the left-hand side of the forward fuselage of
9153-637: The rapid increase of oil prices in early 2008. Finnair , the largest airline of Finland , had no fatal or hull-loss accidents since 1963, and is recognized for its safety. Tony Jannus conducted the United States' first scheduled commercial airline flight on January 1, 1914, for the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line . The 23-minute flight traveled between St. Petersburg, Florida and Tampa, Florida , passing some 50 feet (15 m) above Tampa Bay in Jannus' Benoist XIV wood and muslin biplane flying boat. His passenger
9266-644: The regional market of Asian airline industry India was also one of the first countries to embrace civil aviation. One of the first Asian airline companies was Air India , which was founded as Tata Airlines in 1932, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group ). The airline was founded by India's leading industrialist, JRD Tata . On 15 October 1932, J. R. D. Tata himself flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways ) from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad . The aircraft continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by Royal Air Force pilot Nevill Vintcent . Tata Airlines
9379-399: The same day, from almost any point in the country. Air travel's advantages put long-distance intercity railroad travel and bus lines under pressure, with most of the latter having withered away, whilst the former is still protected under nationalization through the continuing existence of Amtrak . By the 1980s, almost half of the total flying in the world took place in the U.S., and today
9492-548: The same flight. Generally, airline companies are recognized with an air operating certificate or license issued by a governmental aviation body. Airlines may be scheduled or charter operators. The first airline was the German airship company DELAG , founded on November 16, 1909. The four oldest non-airship airlines that still exist are the Netherlands' KLM (1919), Colombia's Avianca (1919), Australia's Qantas (1920) and
9605-429: The service was cancelled after its final journey on 14 September 1962. During the spring of 1963, BUA commenced additional scheduled services linking Gatwick with Lourdes/ Tarbes , Barcelona , Palma and Genoa . At that time, the BUA group operated a fleet of 94 aircraft, which carried 1.8 million passengers, close to 200 million lb (90,000 t) of freight and 130,000 cars on an annualised basis. On 26 May 1963, BUA began
9718-526: The then relatively short runway at Nairobi 's hot-and-high Embakasi Airport to Gatwick with a full payload and reserves. On 5 November 1964, BUA inaugurated regular scheduled services from Gatwick to Rio , Montevideo , Buenos Aires and Santiago . BUA's new South American flights initially operated twice-weekly with alternate stops in Madrid and Lisbon , and a refuelling stop in Las Palmas . São Paulo and
9831-506: The three predecessors of the pre-World War II British Airways . The [re-]use of the United Airways name together with the prefix British had been agreed with shareholder Whitehall Securities , the controlling shareholder of both United Airways and Spartan Air Lines before these airlines' merger with Hillman's Airways to form the pre-war British Airways. Following BUA's creation, Blue Star Line , Furness Withy and B&C owned 72% of
9944-460: The time, Le Touquet Airport was not linked to the French railway network. As a result, the surface journey between the airport and Paris was difficult and time-consuming as this involved an intermodal change between coach and train at Étaples . To overcome this drawback, Laker persuaded the French authorities to build a spur line into Le Touquet Airport so that BUA passengers could be met on arrival by
10057-611: The two VC10s on firm order was handed over to BUA on 11 September 1964. Two days later, the aircraft was displayed at the Farnborough Airshow , where it replaced the larger Super VC10 prototype on the last day of the show. After being ferried to Gatwick the same evening, it began an eight-day series of proving and demonstration flights in East and Central Africa . The payload included Laker and his 1964 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud . Commercial VC10 operations commenced on 1 October 1964 with
10170-494: The vehicle ferry network proved a costly distraction for overburdened senior sales and commercial managers, taking up a disproportionate amount of their time. Although revenues and the workforce had doubled between 1962 and 1968, total output had risen by less than half over the same period. This translated into a substantial fall in output per employee within that time span and resulted in a weak trading position. To return BUA to profitability and to secure its long-term future as
10283-608: The way for its eventual merger with Philippine Airlines in March 1941 and made it Asia's oldest airline. It is also the oldest airline in Asia still operating under its current name. Bachrach's majority share in PATCO was bought by beer magnate Andres R. Soriano in 1939 upon the advice of General Douglas MacArthur and later merged with newly formed Philippine Airlines with PAL as the surviving entity. Soriano has controlling interest in both airlines before
10396-424: The world. Established by aviator Albert Plesman , it was immediately awarded a "Royal" predicate from Queen Wilhelmina . Its first flight was from Croydon Airport , London to Amsterdam , using a leased Aircraft Transport and Travel DH-16 , and carrying two British journalists and a number of newspapers. In 1921, KLM started scheduled services. In Finland , the charter establishing Aero O/Y (now Finnair )
10509-568: The world. The US market is the largest, followed by the European market with growing activity in the Middle East, Asia, and Central America. Some charter airlines have employed other types of jets, including Airbus , Boeing , and McDonnell Douglas mainline airliners such as the Douglas DC-10 and Boeing 747 . Arrow Air of the United States was such an airline. Among other aircraft, it employed
10622-533: The world. The airline soon gained a reputation for reliability, despite problems with bad weather, and began to attract European competition. In November 1919, it won the first British civil airmail contract. Six Royal Air Force Airco DH.9A aircraft were lent to the company, to operate the airmail service between Hawkinge and Cologne . In 1920, they were returned to the Royal Air Force. Other British competitors were quick to follow – Handley Page Transport
10735-403: Was Aircraft Transport and Travel , formed by George Holt Thomas in 1916; via a series of takeovers and mergers, this company is an ancestor of modern-day British Airways . Using a fleet of former military Airco DH.4 A biplanes that had been modified to carry two passengers in the fuselage , it operated relief flights between Folkestone and Ghent , Belgium. On July 15, 1919, the company flew
10848-512: Was Deutsche Luft-Reederei established in 1917 which started operating in February 1919. In its first year, the D.L.R. operated regularly scheduled flights on routes with a combined length of nearly 1000 miles. By 1921 the D.L.R. network was more than 3000 km (1865 miles) long, and included destinations in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and the Baltic Republics. Another important German airline
10961-450: Was Junkers Luftverkehr , which began operations in 1921. It was a division of the aircraft manufacturer Junkers , which became a separate company in 1924. It operated joint-venture airlines in Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. The Dutch airline KLM made its first flight in 1920, and is the oldest continuously operating airline in
11074-517: Was a former mayor of St. Petersburg, who paid $ 400 for the privilege of sitting on a wooden bench in the open cockpit. The Airboat line operated for about four months, carrying more than 1,200 passengers who paid $ 5 each. Chalk's International Airlines began service between Miami and Bimini in the Bahamas in February 1919. Based in Ft. Lauderdale , Chalk's claimed to be the oldest continuously operating airline in
11187-622: Was a mistake." Congress passed the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act (P.L. 107–42) in response to a severe liquidity crisis facing the already-troubled airline industry in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks . Through the ATSB Congress sought to provide cash infusions to carriers for both the cost of the four-day federal shutdown of the airlines and the incremental losses incurred through December 31, 2001, as
11300-581: Was also one of the world's first major airlines which began its operations without any support from the Government. Charter airline Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights require certification from the associated country's civil aviation authority . The regulations are differentiated from typical commercial/passenger service by offering a non-scheduled service. Analogous regulations generally also apply to air ambulance and cargo operators, which are often also ad hoc for-hire services. In
11413-485: Was an example of Laker turning an adversity into an opportunity. BUA's lack of traffic rights prevented it from running non-stop Gatwick—Paris scheduled flights although it held a licence for that route, which the ATLB had awarded it in late 1961. Faced with this restriction, Laker hit upon the idea to offer an indirect travel option between the city centres of London and Paris by combining the existing Victoria—Gatwick rail link with BUA's Gatwick – Le Touquet traffic rights. At
11526-418: Was established in 1919 and used the company's converted wartime Type O/400 bombers with a capacity for 12 passengers, to run a London - Paris passenger service. The first French airline was Société des lignes Latécoère , later known as Aéropostale, which started its first service in late 1918 to Spain. The Société Générale des Transports Aériens was created in late 1919, by the Farman brothers and
11639-413: Was further compounded by the large number of overheads resulting from the group's complex organisation in which many functions were duplicated and the limited opportunities for independent airlines to operate scheduled services on domestic and international trunk routes in competition with the corporations. BUA had built up the high cost base of a major scheduled airline while low- yield charter traffic,
11752-450: Was granted by the federal government body after reviewing the necessity at the national assembly. The Hanjin occupies the largest ownership of Korean Air as well as few low-budget airlines as of now. Korean Air is one of the four founders of SkyTeam , which was established in 2000. Asiana Airlines joined Star Alliance in 2003. Korean Air and Asiana Airlines comprise one of the largest combined airline miles and number of passenger served at
11865-474: Was inaugurated in 1932 with the Handley Page HP 42 airliners. Further services were opened up to Calcutta , Rangoon , Singapore , Brisbane and Hong Kong passengers departed London on 14 March 1936 following the establishment of a branch from Penang to Hong Kong. France began an air mail service to Morocco in 1919 that was bought out in 1927, renamed Aéropostale , and injected with capital to become
11978-570: Was marketed as a cheaper alternative to existing direct air services. The introduction into service of the Vickers VC10 on 1 October 1964 made BUA the first private UK carrier to begin sustained jet operations. BUA's takeover of the South American services of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) to Argentina , Brazil , Chile and Uruguay on 5 November 1964 marked a major expansion of its long-haul scheduled network. On 9 April 1965,
12091-479: Was operated with one of the brand-new VC10s, which carried a small load of VIPs comprising BUA MD Laker and a high-ranking British trade delegation. On 2 November 1964, the first scheduled passenger service with the type departed Gatwick for Freetown in Sierra Leone , West Africa. VC10s also replaced Britannias and DC-6s on BUA's routes to East and Southern Africa , where the newly delivered jets took over from
12204-467: Was originally known as Hunting Air Travel. It had become Hunting Air Transport and then changed to Hunting-Clan when it was taken over by the Scottish Clan Line shipping company , a B&C subsidiary. Airwork changed its name to British United Airways on 19 May 1960, which preceded BUA's official formation on 1 July of that year. The origins of the new name went back to United Airways , one of
12317-592: Was signed in the city of Helsinki on 12 September 1923. Junkers F.13 D-335 became the first aircraft of the company, when Aero took delivery of it on 14 March 1924. The first flight was between Helsinki and Tallinn , capital of Estonia , and it took place on 20 March 1924, one week later. In the Soviet Union , the Chief Administration of the Civil Air Fleet was established in 1921. One of its first acts
12430-605: Was the Handley Page W8f City of Washington , delivered on 3 November 1924. In the first year of operation the company carried 11,395 passengers and 212,380 letters. In April 1925, the film The Lost World became the first film to be screened for passengers on a scheduled airliner flight when it was shown on the London-Paris route. Two French airlines also merged to form Air Union on 1 January 1923. This later merged with four other French airlines to become Air France ,
12543-630: Was the world's first airline . It was founded on November 16, 1909, with government assistance, and operated airships manufactured by The Zeppelin Corporation . Its headquarters were in Frankfurt . The first fixed-wing scheduled airline was started on January 1, 1914. The flight was piloted by Tony Jannus and flew from St. Petersburg, Florida , to Tampa, Florida , operated by the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line . The earliest fixed wing airline in Europe
12656-404: Was to help found Deutsch-Russische Luftverkehrs A.G. (Deruluft), a German-Russian joint venture to provide air transport from Russia to the West. Domestic air service began around the same time, when Dobrolyot started operations on 15 July 1923 between Moscow and Nizhni Novgorod. Since 1932 all operations had been carried under the name Aeroflot . Early European airlines tended to favor comfort –
12769-435: Was £20 million. At that time, the ATLB conducted a hearing into BUA's applications for over 20 scheduled route licences to enable it to expand the European network to include a number of major trunk routes from its Gatwick base, such as Gatwick to Paris, Milan , Zürich , Amsterdam and Athens , in competition with existing services of BEA from Heathrow. Although the ATLB granted BUA the requested licences for 12 of these routes,
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