AirUK
Encyclopedia
Air UK was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporation
s regional British
airline formed in 1980 as a result of a merger involving four rival UK
-based regional airline
s. British and Commonwealth
(B&C)-owned British Island Airways
(BIA) and Air Anglia
were the two dominant merger partners. The merged entity
's corporate headquarters
were originally located at Redhill
, Surrey
, the location of the old BIA head office. It subsequently relocated to Crawley
, West Sussex
. In addition to the main maintenance base at Norwich Airport
(Air Anglia's former engineering base), there also used to be a second major maintenance base at Blackpool Airport
(the old BIA engineering base). This was closed down following Air UK's major retrenchment during Britain
's severe recession of the early 1980s
. In 1987, Air UK established Air UK Leisure
as a charter subsidiary
. The following year, Air UK shifted its headquarters to London Stansted Airport
. When Stansted's new Norman Foster
-designed terminal opened in 1991, the airline became its first and subsequently main tenant.
Air UK was a full member of the International Air Transport Association
(IATA) for most of its existence.
Air UK originally was a wholly owned subsidiary
of British Air Transport (Holdings), a successor to the Air Holdings Group
owned 90% by B&C and 10% by Eagle Star Insurance
. This made the Cayzer family
, who owned B&C, the controlling shareholder
s. Following the beginning of the gradual liberalisation of the European Union
(EU) internal air transport market in 1987, Dutch
flag carrier
KLM, a long-standing business partner of Air UK and its predecessor Air Anglia, acquired a 14.9% minority stake in Air UK's holding company
. In 1995, KLM increased its minority stake in Air UK to 45%. In 1997, KLM became Air UK's sole shareholder
when it acquired B&C's stake in British Air Transport (Holdings). The following year Air UK was renamed KLMuk
.
Air UK employed 1,700 people at this time.
Air UK employed 850 people at this time.
Air UK employed 850 people at this time.
Two British Aerospace BAe 146-200 were on order.
Air UK employed 975 people at this time.
Air UK employed 1,340 people at this time.
Eight Fokker F-50
were on order.
Air UK employed 1,466 people at this time.
Four Fokker F-100
were on order.
Air UK employed 2,000 people at this time.
-based Air Westward in March 1979. Cardiff
-based Air Wales had become part of Air Anglia in June of that year.) It was incorporate
d on January 1, 1980. Operations commenced on January 16, 1980. At the time of its inception, Air UK was the largest regional airline in the UK and the country's third-largest scheduled carrier. It had a staff of 1,700, carried more than 1m, mainly scheduled, passengers annually and had a fleet of 40 aircraft, consisting of six jet
s (four ex-BIA BAC One-Eleven 400s and two ex-Air Anglia Fokker F-28 4000 series Fellowships) and 34 turboprop
s (including eighteen ex-BIA Handley Page Dart Heralds, ten ex-Air Anglia Fokker F-27 100/200 series Friendships and six Embraer 110 Bandeirantes originally part of the BIA, Air Wales and Air Westward fleets). Apart from the four One-Eleven
400s, which were predominantly operated on charter flights, all the other aircraft were part of Air UK's scheduled service fleet.
For marketing
purposes, there was no gap between the letters "U" and "K" in the "Air UK" logo
in the newly merged entity's first livery
, which was a stylised Union Flag
.
Former BIA managing director Peter Villa became Air UK's first MD as well.
At the time of its creation, Air UK was sometimes referred to as the unofficial "Third Force" among the main contemporary scheduled airlines in the UK (British Caledonian
(BCal) being the UK's official "Second Force" and British Airways
(BA) the primary UK flag carrier at that time).
Following the merger, most of the fleet progressively adopted Air UK's new blue, white and red colour scheme. Originally, this featured a predominantly blue fuselage with a white-red-white strip across the windows and a white roof. The tail was also predominantly blue, apart from the "Air UK" logo. However, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) disapproved of this predominantly blue livery, arguing that it could potentially pose a safety hazard for other aircraft as it was difficult for other crews to see the blue aircraft against a blue sky. To address the CAA's safety concerns, Air UK decided to amend its original colour scheme by opting for a hybrid blue-and-white scheme featuring a blue fuselage and a white tail.
Air UK's scheduled route network initially served the following 33 points: Aberdeen
, Amsterdam, Basle, Belfast
, Bergen
, Birmingham, Blackpool
, Bournemouth
, Brussels
, Dublin
, Düsseldorf
, Edinburgh
, Exeter, Glasgow
, Guernsey
, Humberside
, Isle of Man
, Jersey
, Leeds
/Bradford
, Le Touquet, London Gatwick
, London Heathrow
, London Stansted
, Manchester
, Newcastle, Norwich
, Ostend
, Paris, Rotterdam
, Southampton
, Southend
, Stavanger
, and Teeside.
Air UK was the first and, at the time, only scheduled airline in the UK to fly from all three main London airports.
Following British Airways' decision to retire its Vickers Viscount
turboprop fleet and to withdraw from its loss-making regional scheduled routes, Air UK assumed BA's regional routes from Heathrow
to Guernsey, Manchester to the Isle of Man, Leeds to Belfast and Dublin, and Edinburgh to Jersey in April 1980. Air UK's new, year-round Heathrow—Guernsey route was its most prominent scheduled route serving London
's premier airport. (During the late 1970s, in the days prior to the construction of the M11
, Air UK's predecessor Air Anglia had launched a year-round scheduled service linking Heathrow with the company's bases in Norwich and Humberside, as well as a year-round scheduled operation between London Gatwick and Leeds.)
, resulting in extensive frequency, route and staff cutbacks. This entailed the closure of bases at Bournemouth, Humberside and Stansted
as well as a major reduction in operations at Southend. As a consequence of these cutbacks, ten turboprop aircraft (seven Heralds and three Bandeirantes) were withdrawn from service while the two F-28 jets were leased out to French
regional carrier
Air Alsace
. This in turn resulted in the closure of the former BIA engineering base at Blackpool, accounting for 220 out of a total of 400 job losses. It also resulted in the suspension of scheduled passenger and cargo services to 14 points by late 1981. At the start of the 1981-82 winter timetable in November 1981, Air UK relaunched scheduled operations from Stansted by opening a new route to Amsterdam. This was the first international scheduled service from London's third airport in over ten years. The resulting network linked 20 points in the British Isles
and six in Europe
. Management hoped that these business realignments — including cutting the company's workforce in half over a two-year period — would reverse heavy losses Air UK had incurred during its first two years of operation, thereby stabilising the company and positioning it for future growth.
of Air UK's charter business, resulting in reconstituting BIA as a charter-only airline and his departure from Air UK along with the four BAC One-Eleven 400s. In addition to the tough economic climate and merger blues during the airline's inception as a result of combining two organisations with vastly different cultures and management styles, the operation of these aircraft had largely been responsible for Air UK's poor financial performance that threatened the airline's survival.
1982 was also the year the CAA transferred Air UK's Gatwick
—Guernsey licence to Guernsey Airlines, a newly formed regional operator, following numerous passenger complaints about the service Air UK had been providing ever since it had assumed the former BIA operation on that route. That year also saw Air UK joining forces with British Midland
to form Manx Airlines
, a new, jointly owned regional subsidiary based on the Isle of Man. Air UK owned 25% of Manx Airlines, making it the new joint venture
's junior partner. (British Midland, which owned the remaining 75%, was the senior partner.) Air UK and British Midland hoped that transferring their loss-making Isle of Man operations to a dedicated, lower cost subsidiary would eventually make these services profitable.
In 1983, Air UK broke even
for the first time. This was also the year the airline acquired its first Shorts 330 commuter turboprop plane, which it named Enterprise in a publicity stunt at Stansted Airport
where the naming ceremony took place in the shadow of a Boeing 747
shuttle carrier aircraft
used by NASA
to launch Space Shuttle Enterprise
.
By 1985, Air UK acquired additional Shorts 330/360s and Fokker F-27s. The latter included the first stretched 500 series F-27s featuring an increased seating capacity of 52 (as opposed to 44 for all shorter fuselage F-27 models). To further support its ongoing expansion, Air UK temporarily leased an F-28 1000 series as well as two BIA One Eleven 400s during that period. (All of these aircraft wore different, white-based colour schemes.) Reintroduction of jet equipment
enabled Air UK to assume British Caledonian's regional operation between Glasgow, Newcastle and Amsterdam at the start of the 1985 summer timetable period, thereby further strengthening its position as the UK's leading regional feeder operator at Amsterdam Schiphol and as the airport's largest foreign scheduled carrier. The additional aircraft also permitted several year-round, domestic and international scheduled services from Stansted to be reinstated.
In 1987, Air UK placed its first order for BAe
's new 146 regional jetliner
. The introduction of Air UK's first 146 200 series regional jet
coincided with the introduction of a new livery, consisting of a white fuselage and tail with three different blue cheatlines merging into a stylised Union Flag on the aircraft's tail. In addition, this livery differed from the previous one by dropping the gap between the words "Air" and "UK" while inserting a gap between the letters "U" and "K" in "UK".
Following British Airways' takeover of British Caledonian in December 1987, the CAA awarded Air UK the licences for the ex-BCal domestic feeder routes from Gatwick to Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1988. This resulted in an order for four stretched BAe 146-300s to enable the launch of high-frequency services with up to seven daily round-trips on both routes from the start of the 1988-89 winter timetable period.
By 1994, Air UK acquired several, new Fokker F-100 jet aircraft. The introduction of these aircraft led to the adoption of another new livery, the final Air UK-themed livery in the airline's 19-year history. This livery combined elements of the earlier livery with a new, single dark blue cheatline that included a thin, pale blue stripe merging into a dark blue tail featuring the previous Union Flag logo. It also combined elements of both previous liveries by dropping the gap between the "U" and "K" in "UK" (as in Air UK's original blue livery) as well as dropping the gap between the words "Air" and "UK" (as in the airline's second livery).
By 1995, Air UK had replaced all of the older, smaller F-27 100/200/400/600 series aircraft in its fleet with additional, stretched F-27-500s. (Air UK operated a total of 22 F-27s of various marks throughout its existence, all of which it had acquired second-hand.)
By the late 1990s, a fleet of brand-new, state-of-the-art F-50
and ATR-72 turboprops replaced the aging F-27-500s. During that period Air UK also retired all of its 146-200s as well as the 146-100s.
Air UK Leisure's corporate headquarters were located at Air UK's Stansted base. Its main operating bases were at London Gatwick, London Stansted and Manchester.
Operations commenced with three second-hand Boeing 737
-200s. These were replaced with seven brand-new 737
-400s, making Air UK Leisure first Europe
an operator of the -400 in October 1988.
In 1993, Air UK Leisure entered the long-haul leisure market through the acquisition of a pair of Boeing 767
300 ER series widebodied aircraft. Both aircraft were contracted by tour operator
Unijet. Although Air UK Leisure operated these aircraft under the same Air Operator Certificate (AOC) as its 737 400 series narrowbodied short-/medium-haul fleet, it adopted the Leisure International Airways brand for its long-haul operation.
Air UK Leisure was subsequently sold to Unijet, which in turn became part of the First Choice
group.
, Hamburg
, Inverness
, Madrid
, Milan Linate, Munich
and Zürich
(in addition to the existing year-round scheduled routes serving Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Brussels, the Channel Islands
, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Paris). However, the unfavourable economic conditions in the UK at the time, ie the severe early 1990s recession and the fallout from the first Gulf War
, resulted in a sharp contraction of both the business and leisure travel markets. This in turn resulted in the spectacular collapse of the International Leisure Group (ILG) and its Air Europe
airline subsidiary, at the time the largest independent airline in the UK and Gatwick's biggest user, accounting for one-fifth of all the airport's slots. The then prevailing harsh economic climate also resulted in route and schedule cutbacks at other major airlines operating out of both main London airports. As a result, it became much easier to obtain viable slots at these airports, including at peak times. This meant that none of the contemporary major long-haul carriers were showing any interest in commencing operations at Stansted (with the sole exception of American Airlines
, which ran a short-lived Stansted—Chicago service during the early 1990s). In addition, Stansted's considerably smaller catchment area and its greater distance from most parts of London compared with Heathrow and Gatwick, combined with poorer transport
links in relation to Heathrow's and Gatwick's better accessibility, meant that Air UK found it extremely difficult to make its Stansted operation viable.
Initially, the rebranded airline launched new routes from London City
serving KLM's Amsterdam Schiphol hub as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, from January 2000, the KLMuk routes that did not serve Amsterdam were either progressively transferred to Buzz
, the KLM group's new low-cost carrier
, along with the remaining 146-300 aircraft or closed. KLMuk adopted this new strategy in response to its increasing inability to match the far lower costs of the rapidly growing "no frills
" competition on the main London—Scotland
trunk routes, especially Luton
-based EasyJet
and former British Airways subsidiary Go
based at Stansted itself. By 2001, Buzz operated 14 point-to-point routes from Stansted. Many of these were former Air UK routes served with a fleet of eight BAe 146-300s handed down from Air UK and two independently sourced, second-hand Boeing 737-300s. In addition, scheduled routes not transferred to Buzz and serving destinations other than Amsterdam were eventually all withdrawn, thus reducing the network to only 15 routes exclusively linking regional UK airports to Amsterdam Schiphol. This also resulted in the retirement of KLMuk's ATR-72s.
In 2002, KLM decided to integrate what was left of KLMuk into KLM Cityhopper
, its wholly owned, Dutch-based regional subsidiary. It also decided to sell Buzz to Ryanair
the following year. This transaction constituted the final link in a long chain of events connecting the early- to mid-20th century decision of British & Commonwealth Shipping
, a shipping company
that could trace its roots to the 19th century, to diversify into commercial aviation
through ownership of several of the post-/pre-war
independent airlines that merged to form British United Airways
, the UK's dominant private sector airline conglomerate of the 1960s, with what is arguably the world's most commercially successful airline of the first decade of the 21st century.
and Flybe
, with the former concentrating on the ex-Air Anglia oil
-related business routes along Britain's East Coast and the latter focusing on former BIA/Air Westward routes serving the southern and western parts of the UK.
The first of these occurred on June 11, 1984. It involved an empty ex-BIA Handley Page Dart Herald (registration: G-BBXI), which was parked at Bournemouth Airport
. A lorry struck the aircraft and damaged it beyond repair.
The second incident occurred on July 19, 1990. It involved an ex-Air Anglia F-27-200 (registration G-BCDO) in a landing accident at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at the end of a scheduled flight from London Stansted. The aircraft's right-hand main gear failed to lock down while preparing to land. This resulted in a forced landing
with the right gear retracted, damaging the aircraft beyond repair. There were no injuries among the 17 passengers and four crew members. (The aircraft was subsequently ferried to Air UK's base at Norwich Airport, where it was withdrawn from service and scrapped.)
The third and final incident occurred on December 7, 1997. It involved an F-27-500F (registration: G-BNCY) in a landing accident at Guernsey Airport
at the end of a scheduled service from Southampton. The aircraft overran the runway while landing in high crosswinds and came to rest in an adjacent field with its left landing gear collapsed. There were no injuries among the 50 passengers and four crew. (The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and subsequently written off.)
Government-owned corporation
A government-owned corporation, state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, or parastatal is a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an owner government...
s regional British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
airline formed in 1980 as a result of a merger involving four rival UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based regional airline
Regional airline
Regional airlines are airlines that operate regional aircraft to provide passenger air service to communities without sufficient demand to attract mainline service...
s. British and Commonwealth
British and Commonwealth Holdings
British and Commonwealth Holdings plc was a financial services company which used to be a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:The Company was originally established in 1955 when Clan Line Steamers was merged with Union Castle to form The British & Commonwealth Shipping Company, a shipping...
(B&C)-owned British Island Airways
British Island Airways
British Island Airways was the legal successor to British United Island Airways . It commenced operations under that name in mid-1970. Ten years later it merged with Air Anglia, Air Wales and Air Westward to form Air UK, at the time the UK's biggest regional airline and its third-largest scheduled...
(BIA) and Air Anglia
Air Anglia
Air Anglia was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British regional airline formed at Norwich Airport in 1970. Created as a result of a merger of three smaller operators, the new entity became an important regional scheduled carrier during the 1970s,...
were the two dominant merger partners. The merged entity
Entity
An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, although it need not be a material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate.An entity could be viewed as a set...
's corporate headquarters
Corporate headquarters
Corporate headquarters is a term used to describe the entity at the top of a corporation to take full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, ensures Corporate Governance...
were originally located at Redhill
Redhill
Redhill can refer to:* Redhill, South Australia, Australia* Redhill, Nottinghamshire, England* Redhill, Shropshire, England* Redhill, Somerset, England* Redhill, Surrey, England**Redhill railway station**Redhill Aerodrome* Redhill, Singapore, Singapore...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, the location of the old BIA head office. It subsequently relocated to Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
. In addition to the main maintenance base at Norwich Airport
Norwich International Airport
Norwich International Airport , also known as Norwich Airport, is an airport in the City of Norwich within Norfolk, England north of the city centre and on the edge of the city's suburbs....
(Air Anglia's former engineering base), there also used to be a second major maintenance base at Blackpool Airport
Blackpool Airport
Blackpool International Airport is an international airport on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, England, in the Borough of Fylde, just outside the Borough of Blackpool. It was formerly known as Squires Gate Airport....
(the old BIA engineering base). This was closed down following Air UK's major retrenchment during Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's severe recession of the early 1980s
Early 1980s recession
The early 1980s recession describes the severe global economic recession affecting much of the developed world in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The United States and Japan exited recession relatively early, but high unemployment would continue to affect other OECD nations through at least 1985...
. In 1987, Air UK established Air UK Leisure
Air UK Leisure
Air UK Leisure was a British airline operating charter flights on behalf of its parent Air UK.-History:In June 1987 Air UK announced that it would start a new charter airline based at London Stansted Airport which would start operating in 1988 with two leased Boeing 737-200 aircraft...
as a charter subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
. The following year, Air UK shifted its headquarters to London Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
. When Stansted's new Norman Foster
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
-designed terminal opened in 1991, the airline became its first and subsequently main tenant.
Air UK was a full member of the International Air Transport Association
International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
(IATA) for most of its existence.
Air UK originally was a wholly owned subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of British Air Transport (Holdings), a successor to the Air Holdings Group
British United Airways
British United Airways was a private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline 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...
owned 90% by B&C and 10% by Eagle Star Insurance
Eagle Star Insurance
The Eagle Star Insurance Company plc was a leading British insurance business. It underwrote the full range of risks, including fire, accident, marine, motor, life, contingency and Pluvius insurance...
. This made the Cayzer family
Cayzer Baronets
There have been three baronetcies created for people with the surname Cayzer, each in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom and each for members of the same family ....
, who owned B&C, the controlling shareholder
Controlling interest
Controlling interest in a corporation means to have control of a large enough block of voting stock shares in a company such that no one stock holder or coalition of stock holders can successfully oppose a motion...
s. Following the beginning of the gradual liberalisation of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU) internal air transport market in 1987, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
flag carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...
KLM, a long-standing business partner of Air UK and its predecessor Air Anglia, acquired a 14.9% minority stake in Air UK's holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
. In 1995, KLM increased its minority stake in Air UK to 45%. In 1997, KLM became Air UK's sole shareholder
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
when it acquired B&C's stake in British Air Transport (Holdings). The following year Air UK was renamed KLMuk
KLM UK
KLM UK was the brand name of a British airline subsidiary of KLM, which operated services within the UK and between the UK and the Netherlands using ATR-72, Fokker 50 and Fokker 100 aircraft...
.
Aircraft operated
Air UK operated the following aircraft types at one point or another during its 19-year existence:- Avion de Transport Regional (ATR) ATR-72 (these aircraft were exclusively operated by KLMuk)
- BAC One-ElevenBAC One-ElevenThe British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111, BAC-1-11 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s...
200/400 series - British Aerospace BAe 146 100/200/300 series
- Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante
- Fokker F-27 Friendship 100/200/400/500/600 series
- Fokker F-28 Fellowship 1000/4000 series
- Fokker F-50Fokker F50The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as a refinement of and successor to the highly successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were built by Fokker in the Netherlands...
- Fokker F-100Fokker F100The Fokker 100 is a medium size twin-turbofan airliner from the Fokker company. Low operational costs and almost no competition in the 100-seat short-range class made it a best seller when it was introduced in the late 1980s, but decayed due to increasing competition. Production ended in 1997 with...
- Handley Page Dart HeraldHandley Page Dart HeraldThe Handley Page Dart Herald was a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft.-Design and development:In the mid 1950s the Handley Page Aircraft Company developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the venerable Douglas DC-3, particularly in third-world countries...
- Shorts 330Shorts 330|-See also:-Bibliography:* Barnes C.H. and James Derek N. Shorts Aircraft since 1900. London: Putnam, 1989. ISBN 0-85177-819-4.* Donald, David, ed. The Encyclopedia of Civil Aircraft. London: Aurum, 1999. ISBN 1-85410-642-2....
- Shorts 360Shorts 360The Short 360 is a commuter aircraft built by Short Brothers. The Short 360 seats up to 36-39 passengers and was introduced into service in 1981. It is a larger version of the Short 330.-Development:...
Fleet in 1980
In July 1980 the Air UK fleet comprised 37 aircraft.| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| BAC One-Eleven 400 BAC One-Eleven The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111, BAC-1-11 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s... |
4 |
| Fokker F-28 Fellowship 4000 | 2 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 | 14 |
| Handley Page Dart Herald Handley Page Dart Herald The Handley Page Dart Herald was a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft.-Design and development:In the mid 1950s the Handley Page Aircraft Company developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the venerable Douglas DC-3, particularly in third-world countries... |
11 |
| Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante | 6 |
| Total | 37 |
Air UK employed 1,700 people at this time.
Fleet in 1983
In April 1983 the Air UK fleet comprised 21 aircraft.| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 | 10 |
| Handley Page Dart Herald Handley Page Dart Herald The Handley Page Dart Herald was a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft.-Design and development:In the mid 1950s the Handley Page Aircraft Company developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the venerable Douglas DC-3, particularly in third-world countries... |
6 |
| Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante | 5 |
| Total | 21 |
Air UK employed 850 people at this time.
Fleet in 1985
In March 1985 the Air UK fleet comprised 22 aircraft.| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| Fokker F-28 Fellowship 1000 | 1 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 | 16 |
| Shorts 360 Shorts 360 The Short 360 is a commuter aircraft built by Short Brothers. The Short 360 seats up to 36-39 passengers and was introduced into service in 1981. It is a larger version of the Short 330.-Development:... |
4 |
| Shorts 330 Shorts 330 |-See also:-Bibliography:* Barnes C.H. and James Derek N. Shorts Aircraft since 1900. London: Putnam, 1989. ISBN 0-85177-819-4.* Donald, David, ed. The Encyclopedia of Civil Aircraft. London: Aurum, 1999. ISBN 1-85410-642-2.... |
1 |
| Total | 22 |
Air UK employed 850 people at this time.
Fleet in 1988
In March 1988 the Air UK fleet comprised 22 aircraft.| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| BAC One-Eleven 400 BAC One-Eleven The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111, BAC-1-11 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s... |
1 |
| British Aerospace BAe 146-200 | 1 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 500 | 2 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 600 | 3 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 | 10 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 100 | 1 |
| Shorts 360 Shorts 360 The Short 360 is a commuter aircraft built by Short Brothers. The Short 360 seats up to 36-39 passengers and was introduced into service in 1981. It is a larger version of the Short 330.-Development:... |
4 |
| Total | 22 |
Two British Aerospace BAe 146-200 were on order.
Air UK employed 975 people at this time.
Fleet in 1990
In March 1990 the Air UK fleet comprised 27 aircraft.| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| British Aerospace BAe 146-300 | 4 |
| British Aerospace BAe 146-200 | 3 |
| British Aerospace BAe 146-100 | 2 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 500 | 2 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 600 | 2 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 | 11 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 100 | 1 |
| Shorts 360 Shorts 360 The Short 360 is a commuter aircraft built by Short Brothers. The Short 360 seats up to 36-39 passengers and was introduced into service in 1981. It is a larger version of the Short 330.-Development:... |
2 |
| Total | 27 |
Air UK employed 1,340 people at this time.
Fleet in 1995
In March/April 1995 the Air UK fleet comprised 28 aircraft.| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| Fokker F-100 Fokker F100 The Fokker 100 is a medium size twin-turbofan airliner from the Fokker company. Low operational costs and almost no competition in the 100-seat short-range class made it a best seller when it was introduced in the late 1980s, but decayed due to increasing competition. Production ended in 1997 with... |
9 |
| British Aerospace BAe 146-300 | 7 |
| British Aerospace BAe 146-200 | 2 |
| British Aerospace BAe 146-100 | 2 |
| Fokker F-50 Fokker F50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as a refinement of and successor to the highly successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were built by Fokker in the Netherlands... |
1 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 500 | 6 |
| Shorts 360 Shorts 360 The Short 360 is a commuter aircraft built by Short Brothers. The Short 360 seats up to 36-39 passengers and was introduced into service in 1981. It is a larger version of the Short 330.-Development:... |
1 |
| Total | 28 |
Eight Fokker F-50
Fokker F50
The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as a refinement of and successor to the highly successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were built by Fokker in the Netherlands...
were on order.
Air UK employed 1,466 people at this time.
Fleet in 1997
In March/April 1997 the Air UK fleet comprised 36 aircraft.| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| Fokker F-100 Fokker F100 The Fokker 100 is a medium size twin-turbofan airliner from the Fokker company. Low operational costs and almost no competition in the 100-seat short-range class made it a best seller when it was introduced in the late 1980s, but decayed due to increasing competition. Production ended in 1997 with... |
11 |
| British Aerospace BAe 146-300 | 10 |
| British Aerospace BAe 146-100 | 1 |
| Fokker F-50 Fokker F50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as a refinement of and successor to the highly successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were built by Fokker in the Netherlands... |
9 |
| Fokker F-27 Friendship 500 | 5 |
| Total | 36 |
Four Fokker F-100
Fokker F100
The Fokker 100 is a medium size twin-turbofan airliner from the Fokker company. Low operational costs and almost no competition in the 100-seat short-range class made it a best seller when it was introduced in the late 1980s, but decayed due to increasing competition. Production ended in 1997 with...
were on order.
Air UK employed 2,000 people at this time.
"Third Force"
Air UK was the name of the new airline resulting from the merger of BIA and Air Anglia. (BIA had already absorbed ExeterExeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
-based Air Westward in March 1979. Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
-based Air Wales had become part of Air Anglia in June of that year.) It was incorporate
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
d on January 1, 1980. Operations commenced on January 16, 1980. At the time of its inception, Air UK was the largest regional airline in the UK and the country's third-largest scheduled carrier. It had a staff of 1,700, carried more than 1m, mainly scheduled, passengers annually and had a fleet of 40 aircraft, consisting of six jet
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
s (four ex-BIA BAC One-Eleven 400s and two ex-Air Anglia Fokker F-28 4000 series Fellowships) and 34 turboprop
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
s (including eighteen ex-BIA Handley Page Dart Heralds, ten ex-Air Anglia Fokker F-27 100/200 series Friendships and six Embraer 110 Bandeirantes originally part of the BIA, Air Wales and Air Westward fleets). Apart from the four One-Eleven
BAC One-Eleven
The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111, BAC-1-11 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s...
400s, which were predominantly operated on charter flights, all the other aircraft were part of Air UK's scheduled service fleet.
For marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
purposes, there was no gap between the letters "U" and "K" in the "Air UK" logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
in the newly merged entity's first livery
Aircraft livery
Aircraft livery is a paint scheme applied to an aircraft, generally to fuselage, wings, empennage , or jet engines. Most airlines have a standard paint scheme for their aircraft fleet, usually prominently displaying the airline logo or name. From time to time special liveries are introduced, for...
, which was a stylised Union Flag
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
.
Former BIA managing director Peter Villa became Air UK's first MD as well.
At the time of its creation, Air UK was sometimes referred to as the unofficial "Third Force" among the main contemporary scheduled airlines in the UK (British Caledonian
British Caledonian
British Caledonian was a private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline, operating out of Gatwick Airport in the 1970s and 1980s...
(BCal) being the UK's official "Second Force" and British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
(BA) the primary UK flag carrier at that time).
Following the merger, most of the fleet progressively adopted Air UK's new blue, white and red colour scheme. Originally, this featured a predominantly blue fuselage with a white-red-white strip across the windows and a white roof. The tail was also predominantly blue, apart from the "Air UK" logo. However, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) disapproved of this predominantly blue livery, arguing that it could potentially pose a safety hazard for other aircraft as it was difficult for other crews to see the blue aircraft against a blue sky. To address the CAA's safety concerns, Air UK decided to amend its original colour scheme by opting for a hybrid blue-and-white scheme featuring a blue fuselage and a white tail.
Air UK's scheduled route network initially served the following 33 points: Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Amsterdam, Basle, Belfast
Belfast International Airport
Belfast International Airport is a major airport located northwest of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was formerly known and is still referred to as Aldergrove Airport, after the village of the same name lying immediately to the west of the airport. Belfast International shares its runways with...
, Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Birmingham, Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Brussels
Brussels Airport
Brussels Airport is an international airport northeast of Brussels, Belgium. The airport is partially in Zaventem and partially in the Diegem area of Machelen, both located in the Flemish Region of Belgium.Brussels Airport currently consists of 54 contact gates, and a total of 109 gates...
, Dublin
Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport, , is operated by the Dublin Airport Authority. Located in Collinstown, in the Fingal part of County Dublin, 18.4 million passengers passed through the airport in 2010, making it the busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland, followed by Cork and Shannon...
, Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf International Airport
Düsseldorf International Airport is the largest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the third largest airport in Germany, handling 18.99 million passengers in 2010....
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Exeter, Glasgow
Glasgow International Airport
Glasgow International Airport is an international airport in Scotland, located west of Glasgow city centre, near the towns of Paisley and Renfrew in Renfrewshire...
, Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
, Humberside
Humberside
Humberside was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East and West ridings of Yorkshire and parts of Lindsey, Lincolnshire...
, Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
/Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, Le Touquet, London Gatwick
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
, London Heathrow
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
, London Stansted
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
, Manchester
Manchester International Airport
Manchester Airport , formerly often called Ringway, is a major airport at Ringway in the City of Manchester within Greater Manchester, UK. In 2010 it was 4th busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers, and the busiest airport in the UK outside the London region...
, Newcastle, Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, Ostend
Ostend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
, Paris, Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, Southend
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
, Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
, and Teeside.
Air UK was the first and, at the time, only scheduled airline in the UK to fly from all three main London airports.
Following British Airways' decision to retire its Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
turboprop fleet and to withdraw from its loss-making regional scheduled routes, Air UK assumed BA's regional routes from Heathrow
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
to Guernsey, Manchester to the Isle of Man, Leeds to Belfast and Dublin, and Edinburgh to Jersey in April 1980. Air UK's new, year-round Heathrow—Guernsey route was its most prominent scheduled route serving London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's premier airport. (During the late 1970s, in the days prior to the construction of the M11
M11 motorway
The M11 motorway in England is a major road running approximately north from the North Circular Road in South Woodford in north-east London to the A14, north-west of Cambridge.-Route:...
, Air UK's predecessor Air Anglia had launched a year-round scheduled service linking Heathrow with the company's bases in Norwich and Humberside, as well as a year-round scheduled operation between London Gatwick and Leeds.)
Retrenchment
The severe recession of the early 1980s necessitated a major retrenchmentRetrenchment
Retrenchment is an act of cutting down or reduction, particularly of public expenditure.-Political usage:The word is familiar in this, its most general sense, from the motto of the Gladstonian Liberal party in British politics, "Peace, Retrenchment and Reform."The manifesto for 1906 Liberal...
, resulting in extensive frequency, route and staff cutbacks. This entailed the closure of bases at Bournemouth, Humberside and Stansted
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
as well as a major reduction in operations at Southend. As a consequence of these cutbacks, ten turboprop aircraft (seven Heralds and three Bandeirantes) were withdrawn from service while the two F-28 jets were leased out to French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
regional carrier
Regional airline
Regional airlines are airlines that operate regional aircraft to provide passenger air service to communities without sufficient demand to attract mainline service...
Air Alsace
Air Alsace
Société Air Alsace was an airline with its head office on the grounds of the Colmar-Houssen Aerodrome in Colmar, France-Company history:Air Alsace began as an air taxi operation based in Colmar in 1962. It began operations using small aircraft and in 1974 began regional services. In cooperation...
. This in turn resulted in the closure of the former BIA engineering base at Blackpool, accounting for 220 out of a total of 400 job losses. It also resulted in the suspension of scheduled passenger and cargo services to 14 points by late 1981. At the start of the 1981-82 winter timetable in November 1981, Air UK relaunched scheduled operations from Stansted by opening a new route to Amsterdam. This was the first international scheduled service from London's third airport in over ten years. The resulting network linked 20 points in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
and six in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Management hoped that these business realignments — including cutting the company's workforce in half over a two-year period — would reverse heavy losses Air UK had incurred during its first two years of operation, thereby stabilising the company and positioning it for future growth.
Reorganisation and renewed expansion
In 1982, Peter Villa led a management buyoutManagement buyout
A management buyout is a form of acquisition where a company's existing managers acquire a large part or all of the company.- Overview :Management buyouts are similar in all major legal aspects to any other acquisition of a company...
of Air UK's charter business, resulting in reconstituting BIA as a charter-only airline and his departure from Air UK along with the four BAC One-Eleven 400s. In addition to the tough economic climate and merger blues during the airline's inception as a result of combining two organisations with vastly different cultures and management styles, the operation of these aircraft had largely been responsible for Air UK's poor financial performance that threatened the airline's survival.
1982 was also the year the CAA transferred Air UK's Gatwick
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
—Guernsey licence to Guernsey Airlines, a newly formed regional operator, following numerous passenger complaints about the service Air UK had been providing ever since it had assumed the former BIA operation on that route. That year also saw Air UK joining forces with British Midland
Bmi (airline)
British Midland Airways Limited , is an airline based at Donington Hall in Castle Donington in the United Kingdom, close to East Midlands Airport, and a fully owned subsidiary of Lufthansa...
to form Manx Airlines
Manx Airlines
Manx Airlines was an Isle of Man based airline which existed between 1982 and 2002. Its head office was located on the grounds of Isle of Man Airport in Ballasalla, Malew. An airline of the same name had existed between 1947 and 1958.-History:...
, a new, jointly owned regional subsidiary based on the Isle of Man. Air UK owned 25% of Manx Airlines, making it the new joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
's junior partner. (British Midland, which owned the remaining 75%, was the senior partner.) Air UK and British Midland hoped that transferring their loss-making Isle of Man operations to a dedicated, lower cost subsidiary would eventually make these services profitable.
In 1983, Air UK broke even
Break-even
Break-even is a point where any difference between plus or minus or equivalent changes side.-In economics:A technique for which identifying the point where the total revenue is just sufficient to cover the total cost...
for the first time. This was also the year the airline acquired its first Shorts 330 commuter turboprop plane, which it named Enterprise in a publicity stunt at Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
where the naming ceremony took place in the shadow of a Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
shuttle carrier aircraft
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft are two extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA uses to transport Space Shuttle orbiters...
used by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
to launch Space Shuttle Enterprise
Space Shuttle Enterprise
The Space Shuttle Enterprise was the first Space Shuttle orbiter. It was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform test flights in the atmosphere. It was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight...
.
By 1985, Air UK acquired additional Shorts 330/360s and Fokker F-27s. The latter included the first stretched 500 series F-27s featuring an increased seating capacity of 52 (as opposed to 44 for all shorter fuselage F-27 models). To further support its ongoing expansion, Air UK temporarily leased an F-28 1000 series as well as two BIA One Eleven 400s during that period. (All of these aircraft wore different, white-based colour schemes.) Reintroduction of jet equipment
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
enabled Air UK to assume British Caledonian's regional operation between Glasgow, Newcastle and Amsterdam at the start of the 1985 summer timetable period, thereby further strengthening its position as the UK's leading regional feeder operator at Amsterdam Schiphol and as the airport's largest foreign scheduled carrier. The additional aircraft also permitted several year-round, domestic and international scheduled services from Stansted to be reinstated.
In 1987, Air UK placed its first order for BAe
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
's new 146 regional jetliner
Jetliner
Jetliner are an alternative rock band from the USA. They focus on melodic piano based rock and have been compared to Queen and early Elton John, being heavily influenced by early 70s rock. Composed of Adam Paskowitz of The Flys, son of Doc Paskowitz, on piano and lead vocals, Jeff Kluesner on...
. The introduction of Air UK's first 146 200 series regional jet
Regional jet
A Regional jet , is a class of short to medium-range turbofan powered airliners.-History:The term "Regional jet" describes a range of short to medium-haul turbofan powered aircraft, whose use throughout the world expanded after the advent of Airline Deregulation in the United States in...
coincided with the introduction of a new livery, consisting of a white fuselage and tail with three different blue cheatlines merging into a stylised Union Flag on the aircraft's tail. In addition, this livery differed from the previous one by dropping the gap between the words "Air" and "UK" while inserting a gap between the letters "U" and "K" in "UK".
Following British Airways' takeover of British Caledonian in December 1987, the CAA awarded Air UK the licences for the ex-BCal domestic feeder routes from Gatwick to Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1988. This resulted in an order for four stretched BAe 146-300s to enable the launch of high-frequency services with up to seven daily round-trips on both routes from the start of the 1988-89 winter timetable period.
By 1994, Air UK acquired several, new Fokker F-100 jet aircraft. The introduction of these aircraft led to the adoption of another new livery, the final Air UK-themed livery in the airline's 19-year history. This livery combined elements of the earlier livery with a new, single dark blue cheatline that included a thin, pale blue stripe merging into a dark blue tail featuring the previous Union Flag logo. It also combined elements of both previous liveries by dropping the gap between the "U" and "K" in "UK" (as in Air UK's original blue livery) as well as dropping the gap between the words "Air" and "UK" (as in the airline's second livery).
By 1995, Air UK had replaced all of the older, smaller F-27 100/200/400/600 series aircraft in its fleet with additional, stretched F-27-500s. (Air UK operated a total of 22 F-27s of various marks throughout its existence, all of which it had acquired second-hand.)
By the late 1990s, a fleet of brand-new, state-of-the-art F-50
Fokker F50
The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as a refinement of and successor to the highly successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were built by Fokker in the Netherlands...
and ATR-72 turboprops replaced the aging F-27-500s. During that period Air UK also retired all of its 146-200s as well as the 146-100s.
Air UK Leisure
In 1987, Air UK established Air UK Leisure as its new charter subsidiary in association with charter brokerage firm Viking International.Air UK Leisure's corporate headquarters were located at Air UK's Stansted base. Its main operating bases were at London Gatwick, London Stansted and Manchester.
Operations commenced with three second-hand Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
-200s. These were replaced with seven brand-new 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
-400s, making Air UK Leisure first Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an operator of the -400 in October 1988.
In 1993, Air UK Leisure entered the long-haul leisure market through the acquisition of a pair of Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
300 ER series widebodied aircraft. Both aircraft were contracted by tour operator
Tour operator
A tour operator typically combines tour and travel components to create a holiday. The most common example of a tour operator's product would be a flight on a charter airline plus a transfer from the airport to a hotel and the services of a local representative, all for one price. Niche tour...
Unijet. Although Air UK Leisure operated these aircraft under the same Air Operator Certificate (AOC) as its 737 400 series narrowbodied short-/medium-haul fleet, it adopted the Leisure International Airways brand for its long-haul operation.
Air UK Leisure was subsequently sold to Unijet, which in turn became part of the First Choice
First Choice (travel firm)
First Choice is a brand name used by TUI Travel PLC to sell package holidays in the United Kingdom.The brand is also the name of a chain of travel agents that are part of the same group....
group.
Focusing on Stansted
Following the move to Stansted in 1988, Air UK became London's third airport's biggest resident airline and its main scheduled operator. The company began building a comprehensive network of short-haul domestic and European feeder routes that was intended to provide connecting traffic for the long-haul carriers that were then expected to commence operations from Stansted, as a result of the increasingly tight slot situation at both London Heathrow as well as London Gatwick, at the time London's two main gateway/hub airports, especially at peak times. Air UK's move to the new Norman Foster-designed terminal in early 1991 provided the impetus for the launch of several new, year-round scheduled routes linking Stansted with important business destinations including Belfast, Düsseldorf, FrankfurtFrankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Milan Linate, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
(in addition to the existing year-round scheduled routes serving Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Brussels, the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Paris). However, the unfavourable economic conditions in the UK at the time, ie the severe early 1990s recession and the fallout from the first Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, resulted in a sharp contraction of both the business and leisure travel markets. This in turn resulted in the spectacular collapse of the International Leisure Group (ILG) and its Air Europe
Air Europe
Air Europe was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline, established in 1978 under the working title Inter European Airways. It adopted the Air Europe name the following year...
airline subsidiary, at the time the largest independent airline in the UK and Gatwick's biggest user, accounting for one-fifth of all the airport's slots. The then prevailing harsh economic climate also resulted in route and schedule cutbacks at other major airlines operating out of both main London airports. As a result, it became much easier to obtain viable slots at these airports, including at peak times. This meant that none of the contemporary major long-haul carriers were showing any interest in commencing operations at Stansted (with the sole exception of American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
, which ran a short-lived Stansted—Chicago service during the early 1990s). In addition, Stansted's considerably smaller catchment area and its greater distance from most parts of London compared with Heathrow and Gatwick, combined with poorer transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
links in relation to Heathrow's and Gatwick's better accessibility, meant that Air UK found it extremely difficult to make its Stansted operation viable.
Rebranding
In 1997, KLM became the sole owner of Air UK. This resulted in the airline being rebranded as KLMuk in January 1998, including the adoption of a new livery. The legal name changed from Air UK Limited to KLM uk Limited in April 1998.Initially, the rebranded airline launched new routes from London City
London City Airport
London City Airport is a single-runway airport. It principally serves the financial district of London and is located on a former Docklands site, east of the City of London, opposite the London Regatta Centre, in the London Borough of Newham in east London. It was developed by the engineering...
serving KLM's Amsterdam Schiphol hub as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, from January 2000, the KLMuk routes that did not serve Amsterdam were either progressively transferred to Buzz
Buzz (airline)
Buzz was a British low-cost airline operating services within Europe. It operated from 2000 until 2004 as a subsidiary of KLM and then Ryanair.- History :The airline was established in 1999 and started operations on January 4, 2000...
, the KLM group's new low-cost carrier
Low-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that generally has lower fares and fewer comforts...
, along with the remaining 146-300 aircraft or closed. KLMuk adopted this new strategy in response to its increasing inability to match the far lower costs of the rapidly growing "no frills
No frills
No-frills or no frills is a term used to describe any service or product for which the non-essential features have been removed to keep the price low. The use of the term "frills" refers to a style of fabric decoration...
" competition on the main London—Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
trunk routes, especially Luton
London Luton Airport
London Luton Airport is an international airport located east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is north of Central London. The airport is from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway...
-based EasyJet
EasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
and former British Airways subsidiary Go
Go Fly
Go Fly was the name of an award-winning British airline. It was purchased by EasyJet.-History:Bob Ayling, ex-chief of British Airways, approached EasyJet's founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, to ask whether he could visit claiming that he was fascinated by how the Greek entrepreneur had made the budget...
based at Stansted itself. By 2001, Buzz operated 14 point-to-point routes from Stansted. Many of these were former Air UK routes served with a fleet of eight BAe 146-300s handed down from Air UK and two independently sourced, second-hand Boeing 737-300s. In addition, scheduled routes not transferred to Buzz and serving destinations other than Amsterdam were eventually all withdrawn, thus reducing the network to only 15 routes exclusively linking regional UK airports to Amsterdam Schiphol. This also resulted in the retirement of KLMuk's ATR-72s.
In 2002, KLM decided to integrate what was left of KLMuk into KLM Cityhopper
KLM Cityhopper
KLM Cityhopper is the regional subsidiary of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines . The airline, with its head office, the Convair Building, on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Schiphol-Oost, Haarlemmermeer, operates short haul services in and around Europe...
, its wholly owned, Dutch-based regional subsidiary. It also decided to sell Buzz to Ryanair
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
the following year. This transaction constituted the final link in a long chain of events connecting the early- to mid-20th century decision of British & Commonwealth Shipping
British and Commonwealth Holdings
British and Commonwealth Holdings plc was a financial services company which used to be a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:The Company was originally established in 1955 when Clan Line Steamers was merged with Union Castle to form The British & Commonwealth Shipping Company, a shipping...
, a shipping company
Shipping line
-History of shipping lines:Large-scale shipping lines became widespread in the nineteenth century, after the development of the steamship in 1783. At first, Great Britain was the centr of development; in 1819, the first steamship crossing of the Atlantic Ocean took place and by 1833, shipping lines...
that could trace its roots to the 19th century, to diversify into commercial aviation
Commercial aviation
Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for hire to transport passengers or cargo...
through ownership of several of the post-/pre-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
independent airlines that merged to form British United Airways
British United Airways
British United Airways was a private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline 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...
, the UK's dominant private sector airline conglomerate of the 1960s, with what is arguably the world's most commercially successful airline of the first decade of the 21st century.
Further developments
By late 2009, several regional point-to-point routes plied by Air UK and its predecessors for many years, which were dropped soon after Dutch flag carrier KLM had become the airline's sole owner, had been taken over by Eastern AirwaysEastern Airways
Eastern Airways is an airline with its head office at Humberside Airport in Kirmington, North Lincolnshire, England. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and private charter services...
and Flybe
Flybe
Flybe Group PLC is a British low-cost regional airline headquartered at the Jack Walker House at Exeter International Airport in Devon, England...
, with the former concentrating on the ex-Air Anglia oil
Petroleum industry
The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...
-related business routes along Britain's East Coast and the latter focusing on former BIA/Air Westward routes serving the southern and western parts of the UK.
Incidents and accidents
There were three recorded non-fatal incidents during Air UK's 19-year existence from 1980 until 1998.The first of these occurred on June 11, 1984. It involved an empty ex-BIA Handley Page Dart Herald (registration: G-BBXI), which was parked at Bournemouth Airport
Bournemouth Airport
Bournemouth Airport is an airport located north-northeast of Bournemouth, in southern England...
. A lorry struck the aircraft and damaged it beyond repair.
The second incident occurred on July 19, 1990. It involved an ex-Air Anglia F-27-200 (registration G-BCDO) in a landing accident at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at the end of a scheduled flight from London Stansted. The aircraft's right-hand main gear failed to lock down while preparing to land. This resulted in a forced landing
Forced landing
A forced landing is a landing by an aircraft made under factors outside the pilot's control, such as the failure of engines, systems, components or weather which makes continued flight impossible. For a full description of these, see article on Emergency landing...
with the right gear retracted, damaging the aircraft beyond repair. There were no injuries among the 17 passengers and four crew members. (The aircraft was subsequently ferried to Air UK's base at Norwich Airport, where it was withdrawn from service and scrapped.)
The third and final incident occurred on December 7, 1997. It involved an F-27-500F (registration: G-BNCY) in a landing accident at Guernsey Airport
Guernsey Airport
Guernsey Airport is the largest airport in the Bailiwick of Guernsey and is the only airport on the island of Guernsey. It is located in the Forest, a parish in Guernsey, west southwest of St. Peter Port.-History:...
at the end of a scheduled service from Southampton. The aircraft overran the runway while landing in high crosswinds and came to rest in an adjacent field with its left landing gear collapsed. There were no injuries among the 50 passengers and four crew. (The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and subsequently written off.)