British Airtours
Encyclopedia
British Airtours was a UK charter airline with flight operations out of London Gatwick
and Manchester Airport.
Originally established as BEA Airtours in 1969, it became a wholly owned subsidiary
of then state-owned British Airways
(BA) following the British European Airways
(BEA) — British Overseas Airways Corporation
(BOAC) merger of the early-1970s.
British Airtours adopted the Caledonian Airways
name when the newly privatised British Airways completed the acquisition of the rival British Caledonian (BCal) in April 1988.
Caledonian Airways
was eventually sold to UK
tour operator Inspirations in 1995, marking BA's exit from the mainstream inclusive tour (IT) market.
In 1999, Thomas Cook
acquired Inspirations and merged Caledonian Airways
with Flying Colours
to form JMC Air Services
, a forerunner of the UK arm of the present day Thomas Cook Airlines
.
Five Boeing 707-436
were on order.
s airlines. BEA saw this as a necessary counterweight to the independents' rapidly growing scheduled activities that began encroaching on what the state-owned corporations, i.e. BEA and BOAC, had traditionally regarded as their sole preserve. BEA Airtours' formation was also in line with one of the recommendations contained in the Edwards Report.
The independent charter airlines were suspicious of BEA's motive to enter the IT market and thought that there was a hidden agenda to destabilise this market by undercutting the independent carriers, none of which could match the corporation's financial resources and access to capital at the time. The independents moreover thought that BEA Airtours was meant to take on the corporations' excess staff as well as to absorb aircraft that were surplus to their requirements. They feared that this would lead to significant market distortion
s, creating excess capacity and further depressing the already low charter rates in a highly competitive market.
Commercial airline operations commenced from London Gatwick
in 1970 with a fleet of seven second-hand ex-BEA de Havilland Comet
series 4B aircraft seating 109 passengers in a single-class configuration. The first revenue flight departed Gatwick
on 6 March 1970.
In 1971, BEA Airtours had decided to replace the entire fleet with a similar number of larger capacity, longer range
and more fuel-efficient ex-American Airlines
Boeing 707
-123Bs to enable it to commence non-stop, long-haul charter flights, including "affinity group" charters to North America
. Despite having obtained permission from the UK's Department of Trade and Industry to import second-hand 707-120Bs and the non-availability of "internally sourced" alternatives (BOAC's 707-436s) within the envisaged timeframe, both corporations opposed this decision. They insisted that any new aircraft should be exclusively sourced from the existing BEA and BOAC fleets.
Following the corporations' intervention, BEA Airtours acquired seven former BOAC Boeing 707-436s. These aircraft had a greater seating capacity than required and were powered by four Rolls-Royce Conway
engines, an older generation engine type than the four Pratt and Whitney JT3D turbofan
s which powered the ex-American 707-123Bs it had originally selected to replace its Comet fleet. This meant that the ex-BOAC 707s had higher operating cost
s. However, BOAC was prepared to sell these aircraft to BEA Airtours at a lower price than American was asking for its planes. The £
4.3m
sale price included BOAC's entire spares holding (inclusive of engines) for the seven aircraft. This helped compensate for the cost differential. The first of these 174-seat aircraft entered service in 1971 while the last aircraft of this batch joined the fleet in 1973. By that time, four of the airline's nine Comet 4Bs had already been withdrawn from service and sold to rival UK charter airlines.
The oil crisis
in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, which led to a quadrupling of the price of a barrel of oil, substantially increased the operating costs of the remaining fuel-thirsty Comets and began to have an adverse impact on the airline's financial performance.
British Airtours, as the airline had become known following the creation of British Airways in 1974 as a result of the 1972 BEA—BOAC merger, therefore decided to retire its remaining five Comets at the end of that year's summer season and to sell the entire fleet to Dan-Air
.
In 1975, British Airtours commenced transatlantic
Advanced Booking Charter (ABC) flights to the United States
.
Over the coming years, British Airtours acquired additional Boeing 707s British Airways had inherited from BOAC.
When British Airways decided in the late-1970s to replace the aging and increasingly inefficient short-/medium-haul Hawker Siddeley Trident
s and BAC One-Eleven
s it had inherited from BEA with state-of-the-art Boeing 757
s and 737
s, a follow-on order for nine brand-new 737-236 Advanced aircraft was placed with Boeing
. These aircraft, which were delivered to British Airtours' Gatwick base during the early-1980s, allowed it to replace all of its old, second-hand narrowbodied
planes with brand-new equipment, thereby considerably enhancing its competitiveness vis-à-vis its independent rivals.
In late-June 1982, British Airtours launched twice-weekly scheduled services between Gatwick and Newark
using Boeing 707s in an all-economy
configuration. However, the airline's foray into the transatlantic scheduled market ended after only seven months in early-January 1983.
In 1984, British Airtours took delivery of a Rolls-Royce RB211
-powered Boeing 747
-236B "jumbo" at Gatwick, its first and only brand-new widebodied aircraft
. This aircraft was put into service on the airline's popular, long-haul ABC flights to North America. The same year, British Airtours' last Boeing 707 made its final revenue flight.
In the meantime, British Airtours also began taking delivery of a small number of former British Airways Lockheed L-1011 Tristar widebodies, which initially supplemented its narrowbodied 737 fleet on the busier and more popular routes.
In 1985, British Airtours introduced a new livery
that closely resembled the one used by British Airways at the time (designed by Landor Associates
).
British Airtours adopted the popular Caledonian Airways brand in April 1988 when the newly privatised British Airways had completed the takeover of its former Gatwick-based rival British Caledonian
. It also adopted a modified BCal livery adapted from the contemporary, Landor Associates designed British Airways livery. The newly renamed Caledonian Airways moved its Gatwick operation from the airport's South Terminal into the then brand-new North Terminal, thereby concentrating most of the British Airways group's Gatwick services in the new terminal.
Caledonian Airways began replacing its Boeing 737 narrowbodies with additional ex-British Airways L-1011 Tristar widebodies as well as with a number of brand-new Boeing 757s sourced from the large 757 orders placed by its parent company. The former British Airtours 737s were re-configured in British Airways' contemporary short-haul two-class cabin arrangement and began replacing the BAC One-Eleven 500s British Airways had inherited from British Caledonian on the UK flag carrier
's short-haul Gatwick routes.
In 1995, British Airways decided to exit the short- to medium-haul package holiday
market and sold Caledonian Airways to UK-based tour operator Inspirations, then part of the US
-owned Carlson group, along with its core fleet of five Tristars. Following Caledonian's sale to Inspirations, the 757s were returned to British Airways.
Inspirations became part of the Thomas Cook group in 1999 when Caledonian Airways was merged with the Flying Colours airline to form JMC Air Services, which in turn became the UK arm of the present day Thomas Cook Airlines.
Following Inspirations' takeover by Thomas Cook, the former Caledonian Airways Tristars were withdrawn from service as these had suffered increasing, widely publicised reliability problems resulting in the travelling public's generally poor perception of Caledonian.
at Leeds/Bradford Airport on landing from Palma
after a rain shower. The aircraft was evacuated, with only minor injuries sustained by the 14 crew and 398 passengers. The nose landing gear
strut folded backwards during the overrun, leading to severe damage to the underside of the forward fuselage
. The undersides of both wing-mounted engines were flattened and both engines suffered ingestion damage. The main wheels of the aircraft also dug deep troughs in the area beyond the end of the runway, damaging the buried airfield lighting cables. The accident report concluded that the overrun was caused by the inability of the aircraft to achieve the appropriate level of braking effectiveness, and recommended that both the scheduled wet runway performance of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and the condition of the surface of runway 14 at Leeds/Bradford Airport should be re-examined.
On 22 August 1985, the fuselage of a Boeing 737-236 Advanced (registration: G-BGJL), operating British Airtours flight 28M
, caught fire after an aborted take off at Manchester Airport while on a charter flight to the Greek
island of Corfu
. The fuel access panel on the aircraft's fuselage was pierced by a part of the compressor
that had been ejected from the port engine as a result of a malfunction. The fire quickly engulfed the area around the front passenger door filling the cabin with lethal, toxic fumes. Fifty-three passengers and two crew members died as a result, with most of them dying of asphyxiation after inhaling the toxic fumes.
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...
and Manchester Airport.
Originally established as BEA Airtours in 1969, it became 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 then state-owned 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) following the British European Airways
British European Airways
British European Airways or British European Airways Corporation was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. The airline operated European and North African routes from airports around the United Kingdom...
(BEA) — British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation
The British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
(BOAC) merger of the early-1970s.
British Airtours adopted the Caledonian Airways
Caledonian Airways (1988)
Caledonian Airways was a United Kingdom charter airline that operated for twelve years between 1988 and 2000.-History:Caledonian Airways was formed in 1988 when British Airways acquired British Caledonian...
name when the newly privatised British Airways completed the acquisition of the rival British Caledonian (BCal) in April 1988.
Caledonian Airways
Caledonian Airways (1988)
Caledonian Airways was a United Kingdom charter airline that operated for twelve years between 1988 and 2000.-History:Caledonian Airways was formed in 1988 when British Airways acquired British Caledonian...
was eventually sold to 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...
tour operator Inspirations in 1995, marking BA's exit from the mainstream inclusive tour (IT) market.
In 1999, Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook of Melbourne, Derbyshire, England founded the travel agency that is now Thomas Cook Group.- Early days :...
acquired Inspirations and merged Caledonian Airways
Caledonian Airways (1988)
Caledonian Airways was a United Kingdom charter airline that operated for twelve years between 1988 and 2000.-History:Caledonian Airways was formed in 1988 when British Airways acquired British Caledonian...
with Flying Colours
Flying Colours (airline)
-History:The airline began operations in the summer of 1996 with a fleet of Boeing 757-200 & Airbus A320 aircraft.Flying Colours had several operational bases outside of its Manchester Airport headquarters, including London Gatwick Airport and Glasgow International Airport...
to form JMC Air Services
JMC Air
JMC Air Services also known as JMC Air, JMC Airlines or simply JMC, was a UK charter airline formed by the merger of Caledonian Airways and Flying Colours Airlines following the purchase of Thomas Cook Group by the Carlson Leisure Group. JMC Air was named after the initials of the son of Thomas...
, a forerunner of the UK arm of the present day Thomas Cook Airlines
Thomas Cook Airlines
Thomas Cook Airlines is a British charter airline based in Manchester, England. It serves main holiday resorts worldwide, from its main bases at Manchester and Gatwick.The airline also operates services from nine other bases in the United Kingdom....
.
Aircraft operated
Throughout its 29-year existence the following aircraft types formed part of the BEA Airtours/British Airtours/Caledonian fleet:- Airbus A320Airbus A320The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
-200 (Caledonian)
- Boeing 707Boeing 707The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
-336B/C (British Airtours)/436 (BEA Airtours/British Airtours)
- Boeing 737Boeing 737The 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...
-236 Advanced (British Airtours/Caledonian)
- Boeing 747Boeing 747The 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...
-236B (British Airtours)
- Boeing 757Boeing 757The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...
-236 (Caledonian)
- de Havilland CometDe Havilland CometThe de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
4B (BEA Airtours)
- Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 1/50/100/200 (British Airtours/Caledonian)
- McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-30 (Caledonian).
Fleet in 1970
In March 1970, the BEA Airtours fleet comprised 9 aircraft.| Aircraft | Total |
|---|---|
| de Havilland Comet 4B De Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design... |
9 |
| Total | 9 |
Fleet in 1972
In May 1972, the BEA Airtours fleet comprised 11 aircraft.| Aircraft | Total |
|---|---|
| Boeing 707-436 Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on... |
2 |
| de Havilland Comet 4B De Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design... |
9 |
| Total | 11 |
Five Boeing 707-436
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
were on order.
Fleet in 1974
In March 1974, the British Airtours fleet comprised 9 aircraft.| Aircraft | Total |
|---|---|
| Boeing 707-436 Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on... |
9 |
| Total | 9 |
Fleet in 1982
In April 1982, the British Airtours fleet comprised 9 aircraft.| Aircraft | Total |
|---|---|
| Boeing 737-236 Advanced 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... |
9 |
| Total | 9 |
Fleet in 1984
In March 1984, the British Airtours fleet comprised 16 aircraft.| Aircraft | Total |
|---|---|
| Boeing 747-236B 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... |
1 |
| Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 200/200F | 2 |
| Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 1 | 3 |
| Boeing 707-336B Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on... |
1 |
| Boeing 737-200 Advanced 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... |
9 |
| Total | 16 |
Fleet in 1988
In March 1988, the British Airtours fleet comprised 10 aircraft.| Aircraft | Total |
|---|---|
| Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 100 | 1 |
| Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 1 | 3 |
| Boeing 737-200 Advanced 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... |
6 |
| Total | 10 |
History
BEA Airtours was formed on 24 April 1969 as a division of BEA to provide it with a low-cost platform to participate in the then rapidly growing IT holiday flights market, which until then had been the exclusive domain of wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporationGovernment-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 airlines. BEA saw this as a necessary counterweight to the independents' rapidly growing scheduled activities that began encroaching on what the state-owned corporations, i.e. BEA and BOAC, had traditionally regarded as their sole preserve. BEA Airtours' formation was also in line with one of the recommendations contained in the Edwards Report.
The independent charter airlines were suspicious of BEA's motive to enter the IT market and thought that there was a hidden agenda to destabilise this market by undercutting the independent carriers, none of which could match the corporation's financial resources and access to capital at the time. The independents moreover thought that BEA Airtours was meant to take on the corporations' excess staff as well as to absorb aircraft that were surplus to their requirements. They feared that this would lead to significant market distortion
Market distortion
In neoclassical economics, a market distortion is any event in which a market reaches a market clearing price for an item that is substantially different from the price that a market would achieve while operating under conditions of perfect competition and state enforcement of legal contracts and...
s, creating excess capacity and further depressing the already low charter rates in a highly competitive market.
Commercial airline operations commenced from 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...
in 1970 with a fleet of seven second-hand ex-BEA de Havilland Comet
De Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
series 4B aircraft seating 109 passengers in a single-class configuration. The first revenue flight departed 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...
on 6 March 1970.
In 1971, BEA Airtours had decided to replace the entire fleet with a similar number of larger capacity, longer range
Range (aircraft)
The maximal total range is the distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing, as limited by fuel capacity in powered aircraft, or cross-country speed and environmental conditions in unpowered aircraft....
and more fuel-efficient ex-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...
Boeing 707
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
-123Bs to enable it to commence non-stop, long-haul charter flights, including "affinity group" charters to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Despite having obtained permission from the UK's Department of Trade and Industry to import second-hand 707-120Bs and the non-availability of "internally sourced" alternatives (BOAC's 707-436s) within the envisaged timeframe, both corporations opposed this decision. They insisted that any new aircraft should be exclusively sourced from the existing BEA and BOAC fleets.
Following the corporations' intervention, BEA Airtours acquired seven former BOAC Boeing 707-436s. These aircraft had a greater seating capacity than required and were powered by four Rolls-Royce Conway
Rolls-Royce Conway
The Rolls-Royce RB.80 Conway was the first by-pass engine in the world to enter service. Development started at Rolls-Royce in the 1940s, but it was used only briefly in the late 1950s and early 1960s before other turbofan designs were introduced that replaced it. The Conway powered versions of...
engines, an older generation engine type than the four Pratt and Whitney JT3D turbofan
Turbofan
The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion. A turbofan combines two types of engines, the turbo portion which is a conventional gas turbine engine, and the fan, a propeller-like ducted fan...
s which powered the ex-American 707-123Bs it had originally selected to replace its Comet fleet. This meant that the ex-BOAC 707s had higher operating cost
Operating cost
Operating costs can be described as the expenses which are related to the operation of a business, or to the operation of a device, component, piece of equipment or facility.-Business operating costs:...
s. However, BOAC was prepared to sell these aircraft to BEA Airtours at a lower price than American was asking for its planes. The £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
4.3m
Million
One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
sale price included BOAC's entire spares holding (inclusive of engines) for the seven aircraft. This helped compensate for the cost differential. The first of these 174-seat aircraft entered service in 1971 while the last aircraft of this batch joined the fleet in 1973. By that time, four of the airline's nine Comet 4Bs had already been withdrawn from service and sold to rival UK charter airlines.
The oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, which led to a quadrupling of the price of a barrel of oil, substantially increased the operating costs of the remaining fuel-thirsty Comets and began to have an adverse impact on the airline's financial performance.
British Airtours, as the airline had become known following the creation of British Airways in 1974 as a result of the 1972 BEA—BOAC merger, therefore decided to retire its remaining five Comets at the end of that year's summer season and to sell the entire fleet to Dan-Air
Dan-Air
Dan-Air was a leading private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline based in the United Kingdom....
.
In 1975, British Airtours commenced transatlantic
Transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...
Advanced Booking Charter (ABC) flights to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Over the coming years, British Airtours acquired additional Boeing 707s British Airways had inherited from BOAC.
When British Airways decided in the late-1970s to replace the aging and increasingly inefficient short-/medium-haul Hawker Siddeley Trident
Hawker Siddeley Trident
The Hawker Siddeley HS 121 Trident was a British short/medium-range three-engined jet airliner designed by de Havilland and built by Hawker Siddeley in the 1960s and 1970s...
s and BAC 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...
s it had inherited from BEA with state-of-the-art Boeing 757
Boeing 757
The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...
s and 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...
s, a follow-on order for nine brand-new 737-236 Advanced aircraft was placed with Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
. These aircraft, which were delivered to British Airtours' Gatwick base during the early-1980s, allowed it to replace all of its old, second-hand narrowbodied
Narrow-body aircraft
A narrow-body aircraft is an airliner with a fuselage aircraft cabin width typically of 3 to 4 metres , and airline seat arranged 2 to 6 abreast along a single aisle...
planes with brand-new equipment, thereby considerably enhancing its competitiveness vis-à-vis its independent rivals.
In late-June 1982, British Airtours launched twice-weekly scheduled services between Gatwick and Newark
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
using Boeing 707s in an all-economy
Economy class
__FORCETOC__Economy class, also called coach class , steerage, or standard class, is the lowest class of seating in air travel, rail travel, and sometimes ferry or maritime travel....
configuration. However, the airline's foray into the transatlantic scheduled market ended after only seven months in early-January 1983.
In 1984, British Airtours took delivery of a Rolls-Royce RB211
Rolls-Royce RB211
The Rolls-Royce RB211 is a family of high-bypass turbofan engines made by Rolls-Royce plc and capable of generating 37,400 to 60,600 pounds-force thrust. Originally developed for the Lockheed L-1011 , it entered service in 1972 and was the only engine to power this aircraft type...
-powered 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...
-236B "jumbo" at Gatwick, its first and only brand-new widebodied aircraft
Wide-body aircraft
A wide-body aircraft is a large airliner with two passenger aisles, also known as a widebody aircraft or twin-aisle aircraft. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabin, passengers are seated seven to ten abreast, allowing a total capacity of 200 to 850 passengers...
. This aircraft was put into service on the airline's popular, long-haul ABC flights to North America. The same year, British Airtours' last Boeing 707 made its final revenue flight.
In the meantime, British Airtours also began taking delivery of a small number of former British Airways Lockheed L-1011 Tristar widebodies, which initially supplemented its narrowbodied 737 fleet on the busier and more popular routes.
In 1985, British Airtours introduced a new 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...
that closely resembled the one used by British Airways at the time (designed by Landor Associates
Landor Associates
Landor Associates is a San Francisco-based brand and creative design consultancy. Founded by Walter Landor and his wife Josephine in 1941, Landor pioneered many of the research, design and consulting methodologies that are now standard in the branding industry.-Operations:Landor offers brand...
).
British Airtours adopted the popular Caledonian Airways brand in April 1988 when the newly privatised British Airways had completed the takeover of its former Gatwick-based rival 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...
. It also adopted a modified BCal livery adapted from the contemporary, Landor Associates designed British Airways livery. The newly renamed Caledonian Airways moved its Gatwick operation from the airport's South Terminal into the then brand-new North Terminal, thereby concentrating most of the British Airways group's Gatwick services in the new terminal.
Caledonian Airways began replacing its Boeing 737 narrowbodies with additional ex-British Airways L-1011 Tristar widebodies as well as with a number of brand-new Boeing 757s sourced from the large 757 orders placed by its parent company. The former British Airtours 737s were re-configured in British Airways' contemporary short-haul two-class cabin arrangement and began replacing the BAC One-Eleven 500s British Airways had inherited from British Caledonian on the UK 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...
's short-haul Gatwick routes.
In 1995, British Airways decided to exit the short- to medium-haul package holiday
Package holiday
A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via charter airline to a foreign country...
market and sold Caledonian Airways to UK-based tour operator Inspirations, then part of the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-owned Carlson group, along with its core fleet of five Tristars. Following Caledonian's sale to Inspirations, the 757s were returned to British Airways.
Inspirations became part of the Thomas Cook group in 1999 when Caledonian Airways was merged with the Flying Colours airline to form JMC Air Services, which in turn became the UK arm of the present day Thomas Cook Airlines.
Following Inspirations' takeover by Thomas Cook, the former Caledonian Airways Tristars were withdrawn from service as these had suffered increasing, widely publicised reliability problems resulting in the travelling public's generally poor perception of Caledonian.
Incidents and accidents
On 27 May 1985, a Lockheed TriStar (registration: G-BBAI) overran the runwayRunway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
at Leeds/Bradford Airport on landing from Palma
Palma de Mallorca
Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
after a rain shower. The aircraft was evacuated, with only minor injuries sustained by the 14 crew and 398 passengers. The nose landing gear
Landing Gear
Landing Gear is Devin the Dude's fifth studio album. It was released on October 7, 2008. It was his first studio album since signing with the label Razor & Tie. It features a high-profile guest appearance from Snoop Dogg. As of October 30, 2008, the album has sold 18,906 copies.-Track...
strut folded backwards during the overrun, leading to severe damage to the underside of the forward fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
. The undersides of both wing-mounted engines were flattened and both engines suffered ingestion damage. The main wheels of the aircraft also dug deep troughs in the area beyond the end of the runway, damaging the buried airfield lighting cables. The accident report concluded that the overrun was caused by the inability of the aircraft to achieve the appropriate level of braking effectiveness, and recommended that both the scheduled wet runway performance of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and the condition of the surface of runway 14 at Leeds/Bradford Airport should be re-examined.
On 22 August 1985, the fuselage of a Boeing 737-236 Advanced (registration: G-BGJL), operating British Airtours flight 28M
British Airtours Flight 28M
British Airtours Flight 28M was an international passenger flight on 22 August 1985 which originated from Manchester International Airport's Runway 24 in Manchester, England en-route to Corfu International Airport on the Greek island of Corfu. The aircraft, previously named "Goldfinch" but at the...
, caught fire after an aborted take off at Manchester Airport while on a charter flight to the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
island of Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
. The fuel access panel on the aircraft's fuselage was pierced by a part of the compressor
Gas compressor
A gas compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume.Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transport the fluid through a pipe. As gases are compressible, the compressor also reduces the volume of a gas...
that had been ejected from the port engine as a result of a malfunction. The fire quickly engulfed the area around the front passenger door filling the cabin with lethal, toxic fumes. Fifty-three passengers and two crew members died as a result, with most of them dying of asphyxiation after inhaling the toxic fumes.