Alan Hellary was a British pilot who co-founded British Atlantic Airways, which would later become Virgin Atlantic Airways

Virgin Atlantic Airways

Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited is a British airline owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Singapore Airlines...

.

Biography

Alan Hellary was a pilot

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

 trained by the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 (RAF). After leaving the RAF, he flew briefly for Orient Airways and Ambila Airlines before taking a position with KLM. He later joined Air Charter

Air charter

Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft as opposed to individual aircraft seats...

 and 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...

 (BUA) where he met Freddie Laker

Freddie Laker

Sir Frederick Alfred Laker was a British airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways in 1966, which went bankrupt in 1982...

. Following Laker's departure from BUA in 1965, Hellary followed Laker and took up the position of chief pilot for Laker's new airline, Laker Airways

Laker Airways

Laker Airways was a wholly private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline founded by Sir Freddie Laker in 1966. It originally was a charter airline flying passengers and cargo worldwide...

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Following the collapse of Laker Airways, Hellary was contacted by Randolph Fields

Randolph Fields

Randolph Fields was an Anglo-American lawyer who founded British Atlantic Airways which later became Virgin Atlantic Airways. After differences with Richard Branson, Fields sold his share of Virgin Atlantic in 1985, becoming a sterling millionaire...

, and together they formed a new airline, British Atlantic Airways.