British Island Airways
Encyclopedia
British Island Airways was the legal successor to British United Island Airways
(BUIA). 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 operator. The first British Island Airways had its head office at Congreve House in Redhill
, Surrey
.
In 1982 British Island Airways was reconstituted by splitting off the charter operation Air UK had inherited from BIA at the time of its creation into a separate company.
The reconstituted BIA ceased operations in 1990.
(BUA), adopted in July 1970. At that time the airline adopted a new livery
as well.
When in late November of that year Caledonian Airways
acquired BUA from British and Commonwealth
, the owner of both BUA and BUIA at the time, the latter's asset
s were not included in that deal. As a result, BUA's former parent company
continued to own BIA.
, Surrey
, Southeast England. The airline's main engineering base was at Blackpool
, Lancashire
, Northwest England, while its main operating base was at London Gatwick
. Other airports that used to receive BIA's regular scheduled passenger services in the early to mid-1970s included Antwerp
, Belfast
, Blackpool, Dublin, Edinburgh
, Exeter
, Glasgow
, Guernsey
, the Isle of Man
, Jersey
, Manchester
, Newcastle, Paris Orly and Southampton
. Many of the services to the Channel Islands
and the Isle of Man were operated on a seasonal basis — exceptions being year-round operations linking Gatwick with Guernsey, Southampton with both Channel Islands and the Isle of Man with Blackpool and Belfast. BIA's scheduled route network was considerably enlarged in 1979 when it assumed the entire scheduled operation of British Air Ferries
(BAF).
All passenger services were operated with a fleet of 50-seat Handley Page Dart Herald
turboprops. Some of these were convertible and could be used to operate all-cargo services as well. BIA inherited most of these aircraft at the time of its inception from BUIA. It subsequently acquired additional second-hand examples from various other sources.
In addition to its Herald
turboprop fleet, BIA also inherited a small number of Douglas DC-3
"Dakota" piston
-engined airliners from BUIA. These exclusively operated freight services until the last example's retirement on 30 May 1974. Until then, the DC-3
freighters (together with the convertible Heralds) were kept busy carrying mail and cargo, including fresh flowers from the Channel Islands to the UK mainland (principally Bournemouth
and Gatwick) as well as overnight newspaper deliveries from Gatwick under contract to the Ministry of Defence
to supply the UK's armed forces in Germany
.
A limited amount of charter flying (passenger and freight) also occurred, including BIA's speciality of one hour aerial geography trips for school groups from the Gatwick catchment area, which took advantage of the Herald's superb downward passenger visibility (due to high wings and relatively large windows) on low altitude flying tours of Southeast England, usually incorporating a traverse of the south coasts of Kent
, Sussex
and Hampshire
and the opportunity to see the North
and South Downs
plus the Weald
from the air.
Following the DC-3's retirement, BIA standardised its fleet on twelve Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops. The airline augmented its core fleet during the busy summer holiday period when it leased in additional Heralds from other operators, such as British Midland
, on a wet lease
basis.
To justify the introduction of larger, more modern jet aircraft
types into its fleet as well as to substantially improve its financial performance, BIA needed access to higher volume, higher profile year-round scheduled routes that had the potential to attract a significant number of business travel
lers.
In 1977, BIA applied to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to serve Dublin, Copenhagen
, Hamburg
, Frankfurt
, Zürich
and Geneva
from Gatwick on a regular, year-round scheduled basis. (At that time British Airways
, British Caledonian
and Dan-Air
applied to serve these and other destinations from Gatwick on a regular scheduled basis as well.) In support of its application, BIA had proposed to begin operating these services with three 65-seater Fokker F-28 1000 series "Fellowship" jet aircraft, which it was planning to acquire second-hand from Germanair, rather than the larger BAC One-Eleven
500s its rivals had planned to use on their services. These had almost twice the seating capacity of the Fokker
jets. Using smaller aircraft would have enabled BIA to offer more frequent flights, thereby offering a more attractive product for the business travel market. BIA reckoned that this would improve its chances of being awarded these licences.
In the event, the CAA decided to reject both BIA's and Dan-Air's applications while approving British Airways' and British Caledonian's applications. It argued that BIA and Dan-Air, unlike British Airways and British Caledonian, lacked the necessary expertise to take on the established scheduled airlines on major international trunk routes.
The agreement with British Air Ferries to take over the operation of that airline's scheduled services from BAF's Southend
base resulted in BIA leasing the seven Heralds BAF had used to operate these services. The addition of the ex-BAF aircraft expanded BIA's operational Herald fleet to 19 aircraft from 1979 onwards.
1979 also saw the adoption of BIA's second and final new livery as well as the acquisition of a dedicated charter fleet comprising four ex-Gulfair
BAC One-Eleven 400s, the first jet aircraft in BIA's history.
In addition to operating regional, short-haul scheduled services on its own account, BIA was also contracted by other airlines to operate scheduled services on their behalf.
British Caledonian contracted BIA to operate its Gatwick—Manchester service between 1973 and 1976 (the aircraft operating this service continued on to Blackpool and the Isle of Man during the peak summer holiday season from 1975 onwards operating as BIA flights with UK flight designators) as well as the Gatwick—Le Touquet air portion of that airline's London
—Paris
Silver Arrow/Flèche d'argent rail-air service and the Gatwick—Rotterdam
route between 1975 and 1979. (In 1979 British Caledonian granted BIA permission to prefix all flights it operated from Gatwick to Le Touquet and Rotterdam under contract to that airline with its own two-letter UK airline designator (in addition to British Caledonian's BR designator).)
Sabena
contracted BIA to operate its Heathrow
—Antwerp route.
Occasionally, BIA also operated Dan-Air's scheduled service between Gatwick and Bern, which involved special crew training and permits due to the hazardous alpine terrain surrounding the Swiss
federal capital.
BIA hoped that the merger with Air Anglia as well as Air Wales and Air Westward to form Air UK in January 1980 would help it transform its financial performance by counterbalancing BIA's predominantly seasonal scheduled operations across the Western half of the British Isles
with Air Anglia's year-round scheduled services linking important oil and gas industry centres covering the Eastern half of Britain
, as well as by spreading fixed costs over a greater level of activity as a result of the new airline combine's greater economies of scale
.
In addition to supplying various package tour operators with whole-plane charter seats, the reconstituted airline was also contracted by other airlines to provide the aircraft with which to operate part of their multi-leg scheduled services, including Air Florida
during the early 1980s and Virgin Atlantic
during the mid-'80s. During those periods BIA One-Eleven 400s were operating the Gatwick—Amsterdam
portion of the former's Miami—London (Gatwick)—Amsterdam route as well as a Gatwick—Maastricht
feeder operation for the latter's transatlantic long-haul services.
During late 1988 and early 1989 intense negotiations exploring BIA's sale to the International Leisure Group (ILG) were held over several weeks. At that time ILG sought to take control of BIA because of the airline's slots at an increasingly congested Gatwick as well as the fact that it was a major supplier of ILG's charter capacity. BIA's Gatwick slots were required to enable fellow Gatwick-based Air Europe
, ILG's rapidly expanding airline subsidiary
, to build a major scheduled presence at that airport. Furthermore, ILG's ownership of BIA would have given the ILG-owned package tour operator
s, notably Intasun, a greater degree of control over their charter airline seat inventory. In addition, BIA's scheduled route licences to serve Sicily
and other niche market destinations in Southern Italy
from Gatwick could have potentially aided Air Europe's efforts to further expand the reach of its scheduled route network. However, both parties were unable to reach a firm deal that would have resulted in ILG's acquisition of BIA.
Ultimately, BIA's inability to become part of a bigger, financially stronger organisation, the deep recession in the UK during the early 1990s, as well as the escalating jet fuel
price and the collapse of the package tour market in the run-up to the first Gulf War
during the summer of 1990 were the main factors that forced the reconstituted BIA to cease all operations later that year itself.
The first of these incidents occurred on 20 December 1974 involving one of the airline's Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops (registration: G-BBXJ) in a landing accident at Jersey Airport
. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair but there were no injuries among the 54 occupants.
The second incident occurred on 20 July 1975. It involved another of the company's Handley Page Dart Heralds (registration: G-APWF) in a runway accident while departing London Gatwick on a scheduled flight to Guernsey. According to eye-witness reports, the aircraft lifted off from runway 26 after a ground run of 2490 ft (759 m) and appeared airborne for 411 ft (125.3 m) with its landing gear retracting before the rear underside of the fuselage settled back on to the runway. None of the 45 occupants, including the 41 passengers who were safely evacuated via the aircraft's crew entrance door by the two cabin crew members on the instructions of the flight's commander, were hurt in that accident. The subsequent investigation concluded that this accident had been caused by the landing gear being retracted before the aircraft had been properly established in its initial climb. Other contributory factors included a mistaken wing flap configuration and the resulting inadequate airspeed
at rotation. The aircraft itself sustained substantial damage and required extensive repairs in order to be restored to an airworthy condition.
In addition to the two aforementioned incidents, in 1979, BIA's maintenance engineers had discovered fatigue cracks in the fuselages of some of the firm's Heralds during routine inspections of the aircraft. This required the affected aircraft to be taken out of service to repair the cracks.
There is one recorded, non-fatal incident involving an aircraft operated by the reconstituted BIA.
This incident occurred on 12 April 1988. It involved a BAC One-Eleven 500 (registration: G-AYWB). The aircraft, which had been cleared to land on Gatwick's runway 08L (the airport's standby runway), inadvertently landed on the parallel taxiway. An air traffic controller
in Gatwick's control tower
, who spotted the BIA One-Eleven coming in to land on the taxiway parallel to the emergency runway, ordered a British Airways Boeing 737
that had just entered the same taxiway to vacate it immediately. This resulted in the 737
taxiing right into the grass and the One-Eleven
stopping 100-200m to the west of the 737's position.
British United Island Airways
British United Island Airways was formed in November 1968 as part of a reorganisation of the BUA group of companies. It was a regional sister airline of British United Airways , Britain's largest wholly private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline of the 1960s...
(BUIA). It commenced operations under that name in mid-1970. Ten years later it merged with 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,...
, Air Wales and Air Westward to form Air UK, at the time the 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...
's biggest 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...
and its third-largest scheduled operator. The first British Island Airways had its head office at Congreve House in Redhill
Redhill, Surrey
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
, 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...
.
In 1982 British Island Airways was reconstituted by splitting off the charter operation Air UK had inherited from BIA at the time of its creation into a separate company.
The reconstituted BIA ceased operations in 1990.
Origin
British Island Airways was the new name BUIA, the regional affiliate of British United AirwaysBritish 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), adopted in July 1970. At that time the airline adopted 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...
as well.
When in late November of that year Caledonian Airways
Caledonian Airways
Caledonian Airways was a wholly private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations Scottish charter airline formed in April 1961. It began with a single Douglas DC-7C leased from Sabena. Caledonian grew rapidly over the coming years to become the leading transatlantic "affinity...
acquired BUA from 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...
, the owner of both BUA and BUIA at the time, the latter's asset
Asset
In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...
s were not included in that deal. As a result, BUA's former parent 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...
continued to own BIA.
Commercial Activities and Developments
BIA's corporate headquarters was located at RedhillRedhill, Surrey
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
, 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...
, Southeast England. The airline's main engineering base was at 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...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, Northwest England, while its main operating base was at 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...
. Other airports that used to receive BIA's regular scheduled passenger services in the early to mid-1970s included Antwerp
Antwerp International Airport
Antwerpen International Airport is located 2 km from the city of Antwerp, Belgium. It is home to a maintenance hangar for CityJet. In 2005 it served about 105,937 passengers . In 2010, the airport served 162,840 passengers...
, 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...
, Blackpool, Dublin, 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
Exeter
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...
, 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...
, the 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...
, 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, Paris Orly and 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...
. Many of the services to 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...
and the Isle of Man were operated on a seasonal basis — exceptions being year-round operations linking Gatwick with Guernsey, Southampton with both Channel Islands and the Isle of Man with Blackpool and Belfast. BIA's scheduled route network was considerably enlarged in 1979 when it assumed the entire scheduled operation of British Air Ferries
British United Air Ferries
British United Air Ferries was a wholly private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations car and passenger ferry airline based in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. It specialised in cross-Channel ferry flights carrying cars and their owners between its numerous bases...
(BAF).
All passenger services were operated with a fleet of 50-seat 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...
turboprops. Some of these were convertible and could be used to operate all-cargo services as well. BIA inherited most of these aircraft at the time of its inception from BUIA. It subsequently acquired additional second-hand examples from various other sources.
In addition to its 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...
turboprop fleet, BIA also inherited a small number of Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
"Dakota" piston
Piston
A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from...
-engined airliners from BUIA. These exclusively operated freight services until the last example's retirement on 30 May 1974. Until then, the DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
freighters (together with the convertible Heralds) were kept busy carrying mail and cargo, including fresh flowers from the Channel Islands to the UK mainland (principally 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...
and Gatwick) as well as overnight newspaper deliveries from Gatwick under contract to the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
to supply the UK's armed forces in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
A limited amount of charter flying (passenger and freight) also occurred, including BIA's speciality of one hour aerial geography trips for school groups from the Gatwick catchment area, which took advantage of the Herald's superb downward passenger visibility (due to high wings and relatively large windows) on low altitude flying tours of Southeast England, usually incorporating a traverse of the south coasts of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
and Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
and the opportunity to see the North
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
and South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
plus the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
from the air.
Following the DC-3's retirement, BIA standardised its fleet on twelve Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops. The airline augmented its core fleet during the busy summer holiday period when it leased in additional Heralds from other operators, such as 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...
, on a wet lease
Wet lease
Aircraft leases are a number of types of leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons; to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide temporary increase in capacity...
basis.
To justify the introduction of larger, more modern jet aircraft
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...
types into its fleet as well as to substantially improve its financial performance, BIA needed access to higher volume, higher profile year-round scheduled routes that had the potential to attract a significant number of business travel
Business travel
Business travel is the practice of people traveling for purposes related to their work. It is on the rise especially with foreign business markets opening up...
lers.
In 1977, BIA applied to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to serve Dublin, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, 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...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
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...
, 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...
and Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
from Gatwick on a regular, year-round scheduled basis. (At that time 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...
, 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...
and Dan-Air
Dan-Air
Dan-Air was a leading private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline based in the United Kingdom....
applied to serve these and other destinations from Gatwick on a regular scheduled basis as well.) In support of its application, BIA had proposed to begin operating these services with three 65-seater Fokker F-28 1000 series "Fellowship" jet aircraft, which it was planning to acquire second-hand from Germanair, rather than the larger 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...
500s its rivals had planned to use on their services. These had almost twice the seating capacity of the Fokker
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names, starting out in 1912 in Schwerin, Germany, moving to the Netherlands in 1919....
jets. Using smaller aircraft would have enabled BIA to offer more frequent flights, thereby offering a more attractive product for the business travel market. BIA reckoned that this would improve its chances of being awarded these licences.
In the event, the CAA decided to reject both BIA's and Dan-Air's applications while approving British Airways' and British Caledonian's applications. It argued that BIA and Dan-Air, unlike British Airways and British Caledonian, lacked the necessary expertise to take on the established scheduled airlines on major international trunk routes.
London Southend Airport
London Southend Airport or Southend Airport is a regional airport in the district of Rochford within Essex, England.During the 1960s, Southend was the third-busiest airport in the United Kingdom. It remained London's third-busiest airport in terms of passengers handled until the end of the 1970s,...
base resulted in BIA leasing the seven Heralds BAF had used to operate these services. The addition of the ex-BAF aircraft expanded BIA's operational Herald fleet to 19 aircraft from 1979 onwards.
1979 also saw the adoption of BIA's second and final new livery as well as the acquisition of a dedicated charter fleet comprising four ex-Gulfair
Gulf Air
Gulf Air is the principal flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Headquartered in Muharraq, adjacent to Bahrain International Airport, the airline operates scheduled services to 45 destinations in 28 countries across Africa, Asia and Europe. Its main base is Bahrain International Airport...
BAC One-Eleven 400s, the first jet aircraft in BIA's history.
In addition to operating regional, short-haul scheduled services on its own account, BIA was also contracted by other airlines to operate scheduled services on their behalf.
British Caledonian contracted BIA to operate its Gatwick—Manchester service between 1973 and 1976 (the aircraft operating this service continued on to Blackpool and the Isle of Man during the peak summer holiday season from 1975 onwards operating as BIA flights with UK flight designators) as well as the Gatwick—Le Touquet air portion of that airline's 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...
—Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
Silver Arrow/Flèche d'argent rail-air service and the Gatwick—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...
route between 1975 and 1979. (In 1979 British Caledonian granted BIA permission to prefix all flights it operated from Gatwick to Le Touquet and Rotterdam under contract to that airline with its own two-letter UK airline designator (in addition to British Caledonian's BR designator).)
Sabena
Sabena
SABENA was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its bankruptcy in 2001, the newly formed SN Brussels Airlines took over part of SABENA's assets in February 2002, which then became Brussels Airlines...
contracted BIA to operate its 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...
—Antwerp route.
Occasionally, BIA also operated Dan-Air's scheduled service between Gatwick and Bern, which involved special crew training and permits due to the hazardous alpine terrain surrounding the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
federal capital.
BIA hoped that the merger with Air Anglia as well as Air Wales and Air Westward to form Air UK in January 1980 would help it transform its financial performance by counterbalancing BIA's predominantly seasonal scheduled operations across the Western half of 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...
with Air Anglia's year-round scheduled services linking important oil and gas industry centres covering the Eastern half of 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...
, as well as by spreading fixed costs over a greater level of activity as a result of the new airline combine's greater economies of scale
Economies of scale
Economies of scale, in microeconomics, refers to the cost advantages that an enterprise obtains due to expansion. There are factors that cause a producer’s average cost per unit to fall as the scale of output is increased. "Economies of scale" is a long run concept and refers to reductions in unit...
.
Reconstitution
Peter Villa, then the Air UK managing director (as well as the original BIA's MD), decided in 1982 to reconstitute BIA as a charter airline. The "new BIA" commenced operations with the four One Eleven 400s the original BIA had acquired from Gulfair in 1979 to establish a charter operation. These aircraft, which sported the same livery as the original BIA's second and final livery, were subsequently supplemented with additional, second-hand 500 series One-Elevens as well as a number of brand-new McDonnell-Douglas MD-80s, which entered service during the second half of the 1980s.In addition to supplying various package tour operators with whole-plane charter seats, the reconstituted airline was also contracted by other airlines to provide the aircraft with which to operate part of their multi-leg scheduled services, including Air Florida
Air Florida
Air Florida was an American low-cost carrier that operated from 1971 to 1984. In 1975 it was headquartered in the Dadeland Towers in what is now the Kendall CDP in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida.-History:...
during the early 1980s and Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited is a British airline owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Singapore Airlines...
during the mid-'80s. During those periods BIA One-Eleven 400s were operating the Gatwick—Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
portion of the former's Miami—London (Gatwick)—Amsterdam route as well as a Gatwick—Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
feeder operation for the latter's transatlantic long-haul services.
During late 1988 and early 1989 intense negotiations exploring BIA's sale to the International Leisure Group (ILG) were held over several weeks. At that time ILG sought to take control of BIA because of the airline's slots at an increasingly congested Gatwick as well as the fact that it was a major supplier of ILG's charter capacity. BIA's Gatwick slots were required to enable fellow Gatwick-based 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...
, ILG's rapidly expanding airline 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...
, to build a major scheduled presence at that airport. Furthermore, ILG's ownership of BIA would have given the ILG-owned package 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...
s, notably Intasun, a greater degree of control over their charter airline seat inventory. In addition, BIA's scheduled route licences to serve Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and other niche market destinations in Southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
from Gatwick could have potentially aided Air Europe's efforts to further expand the reach of its scheduled route network. However, both parties were unable to reach a firm deal that would have resulted in ILG's acquisition of BIA.
Ultimately, BIA's inability to become part of a bigger, financially stronger organisation, the deep recession in the UK during the early 1990s, as well as the escalating jet fuel
Jet fuel
Jet fuel is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is clear to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial aviation are Jet A and Jet A-1 which are produced to a standardized international specification...
price and the collapse of the package tour market in the run-up to 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...
during the summer of 1990 were the main factors that forced the reconstituted BIA to cease all operations later that year itself.
Incidents and accidents
There are two recorded, non-fatal incidents involving aircraft operated by the original BIA during its ten year existence from 1970 until 1980.The first of these incidents occurred on 20 December 1974 involving one of the airline's Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops (registration: G-BBXJ) in a landing accident at Jersey Airport
Jersey Airport
-Busiest routes:Some airlines offer services between Jersey and other destinations with an intermediate stop at Guernsey. There are also periodic charter flights to European holiday destinations, Madeira and ski destinations operated by airlines such as Aurigny Air Services, Europe Airpost, Palmair...
. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair but there were no injuries among the 54 occupants.
The second incident occurred on 20 July 1975. It involved another of the company's Handley Page Dart Heralds (registration: G-APWF) in a runway accident while departing London Gatwick on a scheduled flight to Guernsey. According to eye-witness reports, the aircraft lifted off from runway 26 after a ground run of 2490 ft (759 m) and appeared airborne for 411 ft (125.3 m) with its landing gear retracting before the rear underside of the fuselage settled back on to the runway. None of the 45 occupants, including the 41 passengers who were safely evacuated via the aircraft's crew entrance door by the two cabin crew members on the instructions of the flight's commander, were hurt in that accident. The subsequent investigation concluded that this accident had been caused by the landing gear being retracted before the aircraft had been properly established in its initial climb. Other contributory factors included a mistaken wing flap configuration and the resulting inadequate airspeed
Airspeed
Airspeed is the speed of an aircraft relative to the air. Among the common conventions for qualifying airspeed are: indicated airspeed , calibrated airspeed , true airspeed , equivalent airspeed and density airspeed....
at rotation. The aircraft itself sustained substantial damage and required extensive repairs in order to be restored to an airworthy condition.
In addition to the two aforementioned incidents, in 1979, BIA's maintenance engineers had discovered fatigue cracks in the fuselages of some of the firm's Heralds during routine inspections of the aircraft. This required the affected aircraft to be taken out of service to repair the cracks.
There is one recorded, non-fatal incident involving an aircraft operated by the reconstituted BIA.
This incident occurred on 12 April 1988. It involved a BAC One-Eleven 500 (registration: G-AYWB). The aircraft, which had been cleared to land on Gatwick's runway 08L (the airport's standby runway), inadvertently landed on the parallel taxiway. An air traffic controller
Air traffic controller
Air traffic controllers are the people who expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. The position of the air traffic controller is one that requires highly specialized skills...
in Gatwick's control tower
Control tower
A control tower, or more specifically an Air Traffic Control Tower , is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport. Control towers are also used to control the traffic for other forms of transportation such...
, who spotted the BIA One-Eleven coming in to land on the taxiway parallel to the emergency runway, ordered a British Airways 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...
that had just entered the same taxiway to vacate it immediately. This resulted in the 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...
taxiing right into the grass and the 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...
stopping 100-200m to the west of the 737's position.