IAS Cargo Airlines
Encyclopedia
International Aviation Services Limited, trading as IAS Cargo Airlines from 1975, is a defunct wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporation
s British
airline that was based at London Gatwick Airport
in the United Kingdom
. It commenced operations in 1967 and went bankrupt in 1980, following a merger with London Stansted
based Trans Meridian Air Cargo
(TMAC) to form the short-lived British Cargo Airlines.
in 1967 with leased, second-hand Bristol Britannia
300F turboprop
equipment.these aircraft comprised two former Caledonian
Britannia 314s acquired from British Caledonian Airways
in 1971 (one of which entered service while the other was used for spares) It began replacing leased equipment with its own aircraft in 1971, acquired its own air operator's certificate in June 1972 in the name of International Aviation Services (UK) Ltd and adopted the IAS Cargo Airlines trading name four years later.
"swing tail" freighter during the early 1970s to expand its fleet in response to growing worldwide demand for its pure freight services.
jet aircraft
from the early 1970s, a growing number of older generation, narrowbodied
jet planes, such as the Boeing 707
and the Douglas DC-8
, became available on the second-hand market at prices smaller airlines that were lacking the resources to invest in new equipment could afford.
IAS Cargo Airlines became one of these smaller airlines that took advantage of this situation by purchasing its first DC-8
-50F jet freighter in 1974. Jet operations commenced the following year. As business
continued to expand, it introduced further DC-8-50Fs into its fleet during the second half of the 1970s.
By the end of the 1970s the company's fleet mainly consisted of DC-8-50Fs. By that time it was receiving a growing number of air freight consignments that were shipped to its Gatwick base from the "other side" of the Channel
. In October 1978 the firm introduced its first larger capacity, "stretched" DC-8 "Super Sixty" series freighter, a -62CF wet-leased from Finnair
.http://www.dc-8jet.com/iasdc862f.htm
-based Trans Meridian Air Cargo (TMAC), another small independent UK
all-cargo operator wholly owned by Trafalgar House
subsidiary Cunard Steamship Co
, had come into being in 1962. TMAC also operated a similar aircraft fleet consisting of the same aircraft types, including a pair of DC-8Fs. Therefore, combining both companies' businesses to achieve greater operational synergies
as well as to attain greater economies of scale
seemed to be the next "logical" step to ensure survival in a competitive market place dominated by bigger, more powerful rivals.
IAS Cargo Airlines merged with TMAC on 15 August 1979 to create British Cargo Airlines, which began trading under its new name five days later. The merged entity's fleet comprised 15 aircraft, including eight DC-8 jet freighters, six CL-44
-D and one CL-44-0 turboprop freighters. The jets were based at Gatwick while the turboprops were stationed at Stansted.
with that of Dan-Air
Services Ltd, one of the leading wholly privately owned, independent British airlines at the time that was the owner and operator of the crashed aircraft.http://aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19770514-0&vnr=1&kind=PC
The accident itself involved one of Dan-Air's Boeing 707-321C freighters (registration G-BEBP), which IAS Cargo Airlines had operated under a so-called "wet lease
" arrangement with Dan-Air, whereby the latter was providing the aircraft as well as flight deck crews and maintenance support under contract to the former. The aforesaid aircraft crashed on 14 May 1977 during the final approach to Lusaka
Airport at the end of a non-scheduled all-cargo flight from London Heathrow
via Athens
and Nairobi
when its right-hand horizontal stabiliser
separated as a result of metal fatigue
, causing a loss of pitch control and killing all six occupants.
Some air accident databases wrongly cite IAS Cargo Airlines as the operator of the aircraft involved in this accident despite Dan-Air being that aircraft's actual operator.http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770514-0&lang=en
A major industry debate on the maintenance requirements as well as service life limitations of high-time "geriatric" jets ensued as a result of this accident.
(For further details see 1977 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crash.)
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 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 that was based at London Gatwick Airport
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 the United Kingdom
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...
. It commenced operations in 1967 and went bankrupt in 1980, following a merger with 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...
based Trans Meridian Air Cargo
Transmeridian Air Cargo
Transmeridian Air Cargo was a British cargo airline that operated from 1962 until 1979 when it merged with IAS Cargo Airlines to form Heavylift Cargo Airlines.-Company history:...
(TMAC) to form the short-lived British Cargo Airlines.
Beginning
International Aviation Services Ltd was an air transport consultancy formed in 1966. It commenced worldwide cargo charters from London GatwickLondon 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 1967 with leased, second-hand Bristol Britannia
Bristol Britannia
The Bristol Type 175 Britannia was a British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the British Empire...
300F 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...
equipment.these aircraft comprised two former Caledonian
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...
Britannia 314s acquired from British Caledonian Airways
British Caledonian
British Caledonian was a private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline, operating out of Gatwick Airport in the 1970s and 1980s...
in 1971 (one of which entered service while the other was used for spares) It began replacing leased equipment with its own aircraft in 1971, acquired its own air operator's certificate in June 1972 in the name of International Aviation Services (UK) Ltd and adopted the IAS Cargo Airlines trading name four years later.
Commercial development
IAS Cargo Airlines acquired additional, second-hand Britannia turboprop freighters as well as a Canadair CL-44Canadair CL-44
The Canadair CL-44 was a Canadian turboprop airliner and cargo aircraft based on the Bristol Britannia that was developed and produced by Canadair in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
"swing tail" freighter during the early 1970s to expand its fleet in response to growing worldwide demand for its pure freight services.
Becoming a jet operator
When the world's major scheduled airlines began re-equipping their fleets with new generation widebodiedWide-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...
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...
from the early 1970s, a growing number of older generation, 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...
jet planes, such as the 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...
and the Douglas DC-8
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
, became available on the second-hand market at prices smaller airlines that were lacking the resources to invest in new equipment could afford.
IAS Cargo Airlines became one of these smaller airlines that took advantage of this situation by purchasing its first DC-8
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
-50F jet freighter in 1974. Jet operations commenced the following year. As business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
continued to expand, it introduced further DC-8-50Fs into its fleet during the second half of the 1970s.
By the end of the 1970s the company's fleet mainly consisted of DC-8-50Fs. By that time it was receiving a growing number of air freight consignments that were shipped to its Gatwick base from the "other side" of the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. In October 1978 the firm introduced its first larger capacity, "stretched" DC-8 "Super Sixty" series freighter, a -62CF wet-leased from Finnair
Finnair
Finnair Plc is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters on the grounds of Helsinki Airport in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki Airport. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. The largest...
.http://www.dc-8jet.com/iasdc862f.htm
Merging with a rival
StanstedStansted
Stansted usually refers to London Stansted Airport.Stansted may also refer to other places in England:*Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex*Stansted, Hampshire*Stansted, Kent*Stansted Park, West Sussex...
-based Trans Meridian Air Cargo (TMAC), another small independent 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...
all-cargo operator wholly owned by Trafalgar House
Trafalgar House (company)
Trafalgar House Public Limited Company was a British conglomerate with interests in property investment, property development, engineering, construction, shipping, hotels, energy and publishing...
subsidiary Cunard Steamship Co
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
, had come into being in 1962. TMAC also operated a similar aircraft fleet consisting of the same aircraft types, including a pair of DC-8Fs. Therefore, combining both companies' businesses to achieve greater operational synergies
Synergy
Synergy may be defined as two or more things functioning together to produce a result not independently obtainable.The term synergy comes from the Greek word from , , meaning "working together".-Definitions and usages:...
as well as to attain 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...
seemed to be the next "logical" step to ensure survival in a competitive market place dominated by bigger, more powerful rivals.
IAS Cargo Airlines merged with TMAC on 15 August 1979 to create British Cargo Airlines, which began trading under its new name five days later. The merged entity's fleet comprised 15 aircraft, including eight DC-8 jet freighters, six CL-44
Canadair CL-44
The Canadair CL-44 was a Canadian turboprop airliner and cargo aircraft based on the Bristol Britannia that was developed and produced by Canadair in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
-D and one CL-44-0 turboprop freighters. The jets were based at Gatwick while the turboprops were stationed at Stansted.
Closing chapter
The newly created British Cargo Airlines only had a brief life. It folded in March 1980.Causes of collapse
The main reasons for the combined entity's collapse included:- A deep recessionRecessionIn economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
in BritainUnited KingdomThe 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...
, which affected UK-based manufacturing companies that were the airline's main customers. This caused a slump in those companies' output of manufactured goods and led to a collapse in demand for specialist air freight services.
- Steeply rising jet fuelJet fuelJet 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...
prices in the aftermath of the fall of the Shah of IranMohammad Reza PahlaviMohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
. This increased the operating costCostIn production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is counted as cost. In this...
s of relatively fuel-thirsty narrowbodied jet freighters such as the Boeing 707 and the DC-8 (compared with more fuel-efficient widebodied freighters).
- A big influx of long-haul widebodied aircraft capacity into the fleets of British AirwaysBritish AirwaysBritish 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...
and British CaledonianBritish CaledonianBritish Caledonian was a private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline, operating out of Gatwick Airport in the 1970s and 1980s...
, Britain's two principal scheduled airlines at the time, as well as their main overseas competitors' fleets during the late 70s/early 80s. This resulted in a major increase in bellyhold cargo capacity that cost freight forwarders and shippers less to fill (compared with the higher rates that were required to fill narrowbodied pure freighters profitably).
Incidents and accidents
In 1977 IAS Cargo Airlines became indirectly involved in a fatal accident causing the loss of an aircraft bearing its name as part of a hybrid colour scheme. This hybrid colour scheme combined parts of IAS Cargo Airlines' liveryLivery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
with that of Dan-Air
Dan-Air
Dan-Air was a leading private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline based in the United Kingdom....
Services Ltd, one of the leading wholly privately owned, independent British airlines at the time that was the owner and operator of the crashed aircraft.http://aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19770514-0&vnr=1&kind=PC
The accident itself involved one of Dan-Air's Boeing 707-321C freighters (registration G-BEBP), which IAS Cargo Airlines had operated under a so-called "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...
" arrangement with Dan-Air, whereby the latter was providing the aircraft as well as flight deck crews and maintenance support under contract to the former. The aforesaid aircraft crashed on 14 May 1977 during the final approach to Lusaka
Lusaka
Lusaka is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is located in the southern part of the central plateau, at an elevation of about 1,300 metres . It has a population of about 1.7 million . It is a commercial centre as well as the centre of government, and the four main highways of Zambia head...
Airport at the end of a non-scheduled all-cargo flight from 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...
via Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
when its right-hand horizontal stabiliser
Stabilizer (aircraft)
In aviation, a stabilizer provides stability when the aircraft is flying straight, and the airfoil of the horizontal stabilizer balances the forces acting on the aircraft....
separated as a result of metal fatigue
Metal Fatigue
Metal Fatigue , is a futuristic science fiction, real-time strategy computer game developed by Zono Incorporated and published by Psygnosis and TalonSoft .-Plot:...
, causing a loss of pitch control and killing all six occupants.
Some air accident databases wrongly cite IAS Cargo Airlines as the operator of the aircraft involved in this accident despite Dan-Air being that aircraft's actual operator.http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770514-0&lang=en
A major industry debate on the maintenance requirements as well as service life limitations of high-time "geriatric" jets ensued as a result of this accident.
(For further details see 1977 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crash.)
Code data
- Former IATAInternational Air Transport AssociationThe 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...
code: FF - Former ICAO code:
- Former callsign: