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{{short description|Defunct British airline (1967-80)}}
⚫
'''I'''nternational '''A'''viation '''S'''ervices Limited, trading as '''IAS Cargo Airlines''' from [[1975]]<ref name="IAS_Profile">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1976/1976%20-%200863.html ''IAS Cargo Airlines - Airline Profile: Number fifty-five'', Flight International, 22 May 1976, p. 1357]</ref>, is a defunct wholly privately owned, independent [[United Kingdom|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 '''T'''rans '''M'''eridian '''A'''ir '''C'''argo ('''TMAC''') to form the short-lived '''British Cargo Airlines'''.<ref name="IAS">[http://www.airlinehistory.co.uk/Europe/UK/Airlines.asp#I www.airlinehistory.co.uk The World’s Airlines, past, present & future by David Lyall - IAS Cargo Airlines]</ref><ref name="BCA">[http://www.airlinehistory.co.uk/Europe/UK/Airlines.asp#B www.airlinehistory.co.uk The World’s Airlines, past, present & future by David Lyall - British Cargo Airlines]</ref><ref name="BCA_receivership">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%200865.html ''British Cargo Airlines goes into receivership but continues flying'', Air Transport, Flight International, 15 March 1980, p. 827]</ref>
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}

{{Infobox airline
| airline = IAS Cargo Airlines
| image =
| logo =
| IATA = FF
| ICAO =
| callsign =
| parent =
| subsidiaries =
| founded = 1967
| ceased = 1979
| num_employees =
| headquarters =
| hubs = [[London Gatwick]]
| key_people =
| fleet_size =
| destinations =
}}

⚫
'''I'''nternational '''A'''viation '''S'''ervices Limited, trading as '''IAS Cargo Airlines''' from 1975,<ref name="IAS_Profile">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1976/1976%20-%200863.html ''IAS Cargo Airlines - Airline Profile: Number fifty-five'', Flight International, 22 May 1976, p. 1357]</ref> is a defunct wholly privately owned, independent<ref group=nb>independent from [[government-owned corporation]]s</ref> [[United Kingdom|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 Airport|London Stansted]] based [[Transmeridian Air Cargo|'''T'''rans '''M'''eridian '''A'''ir '''C'''argo]] ('''TMAC''') to form the short-lived '''British Cargo Airlines'''.<ref name="IAS">[http://www.airlinehistory.co.uk/Europe/UK/Airlines.asp#I www.airlinehistory.co.uk The World’s Airlines, past, present & future by David Lyall - IAS Cargo Airlines]</ref><ref name="BCA">[http://www.airlinehistory.co.uk/Europe/UK/Airlines.asp#B www.airlinehistory.co.uk The World’s Airlines, past, present & future by David Lyall - British Cargo Airlines]</ref><ref name="BCA_receivership">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%200865.html ''British Cargo Airlines goes into receivership but continues flying'', Air Transport, Flight International, 15 March 1980, p. 827]</ref>

[[File:Bristol 175 Britannia 312F, IAS Cargo Airlines AN1851081.jpg|right|thumb|IAS Cargo Bristol Britannia, Gatwick 1973]]
[[File:Douglas DC-8-55(F), IAS Cargo Airlines AN0573983.jpg|right|thumb|IAS Cargo Douglas DC-8-55, Paris - Charles de Gaulle 1978]]


==History==
==History==

===Beginning===
===Beginning===
International Aviation Services Ltd was an air transport consultancy formed in [[1966]]. It commenced worldwide cargo [[charter flight|charter]]s from [[London Gatwick]] in 1967 with [[aircraft|lease]]d, second-hand [[Bristol Britannia]] 300F [[turboprop]] equipment.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%201442.html ''World Airline directory'', Flight International, 28 April 1979, p. 1380]</ref> It began replacing leased equipment with its own aircraft in 1971 and adopted the IAS Cargo Airlines trading name four years later.<ref name="IAS_Profile"/>
International Aviation Services Ltd was an air transport consultancy formed in 1966. It commenced worldwide cargo [[charter flight|charter]]s from [[London Gatwick Airport|London Gatwick]] in 1967 with [[aircraft lease|lease]]d, second-hand [[Bristol Britannia]] 300F [[turboprop]] equipment.<ref group=nb>these aircraft comprised two former [[Caledonian Airways|Caledonian]] Britannia 314s acquired from [[British Caledonian|British Caledonian Airways]] in 1971 (one of which entered service while the other was used for spares)</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%201442.html ''World Airline directory'', Flight International, 28 April 1979, p. 1380]</ref><ref name="NewOperator">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1972/1972%20-%202649.html ''New British airline'', Air Transport, Flight International, 5 October 1972, p. 454]</ref> It began replacing leased equipment with its own aircraft in 1971, acquired its own [[Air Operator Certificate|air operator's certificate]] in June 1972 in the name of '''International Aviation Services (UK) Ltd'''<ref name="NewOperator"/> and adopted the IAS Cargo Airlines trading name four years later.<ref name="IAS_Profile"/>


===Commercial development===
===Commercial development===
Line 9: Line 36:


====Becoming a jet operator====
====Becoming a jet operator====
When the world's major scheduled airlines began re-equipping their fleets with new generation [[wide-body aircraft|widebodied]] [[jet aircraft]] from the early 1970s, a growing number of older generation, [[narrow-body aircraft|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.
When the world's major scheduled airlines began re-equipping their fleets with new generation [[wide-body aircraft|widebodied]] [[jet aircraft]] from the early 1970s, a growing number of older generation, [[narrow-body aircraft|narrow-bodied]] 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 [[Douglas DC-8|DC-8]]-50F jet freighter in [[1974]].<ref name="IAS_Profile"/> Jet operations commenced the following year.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1975/1975%20-%201428.html Air Transport, Flight International, 7 August 1975, p. 174]</ref> As [[business]] continued to expand, it introduced further DC-8-50Fs into its fleet during the second half of the 1970s.
IAS Cargo Airlines became one of these smaller airlines that took advantage of this situation by purchasing its first [[Douglas DC-8|DC-8]]-50F jet freighter in 1974.<ref name="IAS_Profile"/> Jet operations commenced the following year.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1975/1975%20-%201428.html Air Transport, Flight International, 7 August 1975, p. 174]</ref> 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 [[English Channel|Channel]]. In October 1978 the firm introduced its first larger capacity, "stretched" DC-8 "Super Sixty" series freighter, a -62CF [[aircraft lease|wet-lease]]d from [[Finnair]].[http://www.dc-8jet.com/iasdc862f.htm]<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1978/1978%20-%202612.html ''Airliner market'', Air Transport, Flight International, 28 October 1978, p. 1546]</ref>
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 [[English Channel|Channel]]. In October 1978 the firm introduced its first larger capacity, "stretched" DC-8 "Super Sixty" series freighter, a -62CF [[aircraft lease|wet-lease]]d from [[Finnair]].[http://www.dc-8jet.com/iasdc862f.htm]<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1978/1978%20-%202612.html ''Airliner market'', Air Transport, Flight International, 28 October 1978, p. 1546]</ref>


====Merging with a rival====
====Merging with a rival====
[[Stansted]]-based Trans Meridian Air Cargo (TMAC), another small independent [[United Kingdom|UK]] all-cargo operator wholly owned by [[Trafalgar House (company)|Trafalgar House]] subsidiary [[Cunard Line|Cunard Steamship Co]]<ref name="IAS+TMAC">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%202823.html ''Cargo airlines to merge'', Air Transport, Flight International, 4 August 1979, p. 309]</ref>, had come into being in [[1962]].<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%201471.html ''World airline directory'', Flight International, 28 April 1979, p. 1409]</ref> TMAC also operated a similar aircraft fleet consisting of the same aircraft types, including a pair of DC-8Fs<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1977%20-%202261.html Air Transport, Flight International, 23 July 1977, p. 255]</ref><ref name="BCA_start">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%203165.html ''Green light for British Cargo'', Air Transport, Flight International, 1 September 1979, p. 636]</ref>. Therefore, combining both companies' businesses to achieve greater operational [[synergy|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.
[[Stansted]]-based Trans Meridian Air Cargo (TMAC), another small independent [[United Kingdom|UK]] all-cargo operator wholly owned by [[Trafalgar House (company)|Trafalgar House]] subsidiary [[Cunard Line|Cunard Steamship Co]],<ref name="IAS+TMAC">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%202823.html ''Cargo airlines to merge'', Air Transport, Flight International, 4 August 1979, p. 309]</ref> had come into being in 1962.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%201471.html ''World airline directory'', Flight International, 28 April 1979, p. 1409]</ref> TMAC also operated a similar aircraft fleet consisting of the same aircraft types, including a pair of DC-8Fs.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1977%20-%202261.html Air Transport, Flight International, 23 July 1977, p. 255]</ref><ref name="BCA_start">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%203165.html ''Green light for British Cargo'', Air Transport, Flight International, 1 September 1979, p. 636]</ref> Therefore, combining both companies' businesses to achieve greater operational [[synergy|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.<ref name="BCA_lifespan">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%201914.html ''World airline directory'', Flight International, 26 July 1980, p. 295]</ref> The merged entity's fleet comprised 15 aircraft, including eight DC-8 jet freighters, six [[Canadair CL-44|CL-44]]-D and one CL-44-0 turboprop freighters. The jets were based at Gatwick while the turboprops were stationed at Stansted.<ref name="IAS"/><ref name="BCA"/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%202578.html ''IAS and Transmeridian merge sales organisations'', Air Transport, Flight International, 14 July 1979, p. 76]</ref><ref name="IAS+TMAC"/><ref name="BCA_start"/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%203719.html Air Transport, Flight International, 13 October 1979, p. 1174]</ref><ref name="BCA_receivership"/>
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.<ref name="BCA_lifespan">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%201914.html ''World airline directory'', Flight International, 26 July 1980, p. 295]</ref> The merged entity's fleet comprised 15 aircraft, including eight DC-8 jet freighters, six [[Canadair CL-44|CL-44]]-D and one CL-44-0 turboprop freighters. The jets were based at Gatwick while the turboprops were stationed at Stansted.<ref name="IAS"/><ref name="BCA"/><ref name="BCA_receivership"/><ref name="IAS+TMAC"/><ref name="BCA_start"/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%202578.html ''IAS and Transmeridian merge sales organisations'', Air Transport, Flight International, 14 July 1979, p. 76]</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%203719.html Air Transport, Flight International, 13 October 1979, p. 1174]</ref>


===Closing chapter===
===Closing chapter===
The newly created British Cargo Airlines only had a brief life. It folded in March 1980.<ref name="BCA"/><ref name="BCA_lifespan"/>
The newly created British Cargo Airlines only had a brief life. It folded in March 1980.<ref name="BCA"/><ref name="BCA_receivership"/><ref name="BCA_lifespan"/><ref>''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... HEAVYLIFT CARGO AIRLINES: Enter the Belfast)'', p. 50, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, May 2011</ref>


===Causes of collapse===
===Causes of collapse===
Line 27: Line 54:


* A deep [[recession]] in [[United Kingdom|Britain]], 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.
* A deep [[recession]] in [[United Kingdom|Britain]], 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 fuel]] prices in the aftermath of the fall of the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]]. This increased the operating [[cost]]s of relatively fuel-thirsty narrow-bodied 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 Airways]] and [[British Caledonian]], Britain's two principal scheduled airlines at the time, as well as their main overseas competitors' fleets during the late 1970s/early 1980s. 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 narrow-bodied pure freighters profitably).
⚫
* Steeply rising [[jet fuel]] prices in the aftermath of the fall of the [[Shah of Iran]]. This increased the operating [[cost]]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 Airways]] and [[British Caledonian]], 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==
==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' [[livery]] 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]<ref>''The Spirit of Dan-Air'', Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, pp. 89, 90</ref>
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' [[livery]] 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]<ref>''The Spirit of Dan-Air'', Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, pp. 89, 90</ref>


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 [[May 14]], [[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 [[stabilizer (aircraft)|horizontal stabiliser]] separated as a result of [[metal fatigue]], causing a loss of pitch control and killing all six occupants.<ref>''The Spirit of Dan-Air'', Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, p. 89</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%202343.html ''Inspection shortcomings contributed to Lusaka 707 fatigue accident'', Air Transport, Flight International, 23 June 1979, p2247]</ref>
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 Airport|London Heathrow]] via [[Athens]] and [[Nairobi]] when its right-hand [[stabilizer (aircraft)|horizontal stabiliser]] separated as a result of [[metal fatigue]], causing a loss of pitch control and killing all six occupants.<ref>''The Spirit of Dan-Air'', Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, p. 89</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%202343.html ''Inspection shortcomings contributed to Lusaka 707 fatigue accident'', Air Transport, Flight International, 23 June 1979, p. 2247]</ref>


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]
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.<ref>''The Spirit of Dan-Air'', Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, pp. 90/1</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1977%20-%203179.html ''The Geriatric Jet Problem'', Flight International, 22 October 1977, p1201]</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1977%20-%203185.html ''The Geriatric Jet Problem - Summary'', Flight International, 22 October 1977, p1207]</ref>
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.<ref>''The Spirit of Dan-Air'', Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, pp. 90/1</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1977%20-%203179.html ''The Geriatric Jet Problem'', Flight International, 22 October 1977, p. 1201]</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1977%20-%203185.html ''The Geriatric Jet Problem - Summary'', Flight International, 22 October 1977, p. 1207]</ref>


(For further details see [[1977 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crash]].)
(For further details see [[1977 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crash]].)
Line 45: Line 70:
==Code data==
==Code data==
*Former [[International Air Transport Association|IATA]] code: '''FF'''
*Former [[International Air Transport Association|IATA]] code: '''FF'''
*Former [[International Civil Aviation Organisation|ICAO]] code:
*Former [[International Civil Aviation Organization|ICAO]] code:
*Former callsign:
*Former callsign:


==Notes==
==See also==
* [[List of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom]]
<references/>

==Notes and citations==
;Notes
{{Reflist|group=nb}}
;Citations
{{Reflist|2}}


==References==
==References==
* {{cite book| title=Flight International | publisher=Reed Business Information | place=Sutton, UK | id=ISSN 0015-3710}} (''World Airline Directory'', 1967-1980)
* {{cite journal| title=Flight International | journal=Flight International | publisher=Reed Business Information | place=Sutton, UK | issn=0015-3710}} (''World Airline Directory'', 1967–1980)
⚫
* {{cite book| author=Simons, Graham M. | title=The Spirit of Dan-Air| publisher=GMS Enterprises | place=Peterborough, UK | year=1993 | isbn=1-870384-20-2}}


==Further reading==
⚫
* {{cite book| author=Simons, Graham M. | title=The Spirit of Dan-Air| publisher=GMS Enterprises | place=Peterborough, UK | year=1993 | id=ISBN 1-8703-8420-2}}
* {{Cite journal| title=Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten: HeavyLift Cargo Airlines — The Transmeridian years, p. 49 |journal=Aircraft |date=May 2011 | publisher=Ian Allan Publishing | place=Hersham, UK | issn= 2041-2150}} ([http://www.aircraftmagazine.com ''Aircraft Illustrated'' online])


==External links==
==External links==
Line 61: Line 94:
*[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770514-0&lang=en Aviation Safety's accident database]
*[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770514-0&lang=en Aviation Safety's accident database]


{{Portal bar|United Kingdom|Companies|Aviation}}
{{Aviation lists}}
{{Airlines of the United Kingdom}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Ias Cargo Airlines}}
[[Category:Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Airlines established in 1966]]
[[Category:Airlines established in 1966]]
[[Category:Airlines disestablished in 1980]]
[[Category:Airlines disestablished in 1980]]
[[Category:1966 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Cargo airlines of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1980 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1966]]
[[Category:British companies disestablished in 1980]]
[[Category:Defunct cargo airlines]]

Latest revision as of 18:04, 29 February 2024

IAS Cargo Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
FF — —
Founded1967
Ceased operations1979
HubsLondon Gatwick

International Aviation Services Limited, trading as IAS Cargo Airlines from 1975,[1] is a defunct wholly privately owned, independent[nb 1] 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.[2][3][4]

IAS Cargo Bristol Britannia, Gatwick 1973
IAS Cargo Douglas DC-8-55, Paris - Charles de Gaulle 1978

History[edit]

Beginning[edit]

International Aviation Services Ltd was an air transport consultancy formed in 1966. It commenced worldwide cargo charters from London Gatwick in 1967 with leased, second-hand Bristol Britannia 300F turboprop equipment.[nb 2][5][6] 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[6] and adopted the IAS Cargo Airlines trading name four years later.[1]

Commercial development[edit]

IAS Cargo Airlines acquired additional, second-hand Britannia turboprop freighters as well as a Canadair CL-44 "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[edit]

When the world's major scheduled airlines began re-equipping their fleets with new generation widebodied jet aircraft from the early 1970s, a growing number of older generation, narrow-bodied 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.[1] Jet operations commenced the following year.[7] 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.[1][8]

Merging with a rival[edit]

Stansted-based Trans Meridian Air Cargo (TMAC), another small independent UK all-cargo operator wholly owned by Trafalgar House subsidiary Cunard Steamship Co,[9] had come into being in 1962.[10] TMAC also operated a similar aircraft fleet consisting of the same aircraft types, including a pair of DC-8Fs.[11][12] 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.[13] 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.[2][3][4][9][12][14][15]

Closing chapter[edit]

The newly created British Cargo Airlines only had a brief life. It folded in March 1980.[3][4][13][16]

Causes of collapse[edit]

The main reasons for the combined entity's collapse included:

  • A deep recession in Britain, 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 fuel prices in the aftermath of the fall of the Shah of Iran. This increased the operating costs of relatively fuel-thirsty narrow-bodied 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 Airways and British Caledonian, Britain's two principal scheduled airlines at the time, as well as their main overseas competitors' fleets during the late 1970s/early 1980s. 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 narrow-bodied pure freighters profitably).

Incidents and accidents[edit]

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' livery 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.[2][17]

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.[18][19]

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.[3]

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.[20][21][22]

(For further details see 1977 Dan-Air Boeing 707 crash.)

Code data[edit]

  • Former IATA code: FF
  • Former ICAO code:
  • Former callsign:

See also[edit]

Notes and citations[edit]

Notes
  1. ^ independent from government-owned corporations
  2. ^ 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)
Citations
  1. ^ a b c IAS Cargo Airlines - Airline Profile: Number fifty-five, Flight International, 22 May 1976, p. 1357
  2. ^ a b www.airlinehistory.co.uk The World’s Airlines, past, present & future by David Lyall - IAS Cargo Airlines
  3. ^ a b c www.airlinehistory.co.uk The World’s Airlines, past, present & future by David Lyall - British Cargo Airlines
  4. ^ a b c British Cargo Airlines goes into receivership but continues flying, Air Transport, Flight International, 15 March 1980, p. 827
  5. ^ World Airline directory, Flight International, 28 April 1979, p. 1380
  6. ^ a b New British airline, Air Transport, Flight International, 5 October 1972, p. 454
  7. ^ Air Transport, Flight International, 7 August 1975, p. 174
  8. ^ Airliner market, Air Transport, Flight International, 28 October 1978, p. 1546
  9. ^ a b Cargo airlines to merge, Air Transport, Flight International, 4 August 1979, p. 309
  10. ^ World airline directory, Flight International, 28 April 1979, p. 1409
  11. ^ Air Transport, Flight International, 23 July 1977, p. 255
  12. ^ a b Green light for British Cargo, Air Transport, Flight International, 1 September 1979, p. 636
  13. ^ a b World airline directory, Flight International, 26 July 1980, p. 295
  14. ^ IAS and Transmeridian merge sales organisations, Air Transport, Flight International, 14 July 1979, p. 76
  15. ^ Air Transport, Flight International, 13 October 1979, p. 1174
  16. ^ Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... HEAVYLIFT CARGO AIRLINES: Enter the Belfast), p. 50, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, May 2011
  17. ^ The Spirit of Dan-Air, Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, pp. 89, 90
  18. ^ The Spirit of Dan-Air, Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, p. 89
  19. ^ Inspection shortcomings contributed to Lusaka 707 fatigue accident, Air Transport, Flight International, 23 June 1979, p. 2247
  20. ^ The Spirit of Dan-Air, Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, pp. 90/1
  21. ^ The Geriatric Jet Problem, Flight International, 22 October 1977, p. 1201
  22. ^ The Geriatric Jet Problem - Summary, Flight International, 22 October 1977, p. 1207

References[edit]

  • "Flight International". Flight International. Sutton, UK: Reed Business Information. ISSN 0015-3710. (World Airline Directory, 1967–1980)
  • Simons, Graham M. (1993). The Spirit of Dan-Air. Peterborough, UK: GMS Enterprises. ISBN 1-870384-20-2.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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