Caledonian Airways (1988)

This article covers Caledonian Airways , which was founded in 1988 . For the airline of the same name from the 1960s, see Caledonian Airways (1961) .

Caledonian Airways
IATA code :	KG
ICAO code :	CKT
Call sign :	CALEDONIAN
Founding:	1969 as BEA Airtours
Operation stopped:	2000
Seat:	Crawley , UK
Home airport :	London Gatwick Airport
Number of employees:	660 (March 1999)
Fleet size:	8th
Aims:	international
Caledonian Airways ceased operations in 2000. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Caledonian Airways (shortened to Caledonian on the outside ) was a British charter airline that emerged in April 1988 from the name change from British Airtours . The company was originally founded in 1969 under the name BEA Airtours . In September 1999 Caledonian Airways merged with Flying Colors Airlines to form JMC Airlines , which in 2003 became Thomas Cook Airlines .

history

BEA Airtours

BEA Airtours initially put nine machines of the type De Havilland Comet IV a

On April 24, 1969, the state-owned airline British European Airways ( BEA ) founded the subsidiary BEA Airtours in order to secure a larger share of the rapidly growing package tour traffic . As early as the early 1950s, BEA had operated combined scheduled and charter flight operations on some routes by marketing some of its seats on these scheduled flights through tour operators . Due to the increasing competition from the private charter airlines, which were not subject to IATA price control and thus operated more cheaply, BEA was only able to increase its market share in tourist traffic slightly until the end of the 1960s. As a result, their regular connections to Palma de Mallorca and other tourist destinations could hardly be operated economically. The management of the BEA assumed that the new subsidiary could secure a market share of 25 percent in the UK IT charter air traffic in the long term . In response to protests from private charter airlines, the British Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB) issued BEA Airtours with an Air Operator Certificate in November 1969 .

BEA Airtours began its flight operations on March 5, 1970 on the route from Gatwick Airport to Palma de Mallorca. Initially, the company deployed nine De Havilland Comet IV that it received from its parent company. In its first year of business 650,000 passengers were carried and a profit of around £ 138,000 was made. On December 30, 1971, BEA Airtours took over their first Boeing 707-400 from BOAC , the range of which made long-haul charter possible. At the same time, in January 1972 the company applied for route rights to East Africa , Bangkok , Colombo and Fiji , which it used from the 1972/73 winter season. The company put two more Boeing 707s into service until the summer of 1972 and four more in the winter of 1972/73 to replace the Comets . The last Comet was retired on October 31, 1973.

As part of the merger of BEA and BOAC , the company became a subsidiary of British Airways on November 1, 1973 and was renamed British Airtours at the beginning of 1974 . At the same time, the aircraft were painted in the colors of the new parent company.

British Airtours

The Boeing 737-200 with the registration G-BGJE was the first machine of this type to be delivered to British Airtours on March 21, 1980 .

In early 1975, British Airtours started transatlantic charter flights via Bangor ( Maine ) to Los Angeles and Miami . In the mid-1970s, the company used nine Boeing 707s and offered its own connections from London Gatwick Airport to destinations in Europe, Africa , Asia , North America , South America and Oceania . In addition, the company operated a Boeing 707 on behalf of British Airways on weekly scheduled flights to Hong Kong and temporarily leased individual aircraft to other companies, including Tunis Air .

The deregulation of US air traffic made it legally possible for British Airtours from 1978 to also transport US holidaymakers in the opposite direction to London ( IT inbound charter ). In addition, the company flew package travelers from Italy , Sweden and West Germany to Great Britain at the same time . British Airtours posted a profit of £ 1.7 million in the 1978 financial year , its best operating profit to date. The company ordered nine Boeing 737-200s in late 1978 , and these were delivered from March 21, 1980. Early in 1981 took over British Airtours their first two widebody aircraft type Lockheed L-1011-200 Tristar by British Airways .

British Airtours phased its Boeing 707 out of service in the early 1980s and at the same time suspended most long-distance connections. Only the seasonal long-haul flights to the USA from London-Gatwick, Manchester and Prestwick were continued. In addition to Los Angeles and Miami, the company flew regularly to Newark Airport near New York from June 1982 to January 1983 and to Orlando from the mid-1980s . In March 1984 British Airtours put a brand new Boeing 747-200 into service on the transatlantic routes, which it ceded to British Airways on October 31, 1984 . From May 1986 a Boeing 747-200 leased long-term from SAS Scandinavian Airlines was used on these routes. At the same time, British Airtours operated ten Boeing 737-200s and eight Lockheed L-1011s on its European route network. If necessary and during peak travel times, additional aircraft were briefly leased from British Airways .

Caledonian Airways

After the takeover by Inspirations Holidays , Caledonian Airways also started using Airbus A320 aircraft from April 1995 .

On July 16, 1987, British Airways bought the London-Gatwick-based private airline British Caledonian Airways ( BCal ), whose origins lay in Caledonian Airways , which was founded in 1961 . By taking over BCal , British Airways acquired the right to use this brand name and renamed its subsidiary British Airtours on April 1, 1988 to Caledonian Airways , which at that time operated five Boeing 737-200s and four Lockheed L-1011s.

The company ordered two Boeing 757s in early March 1988 and signed six additional purchase options for this type. The first machines were delivered from spring 1989 and replaced the Boeing 737 in the course of the year. In early 1990, the Caledonian Airways fleet consisted of four Boeing 757s and five Lockheed L-1011s. The company typically leased some of its aircraft to other airlines , including Worldways Canada , during the low -demand winter months , and leased additional aircraft from British Airways during the summer season . In May 1993, Caledonian Airways took over the first McDonnell Douglas DC-10 from its parent company, which was used on long-haul routes to the USA and on new routes to the Caribbean .

British Airways sold its subsidiary Caledonian Airways in December 1994 to Inspirations Holidays , the then fourth largest British tour operator. The two companies then continued to work together, with British Airways leasing additional aircraft to the company during the high season and having Caledonian Airways operate their scheduled flights to Tampa and some Caribbean destinations . In the late 1990s, Malé , Colombo and Goa were also served as further long-term destinations . The first leased Airbus A320s added to the fleet in April 1995 and gradually replaced the Boeing 757. In 1996, Caledonian Airways founded the subsidiary Peach Air together with the British company Goldcrest Aviation , which began operating on May 1, 1997 with leased aircraft from Saber Airways and Air Atlanta Icelandic .

The Inspirations Group was bought out in 1997 together with Caledonian Airways by the travel company Carlson Leisure Group , a British subsidiary of the US Carlson Group . On February 5, 1999, the Carlson Leisure Group and the Thomas Cook Group merged to form the new travel company Thomas Cook Holdings . The airlines Caledonian Airways and Flying Colors Airlines , which were brought into Thomas Cook Holdings by the two corporate groups , were merged on September 1, 1999 to form JMC Airlines , which did not start operating under this name until March 27, 2000. Flying Colors Airlines and Caledonian Airways therefore continued to operate flights under their old brand identity until March 2000.

fleet

The first Boeing 747-200 of the British Airtours , as used up to 1985 colors.

Fleet at the end of operations

In March 2000, six Airbus A320s and two McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s were still operated under the Caledonian Airways brand. All of the company's Lockheed L-1011s were retired in November 1999.

Previously deployed aircraft

• Airbus A300B4-203 ( Caledonian Airways , leased in summer 1998 and 1999 from Air Scandic )
• Boeing 707-300 and 707-400 (707-400 for BEA Airtours and 707-300 and -400 for British Airtours )
• Boeing 737-200 ( BEA Airtours and Caledonian Airways )
• Boeing 747-200B ( BEA Airtours and Caledonian Airways )
• Boeing 757-200 ( Caledonian Airways )
• De Havilland Comet IV ( BEA Airtours )
• Lockheed L-1011 Tristar (L-1011-1, -50, -100, -200 and -500 for British Airtours and L-1011-1, -50 and -100 for Caledonian Airways )
• McDonnell Douglas MD-87 ( Caledonian Airways , leased from Spanair in summer 1996 )

Incidents

This Boeing 707-400 (G-APFK) had an accident in Prestwick in 1977. Here still in the colors of the BEA Airtours .

• On March 17, 1977, a crashed Boeing 707-436 of British Airtours on the Glasgow Prestwick Airport . The crew performing a training flight had simulated an engine failure during take-off. The machine was written off as a total loss.
• On August 22, 1985, a burned Boeing 737-236 of British Airtours on the Manchester Airport from. The pilots had canceled the take-off due to a fire in the left engine. During the evacuation, the fire spread quickly, killing 55 of the 137 inmates; another 15 were seriously injured (see article British Airtours flight 28M ).

IATA and ICAO codes

An overview of the IATA and ICAO codes and call signs used by the various companies:

Period	Companies	IATA code	ICAO code	Callsign
1970 to 1973	BEA Airtours	(without)	KT	BEATOURS
1974 to 1987	British Airtours	(without)	KT	BEATOURS
1987 to 1988	British Airtours	(without)	BKT	BEATOURS
1988 to 1992	Caledonian Airways	(without)	CKT	CALEDONIAN
1993 to 2000	Caledonian Airways	KG	CKT	CALEDONIAN

See also

• Former Airlines List (Europe)

Web links

Commons : Caledonian Airways (1988–2000)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Aero, edition 200, year 1987
2. ^ Flight International, October 16, 1969
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Klaus Vomhof: Leisure Airlines of Europe . SCOVAL Publishing Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne 2001, ISBN 1-902236-09-2 .
4. ^ Flight International, October 16, 1969
5. ^ Flight International, November 27, 1969
6. ^ Flight International, September 2, 1971
7. ^ Flight International, January 20, 1972
8. ^ Flight International, January 6, 1972
9. ^ Flight International, November 8, 1973
10. ^ Flight International, December 8, 1974
11. ^ Flight International, March 20, 1975
12. ^ Flight International, March 13, 1976
13. ^ Flight International, August 18, 1979
14. ^ Flight International, December 30, 1978
15. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 1981
16. ^ Flight International, December 11, 1982
17. ↑ JP airline fleets international, Edition 1986
18. ^ Flight International, March 18, 1998
19. ^ Flight International, March 12, 1988
20. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 90/91
21. ^ Flight International, December 21, 1994
22. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 95/96
23. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 97/98
24. ^ J. Christopher Holloway with Neil Taylor: The Business of Tourism . Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow 2006, ISBN 0-273-70161-4 .
25. ^ Philip A. Wickham: Financial Times Corporate Strategy Casebook . Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow 2000, ISBN 0-273-64342-8 .
26. ^ Commission of the European Communities, May 26, 1999
27. ^ Flight International, August 1, 2000
28. ↑ ^{a b} JP airline-fleets international, various years
29. ^ Planespotters.net, Caledonian Airways Fleet Details and History
30. ^ Aviation Safety Network, March 17, 1977
31. ^ Aviation Safety Network, August 22, 1985