Cambrian Airways

Cambrian Airways
IATA code :	CS
ICAO code :	CS
Call sign :	CAMBRIAN
Founding:	1935
Operation stopped:	1976
Seat:	Cardiff
Turnstile :	Bristol Airport
Home airport :	Cardiff Airport
Fleet size:	12
Aims:	Europe
	Cambrian Airways ceased operations in 1976. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Cambrian Airways (outdoor appearance shortened Cambrian , originally Cambrian Air Services ) was a British airline , which in November 1967 by British European Airways was taken over completely in 1976 in British Airways rose.

history

In 1954 Cambrian Air Services put their first Douglas DC-3 into service

The demand airline Cambrian Air Services Ltd. ( CAS ) was incorporated in Cardiff on April 25, 1935 . The company based at the Pengam Moors airfield offered sightseeing flights with a De Havilland DH.60 Moth and carried out pilot training for Western Airways , with which there was a cooperation. The flight school continued to exist during World War II .

After the war, Cambrian Air Services was the first British private company to receive authorization to resume charter flights on January 1, 1946 , initially with single-engine machines of the Auster Autocrat and Percival Proctor types . From May 25, 1948, she sat commercial aircraft of type De Havilland Dragon Rapide DH.89 on behalf of British European Airways ( BEA ) in regular service between Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare one. The following year, the company began scheduled services from Cardiff to Barnstaple , Bristol and the British Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey . The first international scheduled connections were established in 1953 between Bristol and Paris and between Cardiff and Dinard . De Havilland DH.104 Dove was used on both routes . In addition, Cambrian Air Services carried out ad hoc charter services and target display flights for the Royal Air Force . In 1954 the company carried 24,973 passengers and acquired its first two Douglas DC-3s . The office was in the same year from the airfield Pengam Moors to the newly opened Rhoose Airport relocated.

The company was renamed on May 23, 1955 to Cambrian Airways . At about the same time, the company opened a route to Nice and put brand-new De Havilland DH.114 Heron aircraft into service. The state airline BEA entered into a ten-year cooperation with Cambrian Airways in 1956, and in February 1958 acquired a third of the company. In the same year, the number of passengers fell sharply, so that the company gave up numerous scheduled connections and put its flight operations completely on hold in the winter of 1958/59. At the same time, all Dove and Heron machines were sold.

With the support of BEA , operations resumed in the spring of 1959 with Douglas DC-3 aircraft, which were initially used in feeder traffic for the state company from Cardiff and Bristol to Manchester . In the course of 1959, the abandoned routes were reopened one after the other and other cities were incorporated into the route network, including London . In 1962 the company carried a total of 123,000 passengers with five Douglas DC-3s. The first Vickers Viscount turboprop aircraft joined the fleet on February 2, 1963. On April 1, 1963, BEA ceded its connections to Belfast , Cork , Dublin and the Isle of Man from London Heathrow , Liverpool and Manchester to Cambrian Airways . After the takeover of further Vickers Viscounts, IT charter flights started for the first time from Cardiff and Bristol on May 25, 1963 , initially to Rimini , Dubrovnik and Valencia .

A BAC 111-400 in the final Cambrian Airways livery

In November 1967 the company was completely taken over by British European Airways ( BEA ) and merged with BKS Air Transport, which was acquired at the same time, to form the new subsidiary British Air Services , in which BEA holds 70 percent and the owners of BKS Air Transport and Cambrian Airways 30 Percent were involved. Cambrian Airways was no longer an independent company, but remained as a regional division within British Air Services and continued flight operations under its previous brand name. On December 19, 1969, she received the first of four type BAC 111-400 jet planes , which were used on scheduled services from January 5, 1970. From the summer of 1970, the BAC 1-11 were also used on IT charter flights for the new company-owned tour operator Cambrian Air Holidays .

After the merger of British European Airways ( BEA ) and British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) to form British Airways on March 31, 1974 , Cambrian was retained as its regional division ( BA Regional Division Cambrian ), but was subsequently no longer under its own Names in appearance. The aircraft were initially labeled British Airways and were painted one after the other in their corporate colors. On March 31, 1976, the Cambrian Regional Division went completely into British Airways and was dissolved.

Incidents

This Vickers Viscount ( G-AMOL ) crashed on approach to Liverpool in 1965

On December 6, 1953, an Airspeed Oxford ( registration number : HM784 ) rented briefly from the Royal Air Force was written off as a total loss after an accident near Ebbw Vale ( Wales ).

On July 23, 1955, a De Havilland DH.104 Dove ( G-AKSK ) crashed after taking off from Southampton due to an engine failure over the New Forest National Park . The machine coming from Paris was on a scheduled flight to Cardiff via Southampton and Bristol. The pilot died; the six passengers survived the accident.

On July 20, 1965, a Vickers Viscount 701 ( G-AMOL ) had an accident that was to be transferred to Liverpool without passengers . During the approach, the aircraft swerved abruptly to the right and turned on its back. The aircraft collided with a factory approximately 550 meters from the runway at Liverpool Airport . The two occupants of the machine and two people on the ground were killed in the accident.