Laker Airways
| Laker Airways | |
|---|---|
|
|
| IATA code : | GC |
| ICAO Code : | LKR |
| call sign : | lakers |
| Founding: | 1966 |
| Discontinued operation: | 1982 |
| Seat: | Crawley , United Kingdom |
| Home airport : | London Gatwick Airport |
| Company form: | ltd |
| Management: | Freddie Laker |
| fleet strength: | 20 |
| Goals: | international |
| Laker Airways ceased operations in 1982. The information in italics refers to the last status before cessation of operations. | |
Laker Airways was a British airline founded by Freddie Laker in 1966 primarily for charter flights . After changing market position in 1977, it is often referred to as the first truly European low-cost airline . Flight operations were discontinued in 1982 due to bankruptcy .
story
Foundation and intra-European flights
On February 8, 1966 Laker Airways was founded in London - Gatwick . First, the airline offered cheap and easy-to-purchase charter flights. To do this, she acquired two Bristol Britannia from BOAC , a predecessor of today's British Airways . This was followed by orders for three new BAC One-Eleven -300 (version with the shorter fuselage), with which mainly inner-European routes from London-Gatwick were served. Two BAC 1-11 have been stationed at Berlin-Tegel Airport since the 1970s , since Laker Airways, as a British airline, was not subject to the restrictions imposed by the four-power status and was therefore also allowed to fly to and from the Berlin city area. As a result, Laker developed into a very frequently used holiday airline for West Berliners , especially to Spanish holiday destinations such as Palma de Mallorca , Ibiza and the Canary Islands . An important business area were the guest worker flights to Istanbul. As early as 1948/1949, Freddie Laker was involved in the transport flights as part of the Berlin Airlift with his own cargo airline Air Charter .
The sky train
In 1973, Laker finally applied for route rights for the first no-frills flights from London to the United States, but these were not granted until 1977. On September 26, 1977, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 took off for the first time from the London-Gatwick base to the USA, and on November 27, 1978, air traffic to Los Angeles was also started. At that time, passengers only had to pay 59 pounds for these flights (equivalent to around 440 euros today ). Operating under the Skytrain name, these flights were significantly cheaper than the competition, but the passenger had to pay for any extras they wanted (including in-flight catering). In addition, the tickets were only sold on the day of departure . Laker also ordered five more DC-10 aircraft. The Skytrain flights proved very popular, being among the first no-frills flights in the world and the first of their kind on long-haul routes.
Introduction of intra-European flights with the Airbus A300
On April 10, 1979, Sir Freddie Laker ordered ten Airbus A300 B-200s. With these medium-haul aircraft delivered from January 1980, he began to build up a route network within Europe. Initially, flights between Manchester and Zurich were started. With the help of these low-cost flights, which operate under the name of Metro Service , Laker wanted to put pressure on the traditional national carriers on short and medium-haul routes as well. However, this got him into violent arguments with the established competition and as a result he was unable to get his licenses and slots for 37 European airports at reduced prices.
insolvency
Not least because of this tough price war, Laker Airways slowly began to decline. The accident involving an American Airlines DC-10 on May 25, 1979 severely damaged the image of the aircraft, which also had a severe impact on Laker Airways. After this accident, the worldwide DC-10 fleet was grounded for 5 weeks. However, Laker Airways did not have any other type of aircraft to operate the Skytrain flights, so they had to suspend them completely. Although the cause of the accident was maintenance errors by American Airlines and not the aircraft itself, the DC-10 suffered from a bad reputation in the years that followed, which among other things led to the manufacturer using the type designations beginning with DC- at neu auf replaced the marketed types with MD- . In addition, undercapitalized Laker Airways made several wrong decisions itself. Increasingly, the original no-frills principle was being moved away and the pattern of “normal” airlines was getting closer and closer.
This put them in much more direct price wars with established airlines, particularly British Airways. Aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas and engine manufacturer General Electric (GE) began to prepare a rescue package for the ailing society - the background was that all McDonnell Douglas DC-10s operated by Laker Airways were equipped with GE CF6 engines and, in addition, some by the GE subsidiary GECAS were leased. However, the British Caledonian , also a private competitor, found out about this planned rescue package and wrote a letter that was forwarded to all other European operators of DC-10s with CF6 engines (including British Caledonian itself), as well as to McDonnell Douglas and General Electric. It stated on behalf of all European DC-10/CF6 operators that no further business would be concluded with either McDonnell Douglas or GE in the future should the planned rescue package for Laker Airways be implemented. The two companies then withdrew the package, after which Laker Airways finally collapsed on the morning of February 5, 1982. At that point, the lending banks had claims totaling £270 million.
Sir Freddie Laker subsequently sued British Airways , British Caledonian , Pan Am , TWA , Lufthansa , Air France and other large companies for price fixing aimed at bankrupting Laker Airways. The case was eventually settled out of court; Laker received a total of US$100 million, which enabled Laker Airways (after liquidation of other assets) to pay off the outstanding debt.
Laker Airways (Bahamas)
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to get Laker Airways back in the air, all of which ultimately failed due to objections from the UK Aviation Authority, Laker relocated first to Miami and then to the Bahamas , where he was able to launch Laker Airways (Bahamas) in 1992 (although Laker himself was not officially president of this company, but only acted as a consultant). The airline was financed in part by a Texas oil magnate and Laker business partner named Oscar Wyatt. Initially, two Boeing 727-200s were operated between Freeport and the USA; between 1996 and 1999 these machines were supplemented by a McDonnell Douglas DC- 10-30, which was used for long-haul flights. For a brief period, twice-weekly services operated between Fort Lauderdale , Florida and London Gatwick , as well as Glasgow Prestwick . In 2005, operations had to be stopped; the company was wound up.
Laker Airways (Bahamas) was Sir Freddie Laker's fourth and last airline after Air Charter (1947 to 1959), Channel Air Bridge (1954 to 1962) and Laker Airways (1966 to 1982). He died on February 9, 2006 at the age of 83.
fleet
Former code data
See also
web links
- Archived articles about Laker Airways in flightglobal.com
