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AirUK

AirUK was a wholly privately owned, independent[nb 1] regional airline in the United Kingdom formed in 1980 as a result of a merger involving four rival UK-based regional airlines.[1][2][3] British and Commonwealth (B&C)-owned British Island Airways (BIA) and Air Anglia were the two dominant merger partners.[4] The merged entity's corporate headquarters were originally located at Redhill, Surrey, the location of the old BIA head office.[1] It subsequently relocated to Crawley, West Sussex.[5] In addition to the main maintenance base at Norwich Airport (Air Anglia's former engineering base), there also used to be a second major maintenance base at Blackpool Airport (the old BIA engineering base).[4] This was closed down following Air UK's major retrenchment during Britain's severe recession of the early 1980s. In 1987, Air UK established Air UK Leisure as a charter subsidiary. The following year, Air UK shifted its headquarters to London Stansted Airport.[6] When Stansted's new Norman Foster-designed terminal opened in 1991, the airline became its first and subsequently main tenant.

Air UK
IATA ICAO Callsign
UK UKA UKAY
Founded1980 (1980)
Ceased operations1998 (1998)
(rebranded as KLM uk)
Operating bases
SubsidiariesAir UK Leisure
Fleet size36 aircraft
(11 Fokker 100,
11 British Aerospace BAe 146 (10 srs. 300, 1 srs. 100),
9 Fokker 50,
5 Fokker F-27 Friendship 500
(as of March/April 1997))
DestinationsBritish Isles
Continental Europe
Parent companyBritish Air Transport (Holdings)
Headquarters
Key people
  • Sir Nicholas Cayzer
  • Hon Anthony Cayzer
  • Peter Villa
  • Philip Chapman
  • Neil Forster
  • Stephen Hanscombe
  • Andrew Gray
  • Henny A. Essenberg
  • Bob Frost
  • Stuart Carson
  • Harold Payne
  • Allan McQuarrie
  • James French
  • Tony Le Mesurier
  • Tony Camacho
  • John Derbyshire
  • Bob Coleman
  • David McCammon
  • Matt Button
  • Leonard Nutter
  • George White
  • Robert Nunn
  • E.F. Bates
  • C.E. Smith
  • Capt Alan Cottle
  • Capt Christopher Haysom
  • Capt P. Murphy
WebsiteAirUK

Air UK was a full member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for most of its existence.

Air UK originally was a wholly owned subsidiary of British Air Transport (Holdings), a successor to the Air Holdings Group owned 90% by B&C and 10% by Eagle Star Insurance. This made the Cayzer family, who owned B&C, the controlling shareholders.[1][4][7][8] Following the beginning of the gradual liberalisation of the European Union (EU) internal air transport market in 1987, Dutch flag carrier KLM, a long-standing business partner of Air UK and its predecessor Air Anglia, acquired a 14.9% minority stake in Air UK's holding company.[6][9] In 1995, KLM increased its minority stake in Air UK to 45%. In 1997, KLM became Air UK's sole shareholder[10] when it acquired B&C's stake in British Air Transport (Holdings).[11] The following year Air UK was renamed KLM uk.

History edit

Aircraft operated edit

Air UK operated the following aircraft types at one point or another during its 19-year existence:

Fleet in 1980 edit

In July 1980 the Air UK fleet comprised 37 aircraft.[1]

 
An Air UK BAC One-Eleven still in basic BIA livery at Basel/Mulhouse EuroAirport in 1980.
 
An Air UK Fokker F-27 still in basic Air Anglia livery at Aberdeen Airport in 1981.
 
An Air UK One-Eleven in the original all-blue scheme in 1981.

Air UK employed 1,700 people at this time.[1]

Fleet in 1983 edit

In April 1983 the Air UK fleet comprised 21 aircraft.[12]

 
An Air UK Handley Page Dart Herald in the modified blue-and-white scheme at Jersey Airport in 1983.
Air UK fleet in April 1983
Aircraft Number
Fokker F27 Friendship 200 10
Handley Page Dart Herald 6
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante 5
Total 21

Air UK employed 850 people at this time.[12]

Fleet in 1985 edit

In March 1985 the Air UK fleet comprised 22 aircraft.[5]

 
An Air UK F-27 in the modified blue-and-white scheme at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in 1985.
Air UK fleet in March 1985
Aircraft Number
Fokker F28 Fellowship 1000 1
Fokker F27 Friendship 200 16
Shorts 360 4
Shorts 330 1
Total 22

Air UK employed 850 people at this time.[5]

Fleet in 1988 edit

In March 1988 the Air UK fleet comprised 22 aircraft.[13]

 
A pair of Air UK Shorts 360s in the second scheme at Humberside Airport in 1989.

Two British Aerospace BAe 146-200 were on order.

Air UK employed 975 people at this time.[13]

Fleet in 1990 edit

In March 1990 the Air UK fleet comprised 27 aircraft.[14]

Air UK employed 1,340 people at this time.[14]

Fleet in 1995 edit

 
An Air UK BAe 146-200 in the second scheme at Frankfurt Airport in 1994.
 
An Air UK Fokker 50 in the final scheme at Guernsey Airport in 1995.

In March/April 1995 the Air UK fleet comprised 28 aircraft.[15]

Eight Fokker 50 were on order.

Air UK employed 1,466 people at this time.[15]

Fleet in 1997 edit

 
An Air UK Fokker 100 in the final scheme at Düsseldorf Airport in 1997.

In March/April 1997 the Air UK fleet comprised 36 aircraft.[10]

Air UK fleet in March/April 1997
Aircraft Number
British Aerospace BAe 146-300 10
British Aerospace BAe 146-100 1
Fokker F27 Friendship 500 5
Fokker 50 9
Fokker 100 11
Total 36

Four Fokker 100 were on order.

Air UK employed 2,000 people at this time.[10]

"Third Force" edit

Air UK was the name of the new airline resulting from the merger of BIA and Air Anglia.[4] (BIA had already absorbed Exeter-based Air Westward in March 1979).[3][16] Cardiff-based Air Wales had become part of Air Anglia in June of that year.[2][17]) It was incorporated on 1 January 1980.[2][3] Operations commenced on 16 January 1980.[18] At the time of its inception, Air UK was the largest regional airline in the UK and the country's third-largest scheduled carrier.[2][3][19] It had a staff of 1,700, carried more than 1m, mainly scheduled, passengers annually and had a fleet of 40 aircraft,[20] consisting of six jets (four ex-BIA BAC One-Eleven 400s and two ex-Air Anglia F-28 4000 series Fellowships) and 34 turboprops (including eighteen ex-BIA Handley Page Dart Heralds, ten ex-Air Anglia Fokker F-27 100/200 series Friendships and six Embraer 110 Bandeirantes originally part of the BIA, Air Wales and Air Westward fleets). Apart from the four One-Eleven 400s, which were predominantly operated on charter flights,[20] all the other aircraft were part of Air UK's scheduled service fleet.

For marketing purposes, there was no gap between the letters "U" and "K" in the "Air UK" logo in the newly merged entity's first livery, which was a stylised Union Flag.

Former BIA managing director Peter Villa became Air UK's first MD as well.

At the time of its creation, Air UK was sometimes referred to as the unofficial "Third Force" among the main contemporary scheduled airlines in the UK (British Caledonian (BCal) being the UK's official "Second Force" and British Airways (BA) the primary UK flag carrier at that time).[20][21]

Following the merger, most of the fleet progressively adopted Air UK's new blue, white and red colour scheme. Originally, this featured a predominantly blue fuselage with a white-red-white strip across the windows and a white roof. The tail was also predominantly blue, apart from the "Air UK" logo.[22][23] However, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) disapproved of this predominantly blue livery, arguing that it could potentially pose a safety hazard for other aircraft as it was difficult for other crews to see the blue aircraft against a blue sky. To address the CAA's safety concerns, Air UK decided to amend its original colour scheme by opting for a hybrid blue-and-white scheme featuring a blue fuselage and a white tail.[19]

Air UK's scheduled route network initially served the following 33 points: Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Basel, Belfast, Bergen, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Brussels, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Guernsey, Humberside, Isle of Man, Jersey, Leeds/Bradford, Le Touquet, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Ostend, Paris, Rotterdam, Southampton, Southend, Stavanger, and Teesside.[1]

Air UK was the first and, at the time, only scheduled airline in the UK to fly from all three main London airports.[24]

Following British Airways' decision to retire its Vickers Viscount turboprop fleet and to withdraw from its loss-making regional scheduled routes, Air UK assumed BA's regional routes from Heathrow to Guernsey, Manchester to the Isle of Man, Leeds to Belfast and Dublin, and Edinburgh to Jersey in April 1980.[1][25][26][27] Air UK's new, year-round Heathrow—Guernsey route was its most prominent scheduled route serving London's premier airport.[28] (During the late 1970s, in the days prior to the construction of the M11, Air UK's predecessor Air Anglia had launched a year-round scheduled service linking Heathrow with the company's bases in Norwich and Humberside, as well as a year-round scheduled operation between London Gatwick and Leeds.[9][29][30])

Retrenchment edit

The severe recession of the early 1980s necessitated a major retrenchment, resulting in extensive frequency, route and staff cutbacks. This entailed the closure of bases at Bournemouth, Humberside and Stansted as well as a major reduction in operations at Southend. As a consequence of these cutbacks, ten turboprop aircraft (seven Heralds and three Bandeirantes) were withdrawn from service while the two F-28 jets were leased out to French regional carrier Air Alsace. This in turn resulted in the closure of the former BIA engineering base at Blackpool, accounting for 220 out of a total of 400 job losses.[31] It also resulted in the suspension of scheduled passenger and cargo services to 14 points by late 1981. At the start of the 1981–82 winter timetable in November 1981, Air UK relaunched scheduled operations from Stansted by opening a new route to Amsterdam. This was the first international scheduled service from London's third airport in over ten years.[32] The resulting network linked 20 points in the British Isles and six in Europe.[32] Management hoped that these business realignments – including cutting the company's workforce in half over a two-year period[1][12] — would reverse heavy losses Air UK had incurred during its first two years of operation, thereby stabilising the company and positioning it for future growth.[9]

Reorganisation and renewed expansion edit

In 1982, Peter Villa led a management buyout of Air UK's charter business,[9][12] resulting in reconstituting BIA as a charter-only airline and his departure from Air UK along with the four BAC One-Eleven 400s.[33][34] In addition to the tough economic climate and merger blues during the airline's inception as a result of combining two organisations with vastly different cultures and management styles, the operation of these aircraft had largely been responsible for Air UK's poor financial performance that threatened the airline's survival.[9]

1982 was also the year the CAA transferred Air UK's Gatwick—Guernsey licence to Guernsey Airlines, a newly formed regional operator, following numerous passenger complaints about the service Air UK had been providing ever since it had assumed the former BIA operation on that route.[35] That year also saw Air UK joining forces with British Midland to form Manx Airlines, a new, jointly owned regional subsidiary based on the Isle of Man. Air UK parent B&C owned 25% of Manx Airlines, making it the new joint venture's junior partner. (British Midland, which owned the remaining 75%, was the senior partner.) Air UK and British Midland hoped that transferring their loss-making Isle of Man operations to a dedicated, lower cost subsidiary would eventually make these services profitable.[36]

In 1983, Air UK broke even for the first time. This was also the year the airline acquired its first Shorts 330 commuter turboprop plane, which it named Enterprise in a publicity stunt at Stansted Airport where the naming ceremony took place in the shadow of a Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft used by NASA to launch Space Shuttle Enterprise.[9]

By 1985, Air UK acquired additional Shorts 330/360s and Fokker F-27s. The latter included the first stretched 500 series F-27s featuring an increased seating capacity of 52 (as opposed to 44 for all shorter fuselage F-27 models). To further support its ongoing expansion, Air UK temporarily leased an F-28 1000 series as well as two BIA One Eleven 400s during that period. (All of these aircraft wore different, white-based colour schemes.) Reintroduction of jet equipment enabled Air UK to assume British Caledonian's regional operation between Glasgow, Newcastle and Amsterdam at the start of the 1985 summer timetable period,[5] thereby further strengthening its position as the UK's leading regional feeder operator at Amsterdam Schiphol and as the airport's largest foreign scheduled carrier.[10] The additional aircraft also permitted several year-round, domestic and international scheduled services from Stansted to be reinstated.

In 1987, Air UK placed its first order for BAe's new 146 regional jetliner. The introduction of Air UK's first 146 200 series regional jet coincided with the introduction of a new livery, consisting of a white fuselage and tail with three different blue cheatlines merging into a stylised Union Flag on the aircraft's tail. In addition, this livery differed from the previous one by dropping the gap between the words "Air" and "UK" while inserting a gap between the letters "U" and "K" in "UK".

Following British Airways' takeover of British Caledonian in December 1987, the CAA awarded Air UK the licences for the ex-BCal domestic feeder routes from Gatwick to Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1988. This resulted in an order for four stretched BAe 146-300s to enable the launch of high-frequency services with up to seven daily round-trips on both routes from the start of the 1988–89 winter timetable period.[6][14]

By 1994, Air UK acquired several, new Fokker 100 jet aircraft.[37] The introduction of these aircraft led to the adoption of another new livery, the final Air UK-themed livery in the airline's 19-year history. This livery combined elements of the earlier livery with a new, single dark blue cheatline that included a thin, pale blue stripe merging into a dark blue tail featuring the previous Union Flag logo. It also combined elements of both previous liveries by dropping the gap between the "U" and "K" in "UK" (as in Air UK's original blue livery) as well as dropping the gap between the words "Air" and "UK" (as in the airline's second livery).

By 1995, Air UK had replaced all of the older, smaller F-27 100/200/400/600 series aircraft in its fleet with additional, stretched F-27-500s.[37] (Air UK operated a total of 22 F-27s of various marks throughout its existence, all of which it had acquired second-hand.)

By the late 1990s, a fleet of new Fokker 50 and ATR-72 turboprops replaced the aging F-27-500s. During that period Air UK also retired all of its 146-200s as well as the 146-100s.

Air UK Leisure edit

 
Air UK Leisure Boeing 737-400 at Malta Airport in the mid-1990s.

In 1987, Air UK established Air UK Leisure as its new charter subsidiary in association with charter brokerage firm Viking International.[9]

Air UK Leisure's corporate headquarters were located at Air UK's Stansted base. Its main operating bases were at London Gatwick, London Stansted and Manchester.

Operations commenced with three second-hand Boeing 737-200s. These were replaced with seven brand-new 737-400s, making Air UK Leisure first European operator of the -400 in October 1988.[9][14]

In 1993, Air UK Leisure entered the long-haul leisure market through the acquisition of a pair of Boeing 767 300 ER series widebodied aircraft. Both aircraft were contracted by tour operator Unijet. Although Air UK Leisure operated these aircraft under the same Air Operator Certificate (AOC) as its 737 400 series narrow-bodied short-/medium-haul fleet, it adopted the Leisure International Airways brand for its long-haul operation.[9]

Air UK Leisure was subsequently sold to Unijet, which in turn became part of the First Choice group.[9]

Focusing on Stansted edit

Following the move to Stansted in 1988,[6] Air UK became London's third airport's biggest resident airline and its main scheduled operator. The company began building a comprehensive network of short-haul domestic and European feeder routes that was intended to provide connecting traffic for the long-haul carriers that were then expected to commence operations from Stansted, as a result of the increasingly tight slot situation at both London Heathrow as well as London Gatwick, at the time London's two main gateway/hub airports, especially at peak times. Air UK's move to the new Norman Foster-designed terminal in early 1991 provided the impetus for the launch of several new, year-round scheduled routes linking Stansted with important business destinations including Belfast, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Inverness, Madrid, Milan Linate, Munich and Zürich[21] (in addition to the existing year-round scheduled routes serving Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Brussels, the Channel Islands, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Paris). However, the unfavourable economic conditions in the UK at the time, i.e. the severe early 1990s recession and the fallout from the first Gulf War, resulted in a sharp contraction of both the business and leisure travel markets. This in turn resulted in the spectacular collapse of the International Leisure Group (ILG) and its Air Europe airline subsidiary, at the time the largest independent airline in the UK and Gatwick's biggest user, accounting for one-fifth of all the airport's slots. The then prevailing harsh economic climate also resulted in route and schedule cutbacks at other major airlines operating out of both main London airports. As a result, it became much easier to obtain viable slots at these airports, including at peak times. This meant that none of the contemporary major long-haul carriers were showing any interest in commencing operations at Stansted (with the sole exception of American Airlines, which ran a short-lived Stansted—Chicago service during the early 1990s). In addition, Stansted's considerably smaller catchment area and its greater distance from most parts of London compared with Heathrow and Gatwick, combined with poorer transport links in relation to Heathrow's and Gatwick's better accessibility, meant that Air UK found it extremely difficult to make its Stansted operation viable.[37][38]

Rebranding edit

 
A KLM uk BAe 146 with a company Fokker 50 behind at London City Airport in 1999.

In 1997, KLM became the sole owner of Air UK.[18] This resulted in the airline being rebranded as KLM uk in January 1998,[18] including the adoption of a new livery. The legal name changed from Air UK Limited to KLM uk Limited in April 1998.[39]

Initially, the rebranded airline launched new routes from London City serving KLM's Amsterdam Schiphol hub as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, from January 2000, the KLM uk routes that did not serve Amsterdam were either progressively transferred to Buzz, the KLM group's new low-cost carrier, along with the remaining 146-300 aircraft or closed. KLM uk adopted this new strategy in response to its increasing inability to match the far lower costs of the rapidly growing "no frills" competition on the main London—Scotland trunk routes, especially Luton-based EasyJet and former British Airways subsidiary Go based at Stansted itself. By 2001, Buzz operated 14 point-to-point routes from Stansted. Many of these were former Air UK routes served with a fleet of eight BAe 146-300s handed down from Air UK and two independently sourced, second-hand Boeing 737-300s.[37][38] In addition, scheduled routes not transferred to Buzz and serving destinations other than Amsterdam were eventually all withdrawn, thus reducing the network to only 15 routes exclusively linking regional UK airports to Amsterdam Schiphol. This also resulted in the retirement of KLM uk's ATR-72s.

In 2002, KLM decided to integrate what was left of KLM uk into KLM Cityhopper, its wholly owned, Dutch-based regional subsidiary. It also decided to sell Buzz to Ryanair the following year. This transaction constituted the final link in a long chain of events connecting the early- to mid-20th century decision of British & Commonwealth Shipping, a shipping company that could trace its roots to the 19th century, to diversify into commercial aviation through ownership of several of the post-/pre-war independent airlines that merged to form British United Airways, the UK's dominant private sector airline conglomerate of the 1960s, with what is arguably the world's most commercially successful airline of the first decade of the 21st century.[37]

Further developments edit

By late 2009, several regional point-to-point routes plied by Air UK and its predecessors for many years, which were dropped soon after Dutch flag carrier KLM had become the airline's sole owner, had been taken over by Eastern Airways and Flybe, with the former concentrating on the ex-Air Anglia oil-related business routes along Britain's East Coast and the latter focusing on former BIA/Air Westward routes serving the southern and western parts of the UK.[37]

Incidents and accidents edit

There were four recorded non-fatal incidents during Air UK's 19-year existence from 1980 until 1998.

  • On 11 June 1984,an empty ex-BIA Handley Page Dart Herald (registration: G-BBXI),[40] was parked at Bournemouth Airport when a lorry struck the aircraft and damaged it beyond repair.[41]
  • On 19 July 1990, an ex-Air Anglia F-27-200 (registration G-BCDO)[42] had an accident while landing at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at the end of a scheduled flight from London Stansted. The aircraft's right-hand main gear failed to lock down while preparing to land. This resulted in a forced landing with the right gear retracted, damaging the aircraft beyond repair. There were no injuries among the 17 passengers and four crew members. (The aircraft was subsequently ferried to Air UK's base at Norwich Airport, where it was withdrawn from service and scrapped.)[43]
  • On 31 March 1992, a BAe 146-300 G-UKHP overran runway 34 at Aberdeen (Dyce) Airport after landing on a wet runway with high crosswinds. The pilot failed to deploy the spoilers and ran off the end of the runway. The aircraft was not badly damaged and no passengers were hurt.[44]
  • On 7 December 1997, an F-27-500F (registration: G-BNCY) had an accident at Guernsey Airport at the end of a scheduled service from Southampton. The aircraft overran the runway while landing in high crosswinds and came to rest in an adjacent field with its left landing gear collapsed.[45][46] There were no injuries among the 50 passengers and four crew. (The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and subsequently written off.)[47]

See also edit

Notes edit

Notes
  1. ^ independent from government-owned corporations
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h World Airline Directory, Flight International, 26 July 1980, p. 280
  2. ^ a b c d World Airline Directory, Flight International, 26 July 1980, p. 272
  3. ^ a b c d World Airline Directory, Flight International, 26 July 1980, p. 295
  4. ^ a b c d Air UK is Air Anglia and BIA successor, Air Transport, Flight International, 27 October 1979, p. 1343
  5. ^ a b c d World Airline Directory, Flight International, 30 March 1985, p. 49
  6. ^ a b c d World Airline Directory, Flight International, 1 April 1989, p. 55
  7. ^ World Airline Directory, Flight International, 30 March 1985, p. 59
  8. ^ Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK), Vol 43, No 1, p. 25, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK), Vol 43, No 1, p. 27, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
  10. ^ a b c d Europe & the CIS World Airline Directory, Flight International, 26 March – 1 April 1997, p. 48
  11. ^ Case No. IV/M.967 — KLM/Air UK, Merger Procedure Decision, Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, 22 September 1997
  12. ^ a b c d World Airline Directory, Flight International, 2 April 1983, p. 882
  13. ^ a b World Airline Directory, Flight International, 26 March 1988, p. 47
  14. ^ a b c d World Airline Directory, Flight International, 14–20 March 1990, p. 65
  15. ^ a b World Airline Directory, Flight International, 29 March – 4 April 1995, p. 51
  16. ^ BIA, Air Anglia to take Air Westward routes, Air Transport, Flight International, 24 March 1979, p. 882
  17. ^ Short finals ... Air Anglia ..., General Aviation — Business and Light Transport, Flight International, 21 July 1979, p. 163
  18. ^ a b c Europe & the CIS World Airline Directory, Flight International, 24–30 March 1999, p. 82
  19. ^ a b Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK), Vol 43, No 1, pp. 24, 26, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
  20. ^ a b c Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK), Vol 43, No 1, p. 26, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
  21. ^ a b No Frills – The Truth behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies, Calder, S., Virgin Books, London, 2002, p. 145
  22. ^ Air Transport (photograph depicting Handley Page Dart Herald G-BAZJ as the first aircraft to appear in Air UK's first, all-blue livery), Flight International, Reed Business Information, Sutton, 1 December 1979, p. 1818 (bottom)
  23. ^ Air Transport (photograph depicting Air UK's fourth BAC One-Eleven G-CBIA in the airline's first, all-blue livery), Flight International, Reed Business Information, Sutton, 19 January 1980, p. 137 (top)
  24. ^ Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK), Vol 43, No 1, pp. 27/8, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
  25. ^ BA spells out route-cut proposals, World News, Flight International, 8 September 1979, p. 754
  26. ^ Independents look at BA routes, Air Transport, Flight International, 22 September 1979, p. 942
  27. ^ BA route cuts: independents gather, Air Transport, Flight International, 20 October 1979, p. 1264
  28. ^ CAA allocates UK domestic routes, Air Transport, Flight International, 5 January 1980, p. 5
  29. ^ No Frills – The Truth behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies, Calder, S., Virgin Books, London, 2002, pp. 166/7
  30. ^ Short hauls ... Air Anglia ..., Air Transport, Flight International, 28 July 1979, p. 247
  31. ^ "Air UK retrenches in the face of recession, Air Transport". Flight International. 27 September 1980. p. 1245.
  32. ^ a b "World Airline Directory". Flight International. 3 April 1982. p. 815.
  33. ^ New British carrier to take over Air UK's IT operation, Air Transport, Flight International, 23 January 1982, p. 159
  34. ^ World Airline Directory, Flight International, 3 April 1982, p. 826
  35. ^ British commuters grow — British Air Ferries/Guernsey Airlines, Flight International, 20 August 1983, p. 498
  36. ^ British commuters grow — Manx Airlines, Flight International, 20 August 1983, p. 501
  37. ^ a b c d e f Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK), Vol 43, No 1, p. 28, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
  38. ^ a b No Frills – The Truth behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies, Calder, S., Virgin Books, London, 2002, pp. 139, 144/5
  39. ^ "" KLM uk. Retrieved on 28 February 2010.
  40. ^ Aviation Safety Network — Photo of Handley Page HPR-7 Herald 203 G-BBXI
  41. ^ ASN Aircraft accident description Handley Page HPR-7 Herald 203 G-BBXI — Bournemouth Airport (BOH)
  42. ^ Aviation Safety Network — Photo of Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 G-BCDO
  43. ^ ASN Aircraft accident description Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 G-BCDO — Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)
  44. ^ AAIB report 4/1993 G-UKHP 31 March 1992, Aberdeen
  45. ^ Aviation Safety Network — Photo of Fokker F-27 Friendship 500F G-BNCY (1)
  46. ^ Aviation Safety Network — Photo of Fokker F-27 Friendship 500F G-BNCY (2)
  47. ^ ASN Aircraft accident description Fokker F-27 Friendship 500F G-BNCY — Guernsey Airport (GCI)

References edit

  • "Flight International". Flight International. Sutton, UK: Reed Business Information. ISSN 0015-3710. (World Airline Directory, 1980–2003)
  • Calder, Simon (2002). No Frills – The Truth behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies. London, UK: Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-932-X.
  • "Travel Trade Gazette". Travel Trade Gazette (UK & Ireland ed.). London, UK. ISSN 0262-4397. (various copies, 1980–2003)

Further reading edit

  • "Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten: Jersey Airlines – United into BUA)". Aircraft. Hersham, UK: Ian Allan Publishing: 66. June 2011. ISSN 2041-2150. (Aircraft)

External links edit

  • AirUK (Archive)
  • European Commission Merger Decision on Case IV/M.967 of 22/09/1997 (KLM/AIR UK)
  • contemporary timetable images

airuk, wholly, privately, owned, independent, regional, airline, united, kingdom, formed, 1980, result, merger, involving, four, rival, based, regional, airlines, british, commonwealth, owned, british, island, airways, anglia, were, dominant, merger, partners,. AirUK was a wholly privately owned independent nb 1 regional airline in the United Kingdom formed in 1980 as a result of a merger involving four rival UK based regional airlines 1 2 3 British and Commonwealth B amp C owned British Island Airways BIA and Air Anglia were the two dominant merger partners 4 The merged entity s corporate headquarters were originally located at Redhill Surrey the location of the old BIA head office 1 It subsequently relocated to Crawley West Sussex 5 In addition to the main maintenance base at Norwich Airport Air Anglia s former engineering base there also used to be a second major maintenance base at Blackpool Airport the old BIA engineering base 4 This was closed down following Air UK s major retrenchment during Britain s severe recession of the early 1980s In 1987 Air UK established Air UK Leisure as a charter subsidiary The following year Air UK shifted its headquarters to London Stansted Airport 6 When Stansted s new Norman Foster designed terminal opened in 1991 the airline became its first and subsequently main tenant Air UKIATA ICAO Callsign UK UKA UKAYFounded1980 1980 Ceased operations1998 1998 rebranded as KLM uk Operating basesBlackpoolExeterGuernseyHumbersideIsle of ManJerseyLeeds BradfordLondon SouthendLondon StanstedNorwichSouthamptonSubsidiariesAir UK LeisureFleet size36 aircraft 11 Fokker 100 11 British Aerospace BAe 146 10 srs 300 1 srs 100 9 Fokker 50 5 Fokker F 27 Friendship 500 as of March April 1997 DestinationsBritish IslesContinental EuropeParent companyBritish Air Transport Holdings HeadquartersRedhill Surrey England U K 1980 1984 Crawley West Sussex England UK 1985 1987 London Stansted Airport Essex England UK 1988 1997 Key peopleSir Nicholas CayzerHon Anthony CayzerPeter VillaPhilip ChapmanNeil ForsterStephen HanscombeAndrew GrayHenny A EssenbergBob FrostStuart CarsonHarold PayneAllan McQuarrieJames FrenchTony Le MesurierTony CamachoJohn DerbyshireBob ColemanDavid McCammonMatt ButtonLeonard NutterGeorge WhiteRobert NunnE F BatesC E SmithCapt Alan CottleCapt Christopher HaysomCapt P MurphyWebsiteAirUK Air UK was a full member of the International Air Transport Association IATA for most of its existence Air UK originally was a wholly owned subsidiary of British Air Transport Holdings a successor to the Air Holdings Group owned 90 by B amp C and 10 by Eagle Star Insurance This made the Cayzer family who owned B amp C the controlling shareholders 1 4 7 8 Following the beginning of the gradual liberalisation of the European Union EU internal air transport market in 1987 Dutch flag carrier KLM a long standing business partner of Air UK and its predecessor Air Anglia acquired a 14 9 minority stake in Air UK s holding company 6 9 In 1995 KLM increased its minority stake in Air UK to 45 In 1997 KLM became Air UK s sole shareholder 10 when it acquired B amp C s stake in British Air Transport Holdings 11 The following year Air UK was renamed KLM uk Contents 1 History 1 1 Aircraft operated 1 2 Fleet in 1980 1 3 Fleet in 1983 1 4 Fleet in 1985 1 5 Fleet in 1988 1 6 Fleet in 1990 1 7 Fleet in 1995 1 8 Fleet in 1997 1 9 Third Force 1 10 Retrenchment 1 11 Reorganisation and renewed expansion 1 12 Air UK Leisure 1 13 Focusing on Stansted 1 14 Rebranding 1 15 Further developments 2 Incidents and accidents 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory editAircraft operated edit Air UK operated the following aircraft types at one point or another during its 19 year existence Avion de Transport Regional ATR ATR 72 these aircraft were exclusively operated by KLM uk BAC One Eleven 200 400 series British Aerospace BAe 146 100 200 300 series Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante Fokker F27 Friendship 100 200 400 500 600 series Fokker F28 Fellowship 1000 4000 series Fokker 50 Fokker 100 Handley Page Dart Herald Shorts 330 Shorts 360 Fleet in 1980 edit In July 1980 the Air UK fleet comprised 37 aircraft 1 nbsp An Air UK BAC One Eleven still in basic BIA livery at Basel Mulhouse EuroAirport in 1980 nbsp An Air UK Fokker F 27 still in basic Air Anglia livery at Aberdeen Airport in 1981 nbsp An Air UK One Eleven in the original all blue scheme in 1981 Air UK fleet in July 1980 Aircraft Number BAC One Eleven 400 4 Fokker F28 Fellowship 4000 2 Fokker F27 Friendship 200 14 Handley Page Dart Herald 11 Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante 6 Total 37 Air UK employed 1 700 people at this time 1 Fleet in 1983 edit In April 1983 the Air UK fleet comprised 21 aircraft 12 nbsp An Air UK Handley Page Dart Herald in the modified blue and white scheme at Jersey Airport in 1983 Air UK fleet in April 1983 Aircraft Number Fokker F27 Friendship 200 10 Handley Page Dart Herald 6 Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante 5 Total 21 Air UK employed 850 people at this time 12 Fleet in 1985 edit In March 1985 the Air UK fleet comprised 22 aircraft 5 nbsp An Air UK F 27 in the modified blue and white scheme at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in 1985 Air UK fleet in March 1985 Aircraft Number Fokker F28 Fellowship 1000 1 Fokker F27 Friendship 200 16 Shorts 360 4 Shorts 330 1 Total 22 Air UK employed 850 people at this time 5 Fleet in 1988 editIn March 1988 the Air UK fleet comprised 22 aircraft 13 nbsp A pair of Air UK Shorts 360s in the second scheme at Humberside Airport in 1989 Air UK fleet in March 1988 Aircraft Number BAC One Eleven 400 1 British Aerospace BAe 146 200 1 Fokker F27 Friendship 500 2 Fokker F27 Friendship 600 3 Fokker F27 Friendship 200 10 Fokker F27 Friendship 100 1 Shorts 360 4 Total 22 Two British Aerospace BAe 146 200 were on order Air UK employed 975 people at this time 13 Fleet in 1990 edit In March 1990 the Air UK fleet comprised 27 aircraft 14 Air UK fleet in March 1990 Aircraft Number British Aerospace BAe 146 300 4 British Aerospace BAe 146 200 3 British Aerospace BAe 146 100 2 Fokker F27 Friendship 500 2 Fokker F27 Friendship 600 2 Fokker F27 Friendship 200 11 Fokker F27 Friendship 100 1 Shorts 360 2 Total 27 Air UK employed 1 340 people at this time 14 Fleet in 1995 edit nbsp An Air UK BAe 146 200 in the second scheme at Frankfurt Airport in 1994 nbsp An Air UK Fokker 50 in the final scheme at Guernsey Airport in 1995 In March April 1995 the Air UK fleet comprised 28 aircraft 15 Air UK fleet in March April 1995 Aircraft Number British Aerospace BAe 146 300 7 British Aerospace BAe 146 200 2 British Aerospace BAe 146 100 2 Fokker F27 Friendship 500 6 Fokker 50 1 Fokker 100 9 Shorts 360 1 Total 28 Eight Fokker 50 were on order Air UK employed 1 466 people at this time 15 Fleet in 1997 edit nbsp An Air UK Fokker 100 in the final scheme at Dusseldorf Airport in 1997 In March April 1997 the Air UK fleet comprised 36 aircraft 10 Air UK fleet in March April 1997 Aircraft Number British Aerospace BAe 146 300 10 British Aerospace BAe 146 100 1 Fokker F27 Friendship 500 5 Fokker 50 9 Fokker 100 11 Total 36 Four Fokker 100 were on order Air UK employed 2 000 people at this time 10 Third Force edit Air UK was the name of the new airline resulting from the merger of BIA and Air Anglia 4 BIA had already absorbed Exeter based Air Westward in March 1979 3 16 Cardiff based Air Wales had become part of Air Anglia in June of that year 2 17 It was incorporated on 1 January 1980 2 3 Operations commenced on 16 January 1980 18 At the time of its inception Air UK was the largest regional airline in the UK and the country s third largest scheduled carrier 2 3 19 It had a staff of 1 700 carried more than 1m mainly scheduled passengers annually and had a fleet of 40 aircraft 20 consisting of six jets four ex BIA BAC One Eleven 400s and two ex Air Anglia F 28 4000 series Fellowships and 34 turboprops including eighteen ex BIA Handley Page Dart Heralds ten ex Air Anglia Fokker F 27 100 200 series Friendships and six Embraer 110 Bandeirantes originally part of the BIA Air Wales and Air Westward fleets Apart from the four One Eleven 400s which were predominantly operated on charter flights 20 all the other aircraft were part of Air UK s scheduled service fleet For marketing purposes there was no gap between the letters U and K in the Air UK logo in the newly merged entity s first livery which was a stylised Union Flag Former BIA managing director Peter Villa became Air UK s first MD as well At the time of its creation Air UK was sometimes referred to as the unofficial Third Force among the main contemporary scheduled airlines in the UK British Caledonian BCal being the UK s official Second Force and British Airways BA the primary UK flag carrier at that time 20 21 Following the merger most of the fleet progressively adopted Air UK s new blue white and red colour scheme Originally this featured a predominantly blue fuselage with a white red white strip across the windows and a white roof The tail was also predominantly blue apart from the Air UK logo 22 23 However the Civil Aviation Authority CAA disapproved of this predominantly blue livery arguing that it could potentially pose a safety hazard for other aircraft as it was difficult for other crews to see the blue aircraft against a blue sky To address the CAA s safety concerns Air UK decided to amend its original colour scheme by opting for a hybrid blue and white scheme featuring a blue fuselage and a white tail 19 Air UK s scheduled route network initially served the following 33 points Aberdeen Amsterdam Basel Belfast Bergen Birmingham Blackpool Bournemouth Brussels Dublin Dusseldorf Edinburgh Exeter Glasgow Guernsey Humberside Isle of Man Jersey Leeds Bradford Le Touquet London Gatwick London Heathrow London Stansted Manchester Newcastle Norwich Ostend Paris Rotterdam Southampton Southend Stavanger and Teesside 1 Air UK was the first and at the time only scheduled airline in the UK to fly from all three main London airports 24 Following British Airways decision to retire its Vickers Viscount turboprop fleet and to withdraw from its loss making regional scheduled routes Air UK assumed BA s regional routes from Heathrow to Guernsey Manchester to the Isle of Man Leeds to Belfast and Dublin and Edinburgh to Jersey in April 1980 1 25 26 27 Air UK s new year round Heathrow Guernsey route was its most prominent scheduled route serving London s premier airport 28 During the late 1970s in the days prior to the construction of the M11 Air UK s predecessor Air Anglia had launched a year round scheduled service linking Heathrow with the company s bases in Norwich and Humberside as well as a year round scheduled operation between London Gatwick and Leeds 9 29 30 Retrenchment edit The severe recession of the early 1980s necessitated a major retrenchment resulting in extensive frequency route and staff cutbacks This entailed the closure of bases at Bournemouth Humberside and Stansted as well as a major reduction in operations at Southend As a consequence of these cutbacks ten turboprop aircraft seven Heralds and three Bandeirantes were withdrawn from service while the two F 28 jets were leased out to French regional carrier Air Alsace This in turn resulted in the closure of the former BIA engineering base at Blackpool accounting for 220 out of a total of 400 job losses 31 It also resulted in the suspension of scheduled passenger and cargo services to 14 points by late 1981 At the start of the 1981 82 winter timetable in November 1981 Air UK relaunched scheduled operations from Stansted by opening a new route to Amsterdam This was the first international scheduled service from London s third airport in over ten years 32 The resulting network linked 20 points in the British Isles and six in Europe 32 Management hoped that these business realignments including cutting the company s workforce in half over a two year period 1 12 would reverse heavy losses Air UK had incurred during its first two years of operation thereby stabilising the company and positioning it for future growth 9 Reorganisation and renewed expansion edit In 1982 Peter Villa led a management buyout of Air UK s charter business 9 12 resulting in reconstituting BIA as a charter only airline and his departure from Air UK along with the four BAC One Eleven 400s 33 34 In addition to the tough economic climate and merger blues during the airline s inception as a result of combining two organisations with vastly different cultures and management styles the operation of these aircraft had largely been responsible for Air UK s poor financial performance that threatened the airline s survival 9 1982 was also the year the CAA transferred Air UK s Gatwick Guernsey licence to Guernsey Airlines a newly formed regional operator following numerous passenger complaints about the service Air UK had been providing ever since it had assumed the former BIA operation on that route 35 That year also saw Air UK joining forces with British Midland to form Manx Airlines a new jointly owned regional subsidiary based on the Isle of Man Air UK parent B amp C owned 25 of Manx Airlines making it the new joint venture s junior partner British Midland which owned the remaining 75 was the senior partner Air UK and British Midland hoped that transferring their loss making Isle of Man operations to a dedicated lower cost subsidiary would eventually make these services profitable 36 In 1983 Air UK broke even for the first time This was also the year the airline acquired its first Shorts 330 commuter turboprop plane which it named Enterprise in a publicity stunt at Stansted Airport where the naming ceremony took place in the shadow of a Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft used by NASA to launch Space Shuttle Enterprise 9 By 1985 Air UK acquired additional Shorts 330 360s and Fokker F 27s The latter included the first stretched 500 series F 27s featuring an increased seating capacity of 52 as opposed to 44 for all shorter fuselage F 27 models To further support its ongoing expansion Air UK temporarily leased an F 28 1000 series as well as two BIA One Eleven 400s during that period All of these aircraft wore different white based colour schemes Reintroduction of jet equipment enabled Air UK to assume British Caledonian s regional operation between Glasgow Newcastle and Amsterdam at the start of the 1985 summer timetable period 5 thereby further strengthening its position as the UK s leading regional feeder operator at Amsterdam Schiphol and as the airport s largest foreign scheduled carrier 10 The additional aircraft also permitted several year round domestic and international scheduled services from Stansted to be reinstated In 1987 Air UK placed its first order for BAe s new 146 regional jetliner The introduction of Air UK s first 146 200 series regional jet coincided with the introduction of a new livery consisting of a white fuselage and tail with three different blue cheatlines merging into a stylised Union Flag on the aircraft s tail In addition this livery differed from the previous one by dropping the gap between the words Air and UK while inserting a gap between the letters U and K in UK Following British Airways takeover of British Caledonian in December 1987 the CAA awarded Air UK the licences for the ex BCal domestic feeder routes from Gatwick to Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1988 This resulted in an order for four stretched BAe 146 300s to enable the launch of high frequency services with up to seven daily round trips on both routes from the start of the 1988 89 winter timetable period 6 14 By 1994 Air UK acquired several new Fokker 100 jet aircraft 37 The introduction of these aircraft led to the adoption of another new livery the final Air UK themed livery in the airline s 19 year history This livery combined elements of the earlier livery with a new single dark blue cheatline that included a thin pale blue stripe merging into a dark blue tail featuring the previous Union Flag logo It also combined elements of both previous liveries by dropping the gap between the U and K in UK as in Air UK s original blue livery as well as dropping the gap between the words Air and UK as in the airline s second livery By 1995 Air UK had replaced all of the older smaller F 27 100 200 400 600 series aircraft in its fleet with additional stretched F 27 500s 37 Air UK operated a total of 22 F 27s of various marks throughout its existence all of which it had acquired second hand By the late 1990s a fleet of new Fokker 50 and ATR 72 turboprops replaced the aging F 27 500s During that period Air UK also retired all of its 146 200s as well as the 146 100s Air UK Leisure edit nbsp Air UK Leisure Boeing 737 400 at Malta Airport in the mid 1990s In 1987 Air UK established Air UK Leisure as its new charter subsidiary in association with charter brokerage firm Viking International 9 Air UK Leisure s corporate headquarters were located at Air UK s Stansted base Its main operating bases were at London Gatwick London Stansted and Manchester Operations commenced with three second hand Boeing 737 200s These were replaced with seven brand new 737 400s making Air UK Leisure first European operator of the 400 in October 1988 9 14 In 1993 Air UK Leisure entered the long haul leisure market through the acquisition of a pair of Boeing 767 300 ER series widebodied aircraft Both aircraft were contracted by tour operator Unijet Although Air UK Leisure operated these aircraft under the same Air Operator Certificate AOC as its 737 400 series narrow bodied short medium haul fleet it adopted the Leisure International Airways brand for its long haul operation 9 Air UK Leisure was subsequently sold to Unijet which in turn became part of the First Choice group 9 Focusing on Stansted edit Following the move to Stansted in 1988 6 Air UK became London s third airport s biggest resident airline and its main scheduled operator The company began building a comprehensive network of short haul domestic and European feeder routes that was intended to provide connecting traffic for the long haul carriers that were then expected to commence operations from Stansted as a result of the increasingly tight slot situation at both London Heathrow as well as London Gatwick at the time London s two main gateway hub airports especially at peak times Air UK s move to the new Norman Foster designed terminal in early 1991 provided the impetus for the launch of several new year round scheduled routes linking Stansted with important business destinations including Belfast Dusseldorf Frankfurt Hamburg Inverness Madrid Milan Linate Munich and Zurich 21 in addition to the existing year round scheduled routes serving Aberdeen Amsterdam Brussels the Channel Islands Edinburgh Glasgow and Paris However the unfavourable economic conditions in the UK at the time i e the severe early 1990s recession and the fallout from the first Gulf War resulted in a sharp contraction of both the business and leisure travel markets This in turn resulted in the spectacular collapse of the International Leisure Group ILG and its Air Europe airline subsidiary at the time the largest independent airline in the UK and Gatwick s biggest user accounting for one fifth of all the airport s slots The then prevailing harsh economic climate also resulted in route and schedule cutbacks at other major airlines operating out of both main London airports As a result it became much easier to obtain viable slots at these airports including at peak times This meant that none of the contemporary major long haul carriers were showing any interest in commencing operations at Stansted with the sole exception of American Airlines which ran a short lived Stansted Chicago service during the early 1990s In addition Stansted s considerably smaller catchment area and its greater distance from most parts of London compared with Heathrow and Gatwick combined with poorer transport links in relation to Heathrow s and Gatwick s better accessibility meant that Air UK found it extremely difficult to make its Stansted operation viable 37 38 Rebranding edit nbsp A KLM uk BAe 146 with a company Fokker 50 behind at London City Airport in 1999 In 1997 KLM became the sole owner of Air UK 18 This resulted in the airline being rebranded as KLM uk in January 1998 18 including the adoption of a new livery The legal name changed from Air UK Limited to KLM uk Limited in April 1998 39 Initially the rebranded airline launched new routes from London City serving KLM s Amsterdam Schiphol hub as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh However from January 2000 the KLM uk routes that did not serve Amsterdam were either progressively transferred to Buzz the KLM group s new low cost carrier along with the remaining 146 300 aircraft or closed KLM uk adopted this new strategy in response to its increasing inability to match the far lower costs of the rapidly growing no frills competition on the main London Scotland trunk routes especially Luton based EasyJet and former British Airways subsidiary Go based at Stansted itself By 2001 Buzz operated 14 point to point routes from Stansted Many of these were former Air UK routes served with a fleet of eight BAe 146 300s handed down from Air UK and two independently sourced second hand Boeing 737 300s 37 38 In addition scheduled routes not transferred to Buzz and serving destinations other than Amsterdam were eventually all withdrawn thus reducing the network to only 15 routes exclusively linking regional UK airports to Amsterdam Schiphol This also resulted in the retirement of KLM uk s ATR 72s In 2002 KLM decided to integrate what was left of KLM uk into KLM Cityhopper its wholly owned Dutch based regional subsidiary It also decided to sell Buzz to Ryanair the following year This transaction constituted the final link in a long chain of events connecting the early to mid 20th century decision of British amp Commonwealth Shipping a shipping company that could trace its roots to the 19th century to diversify into commercial aviation through ownership of several of the post pre war independent airlines that merged to form British United Airways the UK s dominant private sector airline conglomerate of the 1960s with what is arguably the world s most commercially successful airline of the first decade of the 21st century 37 Further developments edit By late 2009 several regional point to point routes plied by Air UK and its predecessors for many years which were dropped soon after Dutch flag carrier KLM had become the airline s sole owner had been taken over by Eastern Airways and Flybe with the former concentrating on the ex Air Anglia oil related business routes along Britain s East Coast and the latter focusing on former BIA Air Westward routes serving the southern and western parts of the UK 37 Incidents and accidents editThere were four recorded non fatal incidents during Air UK s 19 year existence from 1980 until 1998 On 11 June 1984 an empty ex BIA Handley Page Dart Herald registration G BBXI 40 was parked at Bournemouth Airport when a lorry struck the aircraft and damaged it beyond repair 41 On 19 July 1990 an ex Air Anglia F 27 200 registration G BCDO 42 had an accident while landing at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at the end of a scheduled flight from London Stansted The aircraft s right hand main gear failed to lock down while preparing to land This resulted in a forced landing with the right gear retracted damaging the aircraft beyond repair There were no injuries among the 17 passengers and four crew members The aircraft was subsequently ferried to Air UK s base at Norwich Airport where it was withdrawn from service and scrapped 43 On 31 March 1992 a BAe 146 300 G UKHP overran runway 34 at Aberdeen Dyce Airport after landing on a wet runway with high crosswinds The pilot failed to deploy the spoilers and ran off the end of the runway The aircraft was not badly damaged and no passengers were hurt 44 On 7 December 1997 an F 27 500F registration G BNCY had an accident at Guernsey Airport at the end of a scheduled service from Southampton The aircraft overran the runway while landing in high crosswinds and came to rest in an adjacent field with its left landing gear collapsed 45 46 There were no injuries among the 50 passengers and four crew The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and subsequently written off 47 See also editList of defunct airlines of the United KingdomNotes editNotes independent from government owned corporations Citations a b c d e f g h World Airline Directory Flight International 26 July 1980 p 280 a b c d World Airline Directory Flight International 26 July 1980 p 272 a b c d World Airline Directory Flight International 26 July 1980 p 295 a b c d Air UK is Air Anglia and BIA successor Air Transport Flight International 27 October 1979 p 1343 a b c d World Airline Directory Flight International 30 March 1985 p 49 a b c d World Airline Directory Flight International 1 April 1989 p 55 World Airline Directory Flight International 30 March 1985 p 59 Aircraft Gone but not forgotten AIR UK Vol 43 No 1 p 25 Ian Allan Publishing Hersham January 2010 a b c d e f g h i j Aircraft Gone but not forgotten AIR UK Vol 43 No 1 p 27 Ian Allan Publishing Hersham January 2010 a b c d Europe amp the CIS World Airline Directory Flight International 26 March 1 April 1997 p 48 Case No IV M 967 KLM Air UK Merger Procedure Decision Commission of the European Communities Brussels 22 September 1997 a b c d World Airline Directory Flight International 2 April 1983 p 882 a b World Airline Directory Flight International 26 March 1988 p 47 a b c d World Airline Directory Flight International 14 20 March 1990 p 65 a b World Airline Directory Flight International 29 March 4 April 1995 p 51 BIA Air Anglia to take Air Westward routes Air Transport Flight International 24 March 1979 p 882 Short finals Air Anglia General Aviation Business and Light Transport Flight International 21 July 1979 p 163 a b c Europe amp the CIS World Airline Directory Flight International 24 30 March 1999 p 82 a b Aircraft Gone but not forgotten AIR UK Vol 43 No 1 pp 24 26 Ian Allan Publishing Hersham January 2010 a b c Aircraft Gone but not forgotten AIR UK Vol 43 No 1 p 26 Ian Allan Publishing Hersham January 2010 a b No Frills The Truth behind the Low cost Revolution in the Skies Calder S Virgin Books London 2002 p 145 Air Transport photograph depicting Handley Page Dart Herald G BAZJ as the first aircraft to appear in Air UK s first all blue livery Flight International Reed Business Information Sutton 1 December 1979 p 1818 bottom Air Transport photograph depicting Air UK s fourth BAC One Eleven G CBIA in the airline s first all blue livery Flight International Reed Business Information Sutton 19 January 1980 p 137 top Aircraft Gone but not forgotten AIR UK Vol 43 No 1 pp 27 8 Ian Allan Publishing Hersham January 2010 BA spells out route cut proposals World News Flight International 8 September 1979 p 754 Independents look at BA routes Air Transport Flight International 22 September 1979 p 942 BA route cuts independents gather Air Transport Flight International 20 October 1979 p 1264 CAA allocates UK domestic routes Air Transport Flight International 5 January 1980 p 5 No Frills The Truth behind the Low cost Revolution in the Skies Calder S Virgin Books London 2002 pp 166 7 Short hauls Air Anglia Air Transport Flight International 28 July 1979 p 247 Air UK retrenches in the face of recession Air Transport Flight International 27 September 1980 p 1245 a b World Airline Directory Flight International 3 April 1982 p 815 New British carrier to take over Air UK s IT operation Air Transport Flight International 23 January 1982 p 159 World Airline Directory Flight International 3 April 1982 p 826 British commuters grow British Air Ferries Guernsey Airlines Flight International 20 August 1983 p 498 British commuters grow Manx Airlines Flight International 20 August 1983 p 501 a b c d e f Aircraft Gone but not forgotten AIR UK Vol 43 No 1 p 28 Ian Allan Publishing Hersham January 2010 a b No Frills The Truth behind the Low cost Revolution in the Skies Calder S Virgin Books London 2002 pp 139 144 5 www airuk co uk has moved to a new site KLM uk Retrieved on 28 February 2010 Aviation Safety Network Photo of Handley Page HPR 7 Herald 203 G BBXI ASN Aircraft accident description Handley Page HPR 7 Herald 203 G BBXI Bournemouth Airport BOH Aviation Safety Network Photo of Fokker F 27 Friendship 200 G BCDO ASN Aircraft accident description Fokker F 27 Friendship 200 G BCDO Amsterdam Schiphol Airport AMS AAIB report 4 1993 G UKHP 31 March 1992 Aberdeen Aviation Safety Network Photo of Fokker F 27 Friendship 500F G BNCY 1 Aviation Safety Network Photo of Fokker F 27 Friendship 500F G BNCY 2 ASN Aircraft accident description Fokker F 27 Friendship 500F G BNCY Guernsey Airport GCI References edit Flight International Flight International Sutton UK Reed Business Information ISSN 0015 3710 World Airline Directory 1980 2003 Calder Simon 2002 No Frills The Truth behind the Low cost Revolution in the Skies London UK Virgin Books ISBN 1 85227 932 X Travel Trade Gazette Travel Trade Gazette UK amp Ireland ed London UK ISSN 0262 4397 various copies 1980 2003 Further reading edit Aircraft Gone but not forgotten Jersey Airlines United into BUA Aircraft Hersham UK Ian Allan Publishing 66 June 2011 ISSN 2041 2150 Aircraft External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to AirUK AirUK Archive European Commission Merger Decision on Case IV M 967 of 22 09 1997 KLM AIR UK contemporary timetable images Portals nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Companies nbsp Aviation Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title AirUK amp oldid 1223255294, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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