With a new fleet and increased confidence, British Airways’ charter subsidiary became a major force in the UK holiday market from the early 1980s. In the second of two parts, David Ransted concludes the story of British Airtours.
British Airtours had operated their Boeing 707s flat out on European IT (inclusive tour) flights, charters as far afield as Hawaii, Fiji and New Zealand and on wet lease contracts, but from the mid-1970s they were approaching the end of their fatigue lives. The 707 fleet, while it brought competitive scale economies, lacked flexibility; the aircraft’s capacity was daunting for smaller tour operators seeking whole-plane charters and it often proved too large for midweek and winter flying. With its longer runway requirement, it was unable to operate from Luton – excluding the airline from picking up former Court Line business in 1974 – and from airports such as Gibraltar, Oporto and Bilbao, and it was payload-restricted at others, including Naples. The Boeings would be hampered by new noise regulations that were on the horizon for 1980 and their thirsty Conway engines were becoming uneconomic and so, even at the mid-1970s height of its 707 operations, British Airtours was looking ahead to a replacement. Its analysis showed that adopting written-down Hawker Siddeley Trident 1s from British Airways would be operationally even more expensive than the 707s; it looked at ex-Court Line and British Caledonian BAC One-Eleven 500s, but these would be range- and payload-restricted, unable to carry a full passenger load from more distant destinations such as Corfu to Gatwick.
British Airways’ analysis in the late-1970s foresaw a boom in the low-fare leisure travel market and anticipated the gradual blurring of the lines between scheduled and charter flying as the market became progressively deregulated and it determined to maintain a presence in the charter arena through its established and profitable British Airtours subsidiary. As early as 1976 the leisure airline arm’s evaluation had pointed clearly to the need for a mixed long-haul and short-haul fleet and a more modern short-haul type – specifically the Boeing 737-200. British Airtours’ productivity, including flying hours per crew member and bags handled per loader, was higher than in the British Airways group as a whole, but average yield per available seat kilometre was 60% of that of the parent carrier.
Its requests to purchase second-hand 737s (it got as far as negotiating prices with All Nippon Airways, United Airlines and Pacific Southwest) had been rebuffed several times by its parent. The delay in procuring new equipment impacted financially on British Airtours, but it proved an ill wind as, when British Airways placed its own order for 19 new 737-200s in October 1978, British Airtours was able to piggyback on the order – no more hand-me-downs from big brother – and the first of nine freshly minted jets was planned to arrive in March 1980. They would be the first brand new aircraft delivered to the airline.
In December 1978 British Airtours announced its order for nine Boeing 737-200s, which it christened the ‘Super 737’, to replace its fuel-thirsty 707s at a cost of around £50m including spares. Deliveries began on time in March 1980 and all aircraft were in service ready for the 1981 summer season. The 707s were approaching 20 years old by this time. Replacing them like-for-like with capacity for 130 passengers – 59 fewer than the 707 – the company was again able to secure smaller and more niche contracts for business that it had lost when the Comets were retired, bringing much-needed flexibility and reduced operating costs. But British Airtours also needed aircraft with greater capacity and long-haul capability.
Little Brother
As it entered the 1980s, while parent British Airways struggled financially, British Airtours was humming along nicely, consistently profitable and looking forward with confidence to a bright future with an entirely new fleet coming on stream. Almost all the 707s were retired by 1981, with two brand new Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 200s recruited for its growing long-haul business. Its fleet of nine 737-200s was immediately profitable and the carrier enjoyed a strong reputation for service, carrying over one million passengers annually.
The 737s, with variable seat costs 20% below the 707, afforded British Airtours greater versatility. They were more attractive to smaller tour operators and ideal for both destination airports with shorter runways and for winter season flying and off-peak days, and they brought great savings in fuel burn. This enabled the airline to improve its share of low season traffic, compete for business from airports such as Birmingham, Luton, Bristol and Cardiff and operate to destinations such as Gibraltar, Funchal and Ajaccio, whose runways were too short for the 707.
The first 737, G-BGJE (c/n 22026) Sandpiper, arrived from Boeing’s Seattle plant via Moses Lake, Calgary, Montreal and Goose Bay on Monday, March 24, 1980, heralding the start of a complete fleet renewal. The introduction of the Boeing 737-200 coincided with the company’s tenth anniversary (in the small, close-knit British Airtours family, 112 of its employees in 1980 had been with the company since the beginning), and a special staff inaugural flight was organised for Thursday, March 27, 1980, aboard G-BGJE. The same aircraft operated the first commercial 737 service, to Palma, two days later, with British Airtours touting the Super 737’s good neighbour credentials with its quieter Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 engines.
In April 1981 Airtours took on its first of two longer-range Boeing 707-336s from British Airways in a 189-seat configuration. Its first service was to Heraklion (Crete) before beginning five weekly round trips between Toronto and Gatwick, Glasgow/ Prestwick, Belfast, Dublin and Shannon for a Canadian tour operator. The 707’s arrival coincided with the delivery of its ninth and final B737-200 and was followed a month later by the arrival of the two 393-seat Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 200s, enabling the retirement of the last Conway-powered B707-436s.
The TriStar was selected for its versatility as it was able to operate economically over both long- and short-haul routes and could carry twice as many passengers as the 707 with only slightly more fuel. The company initially placed the aircraft on its routes to Tampa and Los Angeles as well as to Athens, Heraklion, Rhodes, Larnaca, Palma, Mahon, Rimini, Faro and Malta. The year marked a landmark for British Airtours – in the 12 months to March 1981 the airline had carried one million passengers in a year for only the second time. In the same year the airline gained a licence for a scheduled service between Gatwick and Newark, using its last Boeing 707s, but pulled off the route after seven months. Undaunted, the company introduced its new TriStars in the hotly contested Florida market.
British Airtours’ passenger numbers and market share steadily increased throughout the early 1980s. In 1981 it had overtaken Air Europe, British Midland and Monarch Airlines in passenger volume and by 1987 it had doubled its annual traffic since the start of the decade.
In 1984 Harry Goodman, head of Intasun Holidays and its in-house airline, Air Europe, considered shutting down Air Europe and selling its assets to British Airtours to operate his tour operation, but the idea came to nothing; instead he sold Boeing 737s at a profit, contracting British Airtours for a smaller portion of his business and in the mid-1980s British Airtours leased several of the Air Europe 737 fleet, either for a full 12 months or over the winter season.
A Second Aisle
British Airtours had achieved the ideal fleet mix. While its Boeing 737-200s were busy on short-haul rotations, the airline welcomed its two brand new Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 200s which, in keeping with its new custom of giving its aircraft avian names, were christened Osprey and Golden Eagle. The big birds were put to work on Caribbean and North American routes, but they also took on some of the higher volume short-haul services. Later, they would be transferred to the parent company in exchange for series -1 and -50 models.
Gaining valuable widebody experience with the TriStars, British Airtours fixed its sights on growing further by moving up to the Boeing 747. Its first example, G-BDXL, arrived in March 1984 and the following month began operating to Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Orlando from Gatwick, Manchester and Prestwick. The 457-seat aircraft replaced the last of British Airtours’ 707s, ending an era in which the 707 had done so much to establish the company at the forefront of the UK holiday market. The 747 had been ordered by British Airways in 1981 but was stored for three years as surplus to requirements until British Airtours requested a 400+ seat aircraft. Peter Owen, British Airtours’ then Managing Director, described it as “a gesture of faith by British Airways in Airtours”, adding: “The next few years will see more expansion and bigger profits from us. This aircraft is a symbol of things to come.”
A New Identity
When, in 1984, British Airways launched its new ‘Landor’ livery, British Airtours followed suit with modified aircraft titles and without the coat of arms on the tail, and in the mid-1980s it began operating scheduled services on behalf of British Airways to a range of destinations, primarily leisure routes to the Mediterranean and Caribbean. British Airtours additionally took on responsibility for organising whole-plane ad-hoc and series charters for British Airways, including Concorde charters, ‘Champagne Specials’, and North Pole excursions as well as conference/incentive and school trips.
Without question the darkest day in British Airtours’ history came on August 22, 1985, when Boeing 737-200 G-BGJL, operating from Manchester to Corfu, suffered an engine failure on its take-off run, leading the crew to abort the take-off. A port engine combustor can had ruptured, causing a fuel leak and starting a major fire. Two of the cabin crew and 53 passengers lost their lives in the accident. All four cabin crew – and two members of the airport’s fire crew – were awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for their bravery.
In 1986 British Airtours carried more than 2.2 million passengers, placing it close behind British Caledonian in the UK carrier stakes The following year the company reached its high watermark; consistently profitable and retaining its independence, it had become the UK’s third largest charter airline, carrying almost 2.7 million passengers per year and employing 1,650 people. Most maintenance was carried out in-house at Gatwick, although BA undertook some major checks on the TriStars at Heathrow. At some busier outstations, British Airtours positioned its own maintenance personnel. The airline was riding high, but it was about to embark on a whole new chapter.
Turning Tartan
In 1988 British Airways acquired the UK’s ‘second force’ carrier, British Caledonian (BCAL), and took the decision to merge British Airtours with BCAL’s charter arm, rebranding the amalgamated entity as Caledonian Airways. The merger was announced in January 1988, effective from April 1, and the intention was to combine the goodwill of the British Caledonian name with the money-making track record and high service reputation of British Airtours’ prominence in the charter field. The loss of the British Airtours name was a sad blow but Sir Colin Marshall, Chief Executive of British Airways noted: “With the name Caledonian we retain the pride and formidable reputation built up over the years by the airline. That, added to the marketing expertise of British Airtours, means we will have a combination capable of achieving an even greater presence in the crucial charter market.” As a mark of the new company’s confidence in its future, in February 1988 Caledonian ordered two 231-seat Boeing 757-200s, planning to operate them from Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow to some of the higher volume leisure destinations. At the beginning of June 1988 some of the former British Caledonian cabin crew community were merged with their British Airtours counterparts in to a single workforce and in the same week Caledonian Airways began operating under its new name with a fleet of four Lockheed TriStars and four Boeing 737-200s in a smart new livery that combined elements of both British Caledonian – with its distinctive lion emblem on the tail – and the British Airways Landor livery, with its pearl grey upper fuselage and midnight blue lower fuselage and the red British Airways ‘Speedwing’ replaced by a thin yellow cheat line.
Based at Gatwick with a secondary hub in Manchester, Caledonian Airways was established with the aim of being the ‘best UK charter airline’ by being ‘safe, punctual, stylish and enterprising’ and the new entity grew to operate Boeing 737-200s (128 seats), Boeing 757-200s (231 seats), Lockheed L-1011 TriStars (393 seats) and a single Boeing 747-200 (462 seats). British Airways crew were welcome to move across and behind-the-scenes support was provided by the parent company, including engineering and maintenance. Training was carried out to British Airways’ exacting standards, although flight crew were instructed that, as it was primarily a holiday airline catering for many passengers who would be infrequent air travellers and for whom the flight was a part of their holiday, “you can afford a little more informality”. Cabin crew were recruited for their “warmth, caring and professionalism”.
Reincarnation In December 1994 British Airways announced the sale of Caledonian Airways and five TriStars to the Inspirations travel group for £16.6m, effective March 31, 1995. The Inspirations company, specialising in European and Indian Ocean destinations, retained the Caledonian name and livery, but with British Airways supporting with ground handling, engineering staff and flight crew. The remaining fleet of four 757s and two DC-10s was made available to Caledonian as it transitioned to its new role and owner and the DC-10s initially operated on behalf of British Airways on leisure-orientated routes from Gatwick to Tampa, Nassau, San Juan and Grand Cayman. Marking the end of the road for a dedicated British Airways charter subsidiary, British Airways Chief Executive, Sir Colin Marshall, noted: “The airline was formed as a high-quality charter carrier following the tradition established by British Airtours. Its new ownership and direct association with a charter-based tour operator will give it significant strength.”
In 1995 the sale of Caledonian Airways to the Inspirations tour operator was completed. Five years later Inspirations was taken over by the Thomas Cook Group and Caledonian was merged with Flying Colours Airlines to create JMC Air, named after John Mason Cook, son of the illustrious founder of the famous travel company. Commencing operations under its new name at the start of the 2000 summer season, the company operated a fleet of Boeing 757-200s, Airbus A320s and two McDonnell Douglas DC-10s, with bases at Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Bristol and Cardiff airports. It became the first UK airline – and only the second in Europe following Condor – to operate the stretched Boeing 757-300 variant.
In March 2003 JMC Air was rebranded as Thomas Cook Airlines and four years later the Thomas Cook Group merged with MyTravel Group. The two subsidiary carriers, Thomas Cook Airlines and MyTravel Airways, were similarly merged, in both cases Thomas Cook emerging as the surviving name. The vertically integrated tour operator, with its in-house airline, reliance on inclusive tour package holidays and nationwide coverage of high street shops, increasingly struggled in the new century.
Leisure travel patterns moved away from all-inclusive packages to a more a la carte mixing and matching of flights, accommodation, excursions and ancillary products such as insurance and car hire, while booking trends in the internet age saw customers increasingly taking control of their own arrangements from the more traditional travel agents. While the group’s finances became increasingly shaky, its airline division remained a key player in the UK market and in 2018, its last full year of operations, it carried more than eight million customers on almost 40,000 flights.
Full Circle
Ironically, when it planned the creation of BEA Airtours in 1969, BEA had considered offering joint ownership of the new enterprise to the Thomas Cook organisation as a means of quickly establishing a stable presence in the UK charter market, gaining instant market share and providing a ready source of regular income. The proposal came to naught and the airline was launched as a wholly owned subsidiary of the state corporation.
Fifty years later the story would come full circle when the airline’s descendent, Thomas Cook Airlines, its owner overwhelmed by competitive pressures and structural changes in the leisure travel market, finally ceased trading on September 23, 2019, the last flight to depart being MT2643 from Orlando to Manchester. It was a sad end to an airline that, in its previous incarnations as BEA Airtours and British Airtours, had represented Britain’s flag carrier with pride, efficiency and a strong independent spirit at the forefront of the UK leisure travel industry.
Old Comrades
A common thread running throughout the story of BEA Airtours and British Airtours is the camaraderie born of a shared history of independence, resilience, resourcefulness and effort, couched in a spirit of can-do optimism and cheerful good humour (within the company the airline became known as ‘The St. Trinians of the airline industry’), and shared stories abound of the family atmosphere at the carrier. Former employees remain firm friends and are still in contact through their britishairtours.com website and on March 6 the group held a golden jubilee reunion near Gatwick Airport to reminisce and celebrate the 50th anniversary of BEA Airtours’ first flight back in 1970, an event marked with pride and a good many laughs.
Team Spirit
Stories abound of the spirit of British Airtours and in his book, No Time On The Ground, former Airtours pilot Ken Fitzroy tells some of these anecdotes. As an example, he recounts: “Madrid and Bilbao were frequent destinations, usually with a night-stop in Bilbao. The morning of [one] departure it had snowed in Bilbao (it never snows in Bilbao), and there were no facilities. It says much for the company spirit that the whole of my crew set to with brooms to sweep the wings aided by nearly all the airport staff!”
