South West Aviation was a British airline formed in 1966 to undertake air charter work from a base at Exeter Airport, Devon, England. In 1973 the airline was taken over by Skyways Aviation. [1]
After it was formed the company operated air taxi and charter work with a twin-engined Piper Aztec and Beechcraft Travel Air. [2] In May 1968 the company bought a Douglas DC-3 which enabled it to expand into passenger and freight charters from both Exeter Airport and Hurn Airport. A second DC-3 was soon acquired. The charters were flown around the British Isles, Channel Islands and into Northern France. [2]
Also in 1968 the company bought a Short Skyvan which enabled it to operate out of small grass airfield in South West England for charters and parachute drooping, although the aircraft was also used to operate a scheduled service between Heathrow and Plymouth. [2] The airline also operated summer time scheduled services between Exeter, Cherbourg and Southampton and on behalf of Dan-Air a service between Bristol and the Isle of Mann. [2]
Aircraft | Total | Orders | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Douglas DC-3 | 2 | 0 | |
Piper Aztec | 1 | 0 | |
Short Skyvan | 1 | ||
Total | 4 | 0 |
Wardair Canada was a privately run Canadian airline, founded by Max Ward in 1952 under the name Wardair Ltd, before formally changing its name to "Wardair Canada" in 1976. The airline was acquired by and folded into Canadian Airlines in 1989.
Caledonian Airways was a wholly private, independent Scottish charter airline formed in April 1961. It began with a single 104-seat Douglas DC-7C leased from Sabena. Caledonian grew rapidly over the coming years to become the leading transatlantic "affinity group" charter operator by the end of the decade. During that period, passenger numbers grew from just 8,000 in 1961 to 800,000 in 1970. The latter represented 22.7% of all British non-scheduled passengers. It also became Britain's most consistently profitable and financially most secure independent airline of its era, never failing to make a profit in all its ten years of existence. By the end of 1970, Caledonian operated an all-jet fleet consisting of eleven aircraft and provided employment for over 1,000 workers. At that time, its principal activities included group charters between North America, Europe and the Far East using Boeing 707s, and general charter and inclusive tour (IT) activities in Europe utilising One-Elevens. This was also the time Caledonian merged with British United Airways (BUA), the largest contemporary independent airline and leading private sector scheduled carrier in the United Kingdom, and formed British Caledonian.
Dan-Air was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, it operated cargo and passenger charter flights from Southend (1953–1955) and Blackbushe airports (1955–1960) using a variety of piston-engined aircraft before moving to a new base at Gatwick Airport in 1960, followed by expansion into inclusive tour (IT) charter flights and all-year round scheduled services. The introduction of two de Havilland Comet series 4 jet aircraft in 1966 made Dan-Air the second British independent airline after British United Airways to begin sustained jet operations.
Britannia Airways was a charter airline based in the UK. It was founded in 1961 as Euravia and became the world's largest holiday airline. Britannia's main bases were at London Gatwick, London Stansted, London Luton, Cardiff, Bristol, East Midlands, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, Edinburgh and Glasgow. It had its headquarters at Britannia House in Luton.
West Atlantic UK Limited, formerly Atlantic Airlines Ltd is a British cargo airline based at East Midlands Airport. It operates contract and ad hoc cargo flights worldwide, especially within Europe as part of the West Atlantic Group. The company's fleet is composed of Boeing 737 and ATR72 aircraft. The airline specialises in the transport of dangerous goods and radioactive products and other specialist aerial work, including oil spill response, dispersant spraying and icing trials. The prime activity of the business is the supply and operating of aircraft to night-time freight integrators and consolidators and the operation of ad hoc air charters on behalf of other airlines, freight brokers and forwarders. Atlantic Airlines merged with the Swedish airline "West Air Europe" in 2008 to establish the West Atlantic Group.
Manx Airlines was an English-owned, Isle of Man-based airline that existed between 1982 and 2002. Its head office was located on the grounds of Isle of Man Airport in Ballasalla, Malew. An airline of the same name existed between 1947 and 1958.
Starways was a British airline which operated from 1948 until 1963. The company offered freight transport, passenger charter services and serviced internal and international scheduled routes.
Donaldson International Airlines was a British charter airline from 1968 to 1974.
Lloyd International Airways Ltd was a private, British independent airline formed in 1961 to operate worldwide charter flights. It commenced operations with a single Douglas DC-4 piston airliner from Cambridge Marshall Airport. Lloyd International concentrated on passenger and cargo charters with four-engined, long-range aircraft. It also had links in Hong Kong since its inception and flew to the Far East regularly. During the mid-1960s, the airline began re-equipping its fleet with Bristol Britannia and Canadair CL-44 turboprops, all of which featured large cargo doors and palletised freight systems. Long-range Boeing 707 jets joined the Lloyd International fleet during the early 1970s for use on affinity group passenger and freight charters to North America and the Far East. Lloyd International ceased operations in June 1972.
ACE Freighters was a British cargo airline from 1964 to 1966.
Air Ferry Limited was a private, independent British airline operating charter, scheduled and all-cargo flights from 1963 to 1968.
Cambrian Airways was an airline based in the United Kingdom which ran operations from Cardiff Airport and Liverpool Airport between 1935 and 1974. It was incorporated into British Airways when BOAC, BEA, Cambrian and Northeast merged on 1 April 1974.
Northeast Airlines (NEA) – known as BKS Air Transport until 1970 – was an airline based in the United Kingdom that operated from 1952 until 1976, when NEA's operations and fleet were merged into British Airways.
British Westpoint Airlines was a British charter and scheduled airline from 1962 to 1967.
Westminster Airways was a British airline formed in 1946 to operate air charters. It later acquired freighter aircraft and was involved in the Berlin Airlift, but ceased operations shortly after.
Air Charter was an early post-World War II private, British independent airline formed in 1947. The airline conducted regular trooping flights to Cyprus as well as worldwide passenger and freight charter flights from its bases at Southend Airport and Stansted. Following Freddie Laker's acquisition of Air Charter in 1951, Aviation Traders and Aviation Traders (Engineering) became associated companies. From 1955, it also operated scheduled coach-air/vehicle ferry services. These initially linked London and Paris. In 1958, the process of transferring Air Charter's coach-air/vehicle ferry operation to sister company Channel Air Bridge began. In 1959, Air Charter became part of the Airwork group. In 1960, Airwork joined with Hunting-Clan to form British United Airways (BUA).
Morton Air Services was one of the earliest post-World War II private, independent British airlines formed in 1945. It mainly operated regional short-haul scheduled services within the British Isles and between the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. In 1953, Morton took over rival independent UK airline Olley Air Service. In 1958, Morton became part of the Airwork group. Morton retained its identity following the 1960 Airwork — Hunting-Clan merger that led to the creation of British United Airways (BUA). The reorganisation of the BUA group of companies during 1967/8 resulted in Morton being absorbed into British United Island Airways (BUIA) in 1968.
Intra Airways Limited was a private, British independent airline formed in 1969. Initially, it was a charter airline operating passenger and cargo charters from the Channel Islands to the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Scheduled services commenced in 1971, linking Jersey with Staverton. The airline also established an associated engineering company at Exeter Airport. In 1979, Intra Airways merged with Express Air Freight (C.I.) to form Jersey European Airways. The new entity was initially absorbed into Air Bridge Carriers (ABC), a Field Aviation/Hunting Group company. It subsequently left the Field Aviation/Hunting Group as a result of the demerger of Express Air Services, which had acquired Express Air Freight's cargo operation.
Air Transport Charter (C.I.) Limited was a Jersey based charter and cargo airline from 1947 to 1950.
Air Safaris was a British scheduled and charter airline from 1959 to 1962.