Jersey Airlines

Last updated

Jersey Airlines
Douglas C-47B G-ANTC Jersey AL RWY 04.08.62 edited-2.jpg
Jersey Airlines Douglas C-47B Dakota landing at Manchester Airport in 1962
IATA ICAO Callsign
JY
Founded1948
Ceased operations1968 (absorbed into
British United Island Airways)
Hubs States' Airport, Jersey
Croydon Airport
(November 1948 —
May 1958)
London Gatwick Airport
(May 1958 —
31 October 1968)
Fleet size13 aircraft
(1 Handley Page HPR.7 Dart Herald 200,
2 Handley Page HPR.7 Dart Herald 100,
6 Douglas DC-3 Dakota/
C-47 Skytrain,
4 de Havilland DH 114 Heron
(as of April 1962))
Destinations Europe
Parent company British United Airways
(1962 — 31 July 1963)
Air Holdings
(1 August 1963 —
31 October 1968)
HeadquartersStates' Airport, Jersey
Key peopleM.L. Thomas,
Capt. B.W. Gardiner,
T.C. Chandler,
H.F. Popham,
Capt. J.A. Spencer,
H.I. Allan
Jersey Airlines Heron 1B at Manchester (Ringway) Airport in April 1955 on the schedule from Jersey DH.114 Heron 1B G-AMYU Jersey AL RWY 16.04.55 edited-2.jpg
Jersey Airlines Heron 1B at Manchester (Ringway) Airport in April 1955 on the schedule from Jersey
HPR.7 Herald 201 of Jersey Airlines landing at Manchester Airport in August 1962 HPR.7 Herald G-APWG Jersey Als RWY 18.08.62 edited-2.jpg
HPR.7 Herald 201 of Jersey Airlines landing at Manchester Airport in August 1962

Jersey Airlines was an early post-World War II private, independent [nb 1] British airline formed in 1948. In 1952, the airline operated its first scheduled service. Four years later, British European Airways (BEA) took a 25% minority stake in Jersey Airlines and made it an "associate". In June 1958, a Jersey Airlines de Havilland Heron became the first commercial airliner to arrive at the newly reconstructed Gatwick Airport. In 1960, Jersey Airlines ordered four state-of-the-art Handley Page Dart Herald 200 series turboprops. By 1962, BEA had sold its 25% minority holding in Jersey Airlines. The same year, Jersey Airlines became part of the British United Airways (BUA) group of companies. In August 1963, Jersey Airlines changed its trading name to British United (C.I.) Airways. Following the BUA group's 1967/8 reorganisation, BUA (C.I.) was absorbed into British United Island Airways (BUIA) in November 1968. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Contents

History

During the summer of 1948, Welshman Maldwyn L. Thomas was working for a car rental company in St. Helier, Jersey, and arranged ad hoc charters for day trippers to be flown from London's Croydon Airport to Dinard in Brittany, France. Due to the growing popularity of these trips, in November of that year, he decided to form a company to offer such charter flights on a regular basis. That company was to be incorporated under the name Jersey Airlines Limited. However, its similarity to an existing company named Jersey Airways Limited , a recently nationalised airline that was absorbed into BEA, resulted in the new company being registered as Airlines (Jersey) Limited and using Jersey Airlines as its trading name. [4]

In 1952, Jersey Airlines entered the scheduled service market. [2] All scheduled services were marketed as Duchess Services. [9] To aid the development of its scheduled route network, the airline concluded an "association" agreement with BEA. This also resulted in BEA acquiring a 25% minority shareholding in Jersey Airlines in 1956 and entailed the transfer of BEA's Southampton—Guernsey and Southampton—Alderney routes. [nb 2] [3] [5] [7] By winter 1956, Jersey Airlines' scheduled route network included Croydon, Bournemouth, Exeter, Manchester, and Southampton in England, Alderney, Guernsey and Jersey from the Channel Islands, [nb 3] as well as Cherbourg, Dinard, Nantes, Saint-Brieuc and Paris Orly in France and Bilbao in Spain. [10]

By May 1958, Jersey Airlines moved its main UK mainland operating base from Croydon to Gatwick. One of the airline's de Havilland Herons operated the first scheduled flight to arrive at the newly reconstructed airport. [4]

At the 1960 Farnborough Airshow, Jersey Airlines placed an order for four brand-new, 50-seat Handley Page Dart Herald 200 turboprop airliners, each of which was powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart 7 engines, for delivery the following year. When Mr M.L. Thomas, the airline's chairman and managing director, signed the contract later that year, the number of aircraft on firm order was increased to six series 200 Dart Heralds. The first two were to be delivered in 1961, a further two in 1962 and the final two in 1963. Unforeseen design and production problems delayed the delivery of the first batch until summer 1962. To enable Jersey Airlines to introduce the Dart Herald into commercial service at the start of the 1962 summer timetable as planned, Handley Page supplied three interim aircraft - two smaller 44-seat Herald 100s as well as one 50-seat Herald 200. One of the two 100 series aircraft was the Herald's prototype/demonstrator while the other was the first production aircraft to be delivered to BEA. The first of Jersey Airlines' own aircraft sporting the airline's blue and gold livery including the civil air ensign on the tail was finally handed over to the airline in January 1963. Another three aircraft were delivered later the same year, resulting in most scheduled routes being served with the new turboprop type. Jersey Airlines marketed its new turboprops as Herald Class. (The older DC-3 and Heron piston airliners were marketed as Dakmaster Class and Duchess Class respectively.) The seasonal nature of Jersey Airlines' scheduled operation compelled it to charter Heralds to Lord Brothers, a contemporary package tour operator, as the summer season drew to a close. These planes flew British holidaymakers as far afield as Spain, Morocco, the Canary Islands as well as Athens and the Greek islands. [4] [11] [12] [13]

In 1961, Jersey Airlines carried 310,000 scheduled passengers. [14] The same year, BEA terminated its association agreement with Jersey Airlines as both airlines had become competitors on London—Jersey and London—Guernsey, [nb 4] the most important routes in the London — Channel Islands market, as a result of the Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act that had been enacted the year before. This had abolished the corporations' statutory monopoly on principal domestic and international scheduled routes. [5]

The BUA group's takeover of Jersey Airlines in May 1962 followed BEA's disposal of its minority holding in its former regional "associate" on 31 March of that year. [6] [7] [15] Together with the earlier acquisition of the British Aviation Services group, the Jersey Airlines takeover expanded the BUA group fleet to more than 100 aircraft and increased its payroll to 6,000. [16] It also made BUA bigger than British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in terms of scheduled passengers carried. [14] By that year's summer, Plymouth, Coventry, Glasgow and Belfast were added to the scheduled route network in the UK, while Amsterdam Schiphol, Nice, Quimper, Dublin and Cork joined the international scheduled route network. [nb 5] [17]

On 1 August 1963, Airlines (Jersey) Ltd dropped the Jersey Airlines trading name in favour of British United (C.I.) Airways [nb 6] and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Holdings, the holding company set up by the group's shareholders in November 1961 to facilitate the creation of a large private sector airline through additional acquisitions of rival independent airlines. [4] [8] [9] [18]

The 1967/8 reorganisation of the BUA group's regional activities resulted in the amalgamation of BUA (C.I.), British United (Manx) Airways and Morton Air Services under the BUIA name. The new entity began trading on 1 November 1968. [2]

Fleet

Jersey Airlines operated the following aircraft types:

Fleet in 1962

In April 1962, the fleet of Jersey Airlines comprised 13 aircraft. [13]

Jersey Airlines fleet in April 1962
AircraftNumber
Handley Page HPR.7 Dart Herald 200 1
Handley Page HPR.7 Dart Herald 100 2
Douglas DC-3 Dakota/C-47 Skytrain6
de Havilland DH 114 Heron 4
Total13

Accidents and incidents

There are two recorded accidents. One of these was fatal, [19] [20] the other non-fatal. [21]

See also

Notes

Notes
  1. ↑ independent from government-owned corporations
  2. ↑ Southampton—Dinard transferred at a later date
  3. ↑ including an inter-island service between the three main Channel Islands
  4. ↑ using Heathrow and Gatwick as BEA's and Jersey Airlines' respective London terminals
  5. ↑ scheduled services to Bilbao had ceased in the meantime
  6. ↑ the British United (C.I.) Airways trading name was registered in mid-1962 for combined use on all Jersey Airlines and Silver City Airways Northern Division operations from 1 November 1962
Citations
  1. ↑ The Family Firm
  2. 1 2 3 airline timetable images — British United (C.I.) Airways, formerly Jersey Airlines, Channel Islands
  3. 1 2 Flight International, 18 April 1958, World Airline Survey ..., p. 528
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 The early Days
  5. 1 2 3 Aeroplane — Air Transport: B.E.A. Breaks with Jersey, Vol. 101, No. 2610, p. 539, Temple Press, London, 26 October 1961
  6. 1 2 Flight International, 12 April 1962, World Airline Survey — The UK Carriers ..., p. 547
  7. 1 2 3 Aeroplane — Jersey Airlines bought by B.U.A., Vol. 103, No. 2640, p. 5, Temple Press, London, 24 May 1962
  8. 1 2 Aeroplane — World Transport Affairs: New name on U.K. domestic routes, Vol. 104, No. 2659, p. 12, Temple Press, London, 4 October 1962
  9. 1 2 3 Flight International, 11 April 1963, World Airline Survey, p. 517
  10. ↑ contemporary timetable images Jersey Airlines Winter Timetable 1956 — Surface Transport, p. 6
  11. ↑ Aeroplane — The Herald Enters Service, Vol. 100, No. 2587, pp. 546/7, Temple Press, London, 18 May 1961
  12. ↑ Flight International, 27 December 1962, Jersey's Heralds at Work - More routes, more passengers, good reliability, pp. 1000/1
  13. 1 2 contemporary timetable images Jersey Airlines International Summer Timetable 1962 - Jersey Airlines Aircraft ..., p. 11
  14. 1 2 Flight International, 31 May 1962, Air Commerce, Bigger and bigger British United, p. 849
  15. ↑ Golden Gatwick — 50 Years of Aviation, Chapter 9
  16. ↑ Aeroplane — By Uniting we stand ..., Vol. 103, No. 2643, p. 8, Temple Press, London, 14 June 1962
  17. ↑ contemporary timetable images Jersey Airlines International - Booking Offices
  18. ↑ Fly me, I'm Freddie!, p. 75
  19. 1 2 ASN Aircraft accident description Douglas C-47B-20-DK G-ANTB — 0.62 mi (1 km) east of Jersey States Airport (JER)
  20. 1 2 Flight International, 22 April 1965, Air Transport ..., Jersey Accident, p. 629
  21. ↑ Aviation Safety Network > ASN Aviation Safety Database > Operator index > United Kingdom > Jersey Airlines
  22. ↑ ASN Aircraft accident description de Havilland DH 114 Heron 1B G-AMYU — Guernsey Airport (GCI), Channel Islands

Related Research Articles

Silver City Airways

Silver City Airways was an airline, based in the United Kingdom, that operated mainly in Europe, between 1946 and 1962. Unlike many airlines at the time, it was independent of government-owned corporations; its parent company was Zinc Corporation, an Australian company involved mainly in mining and mineral processing. The name "Silver City" originated as a nickname of Broken Hill, Australia – an area famed for silver mines, including some owned by the airline's parent company.

British European Airways Defunct British airline (1946-74)

British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.

Caledonian Airways Scottish private charter airline from 1961 until a merger in 1970

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 Airline based in the United Kingdom (1953-92)

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.

Guernsey Airport Airport on the island of Guernsey

Guernsey Airport is an international airport on the island of Guernsey and the largest airport in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It is located in the Forest, a parish in Guernsey, 2.5 nautical miles southwest of St. Peter Port and features mostly flights to Great Britain and some other European destinations.

AirUK was a wholly privately owned, independent regional British airline formed in 1980 as a result of a merger involving four rival UK-based regional airlines. British and Commonwealth (B&C)-owned British Island Airways (BIA) and Air Anglia were the two dominant merger partners. The merged entity's corporate headquarters were originally located at Redhill, Surrey, the location of the old BIA head office. It subsequently relocated to Crawley, West Sussex. In addition to the main maintenance base at Norwich Airport, there also used to be a second major maintenance base at Blackpool Airport. 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. When Stansted's new Norman Foster-designed terminal opened in 1991, the airline became its first and subsequently main tenant.

British United Airways

British United Airways (BUA) was a private, independent British airline formed as a result of the merger of Airwork Services and Hunting-Clan Air Transport in July 1960, making it the largest wholly private airline based in the United Kingdom at the time. British and Commonwealth Shipping (B&C) was the new airline's main shareholder.

British United Island Airways (BUIA) was formed in November 1968 as part of a reorganisation of the BUA group of companies. It was a regional sister airline of British United Airways (BUA), Britain's largest wholly private, independent airline of the 1960s. It operated a network of regional, short-haul scheduled routes linking a variety of destinations within Europe, including year-round services from both Channel Islands to BUA's Gatwick base.

British Island Airways

British Island Airways (BIA) was the legal successor to British United Island Airways (BUIA). It commenced operations under that name in mid-1970. Ten years later it merged with Air Anglia, Air Wales and Air Westward to form Air UK, at the time the United Kingdom's biggest regional airline and its third-largest scheduled operator. The first British Island Airways had its head office at Congreve House (1970–1972) and Berkeley House (1973–1979), which are respectively located in Station Road and on the high street in Redhill, Surrey.

British Eagle

British Eagle International Airlines was a major British independent airline that operated from 1948 until it went into liquidation in 1968. It operated scheduled and charter services on a domestic, international and transatlantic basis over the years.

British Caledonian (BCal) came into being in November 1970 when the Scottish charter airline Caledonian Airways, at the time Britain's second-largest, wholly privately owned, independent airline, took over British United Airways (BUA), then the largest British independent airline as well as the United Kingdom's leading independent scheduled carrier.

Channel Airways

Channel Airways was a private airline formed in the United Kingdom in 1946 as East Anglian Flying Services.

Cambrian Airways British airline

Cambrian Airways was an airline based in the United Kingdom which ran operations from Cardiff Airport and Liverpool John Lennon Airport between 1935 and 1974. It was incorporated into British Airways when BOAC, BEA, Cambrian and Northeast merged on 1 April 1974.

Jersey Airways Defunct British airline, 1933–1947

Jersey Airways was an airline that operated air services to and from the Channel Islands from 1933 until 1947, when it became part of British European Airways.

British Aviation Services Limited (Britavia) was an early post-World War II airline holding company and air transport operator that could trace its roots back to 1946. Its main activities included trooping, inclusive tour (IT) and worldwide passenger and freight charter services. British Aviation Services' first investment in a British independent airline occurred in 1946, when it acquired a minority interest in Silver City Airways. Silver City Airways operated the world's first cross-Channel air ferry service on 13 July 1948. It subsequently became British Aviation Services' biggest operating division. In 1953, British Aviation Services took over the independent airline Air Kruise. The same year, BAS Group also took control of Aquila Airways, the last commercial flying boat operator in the United Kingdom. The completion of these acquisitions by mid-1954 resulted in a reorganisation of the British Aviation Services group, with British Aviation Services Ltd becoming the group's holding company and Britavia one of its operating subsidiaries. By the late 1950s, BAS Group became Britain's largest independent airline operator. Its numerous operating divisions included Britavia's Hermes Division at Blackbushe Airport and Aquila Airways's Flying Boat Division at Hamble near Southampton. The former concentrated on trooping services and inclusive tours while the latter provided scheduled services to Portugal, the Canary Islands and Italy. In 1962, BAS Group merged with British United Airways (BUA), which by that time had replaced BAS as the UK's largest independent airline operator.

Morton Air Services

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 Defunct British airline, 1969–1979

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.

Gatwick Airport was in Surrey until 1974, when it became part of West Sussex as a result of a county boundary change. The original, pre-World War II airport was built on the site of a manor in the parish of Charlwood. The land was first used as an aerodrome in the 1920s, and in 1933 commercial flights there were approved by the Air Ministry.

Northern & Scottish Airways was a regional airline established in Glasgow in 1934. It was taken over in 1937, eventually becoming part of British European Airways.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.