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British Island Airways (BIA) was the legal successor to 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 UK's biggest regional airline and its third-largest scheduled operator. British Island Airways was a regional airline operating routes from its base at Gatwick to a variety of locations within the British Isles. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Air Anglia was a regional British airline formed in 1970, based at Norwich Airport. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Regional Airlines redirects here. ...

In 1982 British Island Airways was reconstituted by splitting off the charter operation Air UK had inherited from BIA at the time of its creation into a separate company. Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...

The reconstituted BIA ceased operations in 1990. This article is about the year. ...

History

Origin

British Island Airways (BIA) was the new name British United Island Airways (BUIA), BUA's regional affiliate, adopted in July 1970. At that time the airline adopted a new livery as well. British United Airways (BUA) was the largest independent UK based airline during the 1960s. ... Rather unusually, these Angels wear white hart (deer) badges, with the personal livery of King Richard II of England, who commissioned this, the Wilton diptych, about 1400 A livery is a uniform or other sign worn in a non-military context on a person or object (such as an airplane...

When in late November of that year Caledonian Airways acquired British United Airways from British and Commonwealth, the owner of both BUA and BUIA at the time, the latter's assets were not included in that deal. As a result, BUA's former parent company continued to own BIA. Caledonian Airways was a Scottish international airline formed in 1961, initially using Douglas DC-7s. ... This article is about the business definition. ... A holding company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors. ...

Commercial Activities and Developments

BIA's corporate headquarters was located at Redhill, Surrey, Southeast England. The airline's main engineering base was at Blackpool, Lancashire, Northwest England, while its main operational base was at London Gatwick. Other airports that used to receive BIA's regular scheduled services initially included Belfast, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Dublin, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Manchester, Newcastle, Paris Orly and Southampton. Most of BIA's scheduled routes served the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, mainly on a seasonal basis. The exceptions were year-round operations linking Gatwick with Guernsey, Southampton with both Channel Islands as well as Blackpool with the Isle of Man and Belfast. BIA's scheduled route network was considerably enlarged in 1979 when it assumed the entire scheduled operation of British Air Ferries (BAF) from that airline's Southend base. Redhill can refer to several places: Redhill, Somerset, England Redhill, Surrey, England Redhill, Nottinghamshire, England Redhill, Singapore, Singapore Redhill High School, South Africa This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article is about the English county. ... South East England is one of the nine official regions of England. ... This article is about the town in England. ... Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... North West England is one of the regions of England. ... Gatwick Airport (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK) is Londons second largest airport and the second busiest airport in the United Kingdom after Heathrow. ... BFS redirects here. ... , Bournemouth ( ) is a large town and tourist resort, situated on the south coast of England. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Edinburgh (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Exeter (disambiguation). ... Glasgow Airport redirects here. ... Manchester Airport (IATA: MAN, ICAO: EGCC) is an airport in Manchester, England. ... , Newcastle upon Tyne (usually shortened to Newcastle) is a large city in Tyne and Wear, England. ... Diagram of Orly airport Orly Airport (IATA: ORY, ICAO: LFPO) is an airport located in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris, France ( ). It has flights to cities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean. ... For other uses, see Southampton (disambiguation). ... This article is about the British dependencies. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... For the airport in Southend, Saskatchewan, Canada, see Southend Airport (Saskatchewan). ...

All passenger services were operated with a fleet of 50-seat Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops. Some of these were convertible and could be used to operate all-cargo services as well. BIA inherited most of these aircraft at the time of its inception from BUIA. It subsequently acquired additional second-hand examples from various other sources. The Handley Page Herald was a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft. ... A Turboprop or turboshaft engine is a type of gas turbine. ...

In addition to its Herald turboprop fleet, BIA also inherited a small number of Douglas DC-3 "Dakota" piston-engined airliners from BUIA. These exclusively operated freight services until their retirement in May 1974.[1] Until then, the DC-3 freighters (together with the convertible Heralds) were kept busy carrying mail and cargo, including fresh flowers from the Channel Islands to the UK mainland as well as overnight newspaper deliveries from Gatwick under contract to the MOD to supply the UK's armed forces in Germany. The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing, propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. ... For the American composer, see Walter Piston. ... An airliner of Air Jamaica, the Airbus A340 An airliner is a type of aircraft initially designed for the transportation of paying passengers. ... The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. ...

Following the DC-3's retirement, BIA standardised its fleet on twelve Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops. The airline augmented its core fleet during the busy summer holiday period when it leased in additional Heralds from other operators, such as British Midland, on a wet lease basis. British Midland Airways Limited or BMI, styled as bmi, (the companys trademark, formerly operated as British Midland) is a scheduled airline based in Donington Hall, close to East Midlands Airport, United Kingdom. ... A wet lease is any leasing arrangement whereby a company agrees to provide an aircraft and at least one pilot to another company. ...

To justify the introduction of larger, more modern jet aircraft types into its fleet as well as to substantially improve its financial performance, BIA needed access to higher volume, higher profile year-round scheduled routes that had the potential to attract a significant number of business travellers. Jet aircraft are aircrafts with jet engines. ... Business travel, or travel management as it is often referred to, is on the rise especially with foreign business markets opening up. ...

In 1977, BIA applied to the CAA to serve Copenhagen, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Milan Linate and Zürich from Gatwick on a regular, year-round scheduled basis.^[1] (At that time British Airways, British Caledonian and Dan-Air applied to serve these and other destinations from Gatwick on a regular scheduled basis as well.) In support of its application, BIA had proposed to begin operating these services with three 65-seater Fokker F-28 1000 series "Fellowship" jet aircraft, which it was planning to acquire second-hand from Germanair, rather than the larger BAC One-Eleven 500s its rivals had planned to use on their services. These had almost twice the seating capacity of the Fokker jets.^[1] Using smaller aircraft would have enabled BIA to offer more frequent flights, thereby offering a more attractive product for the business travel market.^[2] BIA reckoned that this would improve its chances of being awarded these licences.^[2] Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... For other uses, see Copenhagen (disambiguation). ... Düsseldorf (IPA: ) is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. ... For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Geneva (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hamburg (disambiguation). ... Linate Airport (IATA: LIN, ICAO: LIML) is the city airport of Milan, Italy. ... For other uses of Zurich, see Zurich (disambiguation). ... For the 1930s airline of similar name, see British Airways Ltd. ... Livery of British Caledonian on an Airbus A310-200 circa 1984 British Caledonian Boeing 707 at Gatwick Airport June 1975. ... Dan-Air (Dan Air Services Limited) is a defunct airline based in the United Kingdom. ... The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a short range jet airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. ... The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC 1-11, the BAC-111 or the BAC-1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s. ... Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. ...

In the event, the CAA decided to reject both BIA's and Dan-Air's applications while approving British Airways' and British Caledonian's applications. It argued that BIA and Dan-Air, unlike British Airways and British Caledonian, lacked the necessary expertise to take on the established scheduled airlines on major international trunk routes.^[2]

BAC 1-11 at Basle Airport, June 1985

The agreement with British Air Ferries to take over the operation of that airline's scheduled services from BAF's Southend base resulted in BIA leasing the seven Heralds BAF had used to operate these services. The addition of the ex-BAF aircraft expanded BIA's operational Herald fleet to 19 aircraft from 1979 onwards. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 525 pixelsFull resolution (1023 × 671 pixels, file size: 178 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 525 pixelsFull resolution (1023 × 671 pixels, file size: 178 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... The BAC 1-11, or One-Eleven, was a short-range jet airliner designed by Hunting Aircraft and produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) after Hunting was merged with several other British aviation firms in 1960. ...

1979 also saw the adoption of BIA's second and final new livery as well as the acquisition of a dedicated charter fleet comprising four ex-Gulfair BAC One-Eleven 400s, the first jet aircraft in BIA's history. Gulf Air (Arabic: ) is the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain. ...

In addition to operating regional, short-haul scheduled services on its own account, BIA was also contracted by other airlines to operate scheduled services on their behalf.

British Caledonian contracted BIA to operate its Gatwick-Manchester service between 1973 and 1976 (the aircraft operating this service continued on to Blackpool and the Isle of Man during the peak summer holiday season from 1975 onwards operating as BIA flights with UK flight designators) as well as the Gatwick-Le Touquet air portion of that airline's London-Paris Silver Arrow/Fleche d'Argent rail-air service and the Gatwick-Rotterdam route between 1975 and 1979. (In 1979 British Caledonian granted BIA permission to prefix all flights it operated from Gatwick to Le Touquet and Rotterdam under contract to that airline with its own two-letter UK airline designator [in addition to British Caledonian's BR designator].) For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, commonly referred to as Le Touquet, is a coastal town and commune of the Pas-de-Calais département, in northern France. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... Nickname: Motto: Sterker door strijd (Stronger through Struggle) Location of Rotterdam Coordinates: , Country Province Government  - Mayor Ivo Opstelten  - Aldermen Jeannette Baljeu Hamit Karakus Orhan Kaya Lucas Bolsius Jantine Kriens Dominic Schrijer Roelf de Boer Leonard Geluk Area [1]  - Total 319 km² (123. ...

SABENA contracted BIA to operate its Heathrow-Antwerp route. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Heathrow redirects here. ... For other uses, see Antwerp (disambiguation). ...

Occasionally, BIA also operated Dan-Air's scheduled service between Gatwick and Berne, which involved special crew training and permits due to the hazardous alpine terrain surrounding the Swiss federal capital. For other uses, see Berne (disambiguation). ...

BIA hoped that the merger with Air Anglia as well as Air Wales and Air Westward to form Air UK in January 1980 would help it transform its financial performance by counterbalancing BIA's predominantly seasonal scheduled operations across the Western half of the British Isles with Air Anglia's year-round scheduled services linking important oil and gas industry centres covering the Eastern half of Britain, as well as by spreading fixed costs over a greater level of activity as a result of the new airline combine's greater economies of scale. Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... This article explains the archipelago in north-western Europe. ... Fixed costs are un-expired assets or expenses whose total does not change in proportion to the activity of a business, within the relevant time period or scale of production. ... The increase in output from Q to Q2 causes a decrease in the average cost of each unit from C to C1. ...

Reconstitution

Peter Villa, then the Air UK managing director (as well as the original BIA's MD) decided in 1982 to reconstitute BIA as a charter airline. The "new BIA" commenced operations with the four One Eleven 400s the original BIA had acquired from Gulfair in 1979 to establish a charter operation. These aircraft, which sported the same livery as the original BIA's second and final livery, were subsequently supplemented with additional, second-hand 500 series One-Elevens as well as a number of brand-new MD-80s, which entered service during the second half of the 1980s. Managing director is the term used for the chief executive of many limited companies in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and some other English speaking countries. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... A charter airline is one that operates charter flights, that is flights that take place outside normal schedules, by a hiring arrangement with a particular customer. ... The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 (initially known as the Douglas DC-9) is a family of twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliners, first manufactured in 1965 and in subsequent modified forms as the MD-80, MD-90 and Boeing 717. ...

In addition to supplying various package tour operators with whole-plane charter seats, the reconstituted airline was also contracted by other airlines to provide the aircraft with which to operate part of their multi-leg scheduled services, including Air Florida during the early 1980s and Virgin Atlantic during the mid-'80s. During those periods BIA One-Eleven 400s were operating the Gatwick-Amsterdam portion of the former's Miami-London (Gatwick)-Amsterdam route as well as a Gatwick-Maastricht feeder operation for the latter's transatlantic long-haul services.[2] A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. ... Air Florida B737-222 N62AF, which was the one that crashed. ... Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. ... For other uses, see Amsterdam (disambiguation). ... This article is about the city in Florida. ... Coordinates: , Country Province Area (2006)  - Municipality 60. ...

During late 1988 and early 1989 intense negotiations exploring BIA's sale to the International Leisure Group (ILG) were held over several weeks. At that time ILG sought to take control of BIA because of the airline's slots at an increasingly congested Gatwick as well as the fact that it was a major supplier of ILG's charter capacity. BIA's Gatwick slots were required to enable fellow Gatwick-based Air Europe, ILG's rapidly expanding airline subsidiary, to build a major scheduled presence at that airport. Furthermore, ILG's ownership of BIA would have given the ILG-owned package tour operators, notably Intasun, a greater degree of control over their charter airline seat inventory. In addition, BIA's scheduled route licences to serve Sicily and other niche market destinations in Southern Italy from Gatwick could have potentially aided Air Europe's efforts to further expand the reach of its scheduled route network. However, both parties were unable to reach a firm deal that would have resulted in ILG's acquisition of BIA.^[3] Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Certain airports have capacity limitations and allocation landing slots to various carriers. ... Air Europe was a wholly privately owned, Independent British airline, established in 1978 under the working title Inter European Airways. ... A subsidiary, in business, is an entity that is controlled by another entity. ... A tour operator typically combines components to create a holiday. ... Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ...

Ultimately, BIA's inability to become part of a bigger, financially stronger organisation, the deep recession in the UK during the early 1990s, as well as the escalating jet fuel price and the collapse of the package tour market in the run-up to the first Gulf War during the summer of 1990 were the main factors that forced the reconstituted BIA to cease all operations later that year itself. In macroeconomics, a recession is generally associated with a decline in a countrys real gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth. ... Jet fuel is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in jet-engined aircraft. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...

Incidents and accidents

There were two recorded non-fatal incidents involving aircraft operated by the original BIA during its ten year existence from 1970 until 1980.

The first of these incidents occurred on 20 December 1974 involving one of the airline's Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops (registration: G-BBXJ) in a landing accident at Jersey Airport. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair but there were no injuries among the 54 occupants.[3] is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ...

The second incident occurred on 20 July 1975. It involved another of the company's Handley Page Dart Heralds (registration: G-APWF) in a runway accident while departing London Gatwick on a scheduled flight to Guernsey. According to eye-witness reports, the aircraft lifted off from Gatwick's runway 26 after a ground run of about 760 m and appeared to be airborne for a further 125 m with its landing gear retracting before the rear underside of the fuselage settled back on to the runway. None of the 45 occupants, including the 41 passengers who were safely evacuated via the aircraft's crew entrance door by the two cabin crew members on the instructions of the flight's commander, were hurt in that accident. The subsequent investigation concluded that this accident had been caused by the landing gear being retracted before the aircraft had been properly established in its initial climb. Other contributory factors included a mistaken wing flap configuration and the resulting inadequate airspeed at rotation. The aircraft itself sustained substantial damage and required extensive repairs in order to be restored to an airworthy condition.^[4] is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...

In addition to the two aforementioned incidents, in the late 1970s BIA's maintenance engineers had discovered fatigue cracks in the fuselages of some of the firm's Heralds during routine inspections of the aircraft. This required the affected aircraft to be taken out of service to repair the cracks.

Code data

• IATA Code: UK (original BIA), KD (reconstituted BIA)
• Callsign: Britisland

“IATA” redirects here. ...

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Fokker pushes "min-Atlas" for European carriers, Flight International, 23 April 1977, p. 1095
2. ^ ^{a b c} CAA gives routes decisions, Flight International, 5 November 1977, p. 1342
3. ^ It was nice to fly with friends! The story of Air Europe., Simons, G.A., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1999, pp. 131/2
4. ^ Handley Page Herald Series 201 (G-APWF) - Report on the accident at London (Gatwick) Airport, Runway 26 on 20 July 1975, Department of Trade Accidents Investigation Branch (AIB), Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1977, pp. 1, 3, 14

References

• Flight International. Reed Business Information. ISSN 0015-3710.  (World Airline Directory, 1971-1980 and 1982-1990)

• Thomson, Adam (1999). High Risk: The Politics of the Air. Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 0-2839-9599-8. 

• Simons, Graham M. (1999). It was nice to fly with friends! The story of Air Europe. GMS Enterprises. ISBN 1-8703-8469-5. 

• Department of Trade Accidents Investigation Branch (AIB) - Handley Page Herald Series 201 (G-APWF) - Report on the accident at London (Gatwick) Airport, Runway 26 on 20 July 1975, 1977. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 

External links

• BIA - British Island Airways In Memoriam

• British Island Airways DC-3

• contemporary timetable images

• Aviation Photos: British Island Airways

• Aviation Photography: British Island Airways

• Accident Report G-APWF

• Accident Report G-BBXJ