Viewing 39 posts - 1 through 39 (of 39 total)
  • Old airlines….
  • Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    A lot of the old airlines got swallowed up by the giants, e.g, British Caledonian by BA. Britannia by Thompson (Thomas Cook etc).

    Does anyone remember Court line, they had very brightly coloured areoplanes, usually one elevens?

    Or Aviogenex, old tupolev Tu 154 or 134s?

    Oh and almost forgot Dan air eeekkkk

    couldashouldawoulda
    Free Member

    I guess you’re referring to British Airways who “disappeared” (sort of) today. Became ICA. Sad.

    But slightly better than Ireland’s nation carrier (Aer Lingus) who decided to copy RyanAir in their business model and dont even do that well.

    carbon337
    Free Member

    Pan-am

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    Pieface
    Full Member

    BOAC

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    Imperial Airways use to operate from Croydon Airport, …. they were well classy.

    Mr_Mojo
    Free Member

    Dan-Air. Became part of BA.

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    I say classy, but only for 1st class passengers obviously ……

    2sd class weren’t so posh…..

    Still, at least they had a ripping panel to escape out of the roof in an emergency…….the Titanic didn’t even have lifeboats for their 2sd class passengers.

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    I’ve flown BOAC, BEA and BMA way back when.

    loddrik
    Free Member

    When I flew to Vancouver in 1982 it was with Wardair. No longer around.

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    and BMA

    British Midland Airways ?

    I think you can still fly with them :

    http://www.mapsofworld.com/referrals/airlines/international-airlines/british-midlands-airlines.html

    luked2
    Free Member

    Suckling Airways used to operate from Cambridge airport to Schiphol.

    You’d drive over to the airport, and park around the back (for free, for as long as you wanted). Checkin time was fifteen minutes before departure, and you’d just show them your ticket and passport, and take a seat, and a cup of coffee from the percolator.

    Then a door would open at the back of the room. Everyone would walk out through the door, and onto the airplane. Which would then just fly off.

    Now renamed, and part of Stagecoach. No longer flies from Cambridge 🙁

    bruneep
    Full Member

    Laker airline

    Hohum
    Free Member

    carbon337 – Member
    Pan-am

    I always wonder what killed them off, Lockerbie perhaps?

    duntmatter
    Free Member

    decided to copy RyanAir in their business model and dont even do that well.

    Pretty much every airline, to some degree. BA charging for picking a seat, charter airlines reducing baggage allowance to increase revenue, general shift to online booking with charges for extras. Ryanair isn’t hated by the industry because O’Really is unpleasant. They’re hated because the industry is envious.


    He is unpleasant, though.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    TransAm.
    Blade Runner had floating adverts for PanAm, and the Orion space shuttle in 2001:A Space Odyssy was a PanAm craft. Rather dates them now, sadly.
    <edit> Just remembered quite some years ago there used to be a Douglas DC-3 Dakota regularly flew over North Wilts, and I believe it was operated by DanAir, and more recently Air Atlantique were flying DC-3’s, until the EU enforced some stupid access rule which meant they could no longer carry passengers. Flew on one once; wonderful experience, could watch the wings gently flap up and down. Fantastic.

    jools182
    Free Member

    first flight I ever had was on Dan Air to Italy 😯

    Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    I remember seeing this a lot as a kid.

    Rio
    Full Member

    Even the giants get assimilated. First flight I did was with TWA, now I think absorbed into American Airlines. My main memory apart from the free booze was tucking in to my hot meal to find it still frozen in the middle.

    Flew a couple of years ago with North West Airlines in a particularly shonky plane, now absorbed into Delta. I also have a load of Continental frequent flier miles that will probably become useless now that they’ve been absorbed by United Airlines.

    carbon337
    Free Member

    there was a Gill Air that used to fly from Newcastle I seem to remember. Think it started off as a one man band affair and went bust.

    Yep here it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gill_Airways

    jools182
    Free Member

    we were on one of these

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    I used to prefer Pan-Am coffee to TWA tea.

    (I’ve been waiting 20 years for an opportunity to do that one again)

    Admiralable
    Free Member
    coolhandluke
    Free Member

    I remember flying on an Aviogenex plane to Yugoslavia in the mid 80’s for a holiday near Dubrovnik!

    We had to wait in Manchester Airport for 4 hours whilst they sorted the engine fault out 🙁
    not good for my first ever flight…

    cheshirecat
    Free Member

    Still have my BOAC Junior Jet Club book and my British Caledonian Lion Club badge.

    BOAC Super VC-10 – fantastic planes – quiet, smooth, British. Pity they couldn’t get far without refuelling, and were replaced with Boeing 707s.

    Paul

    aP
    Free Member

    My dad used to use British United to get to the continent before roro’s were brought out.

    el_diablo
    Free Member

    I flew to Jersey with AirUK a couple of times in the early ’90s.

    With propellers too!

    Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    Blimey, Dan Air lost a few!

    Wikipedia says…

    Fatal accidentsThroughout Dan-Air’s 39 years, the airline suffered seven accidents involving the loss of aircraft and lives, three of which killed fare-paying passengers. These accidents were :

    G-AMUV: an Avro York crashed on the 25 May 1958 while making a forced landing at Gurgaon, Haryana, India, after an engine had caught fire from Karachi to Delhi. The radio operator was the sole survivor among the aircraft’s five occupants, all of whom were crew members. There were no passengers as this was an all-cargo flight.

    G-ATFZ: a Piper PA-23 Apache 160 operating a positioning/crew flight from Gatwick via Lasham to Bristol below cloud in poor weather crashed on the 1 September 1966 at Loxhill, Hascombe, near Godalming, Surrey, England. The aircraft was destroyed and both pilots killed when it hit trees on the top of a hill near Godalming.

    G-APDN: a de Havilland Comet series 4 operating a charter flight from Manchester to Barcelona crashed on the 3 July 1970 into a mountain near Arbucies in Catalonia in northern Spain. The aircraft was destroyed and 105 passengers and seven crew died. This was the airline’s first fatal accident killing fare-paying passengers.

    G-BEBP: a Boeing 707-321C freighter on a non-scheduled international cargo flight crashed on the 14 May 1977 near Lusaka Airport at the end of a service from Heathrow operated on behalf of IAS Cargo Airlines, which itself had been contracted by Zambia Airways. The right-hand horizontal stabiliser — including the elevator assembly — detached during the approach as a result of metal fatigue, causing loss of pitch control. Other factors included the rear spar structure’s inadequate fail-safe design, the safety regulator’s design assessment and certification procedure as well as the inspection procedure adopted by the aircraft’s operator. The accident killed all six occupants. It sparked a debate on maintenance requirements as well as service life limitations of “geriatric” jets.

    Flight 0034: a Hawker Siddeley 748 series 1 (registration G-BEKF) operating an oil industry support flight crashed on the 31 July 1979 at Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The aircraft failed to become airborne and crashed into the sea. The accident was due to the elevator gust-lock having become re-engaged, preventing the aircraft from rotating into a flying attitude. The aircraft was destroyed and 17 persons died of drowning.

    Flight 1008: a Boeing 727-46 (registration G-BDAN) crashed on the 25 April 1980 while preparing to land at Los Rodeos (now Tenerife North Airport), Canary Islands, at the end of a charter flight from Manchester. The aircraft flew into high terrain when it turned the wrong way in a holding pattern. The aircraft was destroyed and all 146 occupants perished. This accident also marked the worst air disaster involving a British-registered aircraft in terms of loss of life

    Flight 240: a Hawker Siddeley 748 series 2 (registration G-ASPL) crashed on a regular postal flight from Gatwick to East Midlands Airport on 26 June 1981 near its final destination at Nailstone in Leicestershire. The plane’s right rear door had sprung open in mid-air. It subsequently detached, hit the horizontal tailplane and became stuck on the leading edge. This resulted in a loss of control causing the aircraft to enter a steep dive, during which its wings and tailplane failed as a result of overstressing. Both pilots as well as the postal assistant on board of this flight lost their lives.

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    Blimey that is a bad record.

    Harry I can see ‘Shutlingsloe’ (the highest point in Cheshire) from that picture ^^^

    I remember flying with Manx airlines in the early 1990’s. They had ‘staff member of the month’ on a card in the seat pocket. That month, it was Mrs. Watkins (made up name) the cleaner, who used to love walking across the runway and apron to get to the new ATP (advanced turbo prop) very early in the morning, when all the birds were singing the dawn chorus and the mist was rolling off the sea…..the story goes on and on, then showed a picture of Mrs. Watkins standing next to above aircraft with bucket and cleaning products, proudly holding them aloft. This is true. My friends and I laughed nearly the whole journey.

    Edric64
    Free Member

    r
    Pan-am

    I always wonder what killed them off, Lockerbie perhaps?

    Not really their fault that some crazed loon blew the plane up though

    KonaTC
    Full Member

    There was a Welsh airline based in Cardiff, Cambrian Air Services it started operations in 1935 then in 1976 got swallowed up by British Airways

    bartat
    Free Member

    The one I don’t miss is Sabena, crap Belgian airline with shonky planes, always late so you missed the connection in Brussels, never seemed to care.

    skiboy
    Free Member

    God i had forgot Dan Air !!!

    i know i flew on one but i can’t remember when or where !!, i do remember we used to say Dan-dare disaster airlines..when we used to see one..jesus!!!

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    crazed loon blew the plane up

    Yes dear, that’s much easier to deal with isn’t it.

    Nick
    Full Member

    I flew to Canada on a Laker in 1974.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    I work in an engine overhaul shop, which was owned at one point by British caledonian. Before my time mind, but the guys who worked there then used to be able to fly anywhere in the world for a tenner!.

    The voucher you were issued with was supposed to be for a return from Glasgow to Heathrow, but in reality, it was a voucher with no destination details on it, so the desk clerk at the airport asked what your final destination was – tell her anywhere in the world, and she’d stamp it up!.

    No wonder they aint around anymore. We’re owned by a certain Huge American engine manufacturer now, not even as much as a turkey at xmas now 😉

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    richmars
    Full Member

    Suckling Airways used to operate from Cambridge airport to Schiphol.

    Yes, I flew Sucking to Schipol a few years ago. Great service, started the take off roll bang on departure time.
    Bit of a shock to see the air hostess (didn’t do much due to lack of space) was the same lady who was on check in!

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    I remember the centre seats of the old Dan air Boing 727s used to face backwards.

    I also remember the British Caledonian stewardess uniforms were all tartan. Those are awful ^^^^

    easygroove
    Free Member

    ………..ansett……aussie airline…gawn

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