British Caledonian
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[edit] Rise and fall of the Second Force
[edit] A new chapter in British commercial aviation
British Caledonian (BCal) was formed on St. Andrews Day (November 30) in 1970 when Caledonian Airways acquired British United Airways (BUA) from its previous owner, the British and Commonwealth group. This effectively constituted a "reverse takeover" of the bigger airline by the smaller one.
The deal concerning Caledonian's acquisition of BUA from British and Commonwealth did not include the assets of BUIA, BUA's regional affiliate, which BUA's former parent company continued to own.
BCal itself was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Caledonian Airways (Prestwick) Ltd.. A number of other wholly owned subsidiaries were established as well. These included British Caledonian Aircraft Trading, which was set up to acquire and dispose of aircraft on behalf of the airline. It became one of the most profitable parts of the business. BCal also owned two package tour companies - Blue Sky Holidays and Golden Lion Tours - as well as several hotels in Spain and Sierra Leone. In addition, BCal inherited BUA's minority stakes in Gambia Airways and Sierra Leone Airlines (SLA).
The airline's formation followed the publication of the Edwards Committee report entitled An Inquiry into the Future of British Civil Aviation in 1969. It recommended the creation of a so-called "Second Force", private sector carrier to take on the state-owned Corporations, i.e. British European Airways (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), by providing competing domestic and international scheduled services on trunk routes.
The new airline established its headquarters and operational base at Gatwick Airport and the late Sir Adam Thomson, one of the two co-founders as well as one of the main shareholders of Caledonian Airways, became its chairman and chief executive.
The fleet inherited from both of its predecessors comprised 31 jet aircraft consisting of eleven long-haul aircraft (seven ex-Caledonian Boeing 707-320Cs and four ex-BUA Vickers VC-10-1103s) as well as 20 short-haul planes (twelve BAC 1-11-500s [eight ex-BUA and four ex-Caledonian] and eight BAC 1-11-200s [all ex-BUA]). The merged entity's paid-up share capital was £12m - more than that of any other wholly privately owned, independent British airline at the time - and its combined workforce numbered 4,500. This made BCal the UK's foremost independent airline at the time. (Although Dan-Air and Britannia Airways eventually exceeded BCal's total annual passenger numbers from 1975 onwards, BCal maintained its position as Britain's leading independent international scheduled airline, in terms of both the number of scheduled passengers carried each year as well as in terms of its total yearly scheduled capacity measured in passenger kilometers - the distance covered by its scheduled operation multiplied by the number of scheduled passengers carried within a twelve-month period, throughout its 17-year existence.) The newly created company's output measured in available capacity ton kilometers - a figure arrived at by multiplying the number of [metric] tonnes available for the carriage of revenue load (passengers, cargo and mail) on each flight sector by the sector's distance in kilometers - was greater than that of some of the smaller, contemporary European flag carriers, such as Aer Lingus, SABENA or Swissair.
The institutional investors that had been instrumental in helping the late Sir Adam Thomson and the late John de la Haye in launching Caledonian Airways back in 1961 were also among the sharehoders of the newly constituted airline. They included the AA, GUS, Hogarth Shipping, Lyle Shipping, Investors in Industry (as 3i used to be known then), Kleinwort Benson (now part of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
The merged entity initially traded under the interim name Caledonian//BUA before adopting the British Caledonian name on September 1, 1971. It carried a total of 2.6m passengers during its first year of operation.
During the interim period the VC-10s, five of the eight former BUA 1-11-500s as well as the eight 1-11-200s were operating the merged entities' scheduled services as these aircraft were already configured in a lower density scheduled seating arrangement, with some of the aircraft - notably the long-haul VC-10s - featuring a contemporary standard first and economy, two-class configuration. These aircraft were allocated to the airline's "BUA Division", which was repsonsible for all scheduled passenger operations, pending full integration. All former Caledonian aircraft as well as three former BUA 1-11-500s featured a high density, single class seating arrangement. Some of the 707s had an all-cargo configuration. These aircraft were allocated to the company's "Caledonian Division", which was responsible for all charter and all-cargo (both scheduled and non-scheduled) operations during that period. This meant that at that time roughly 55% of the firm's combined aircraft fleet was allocated to its scheduled passenger division whereas the remaining 45% of the fleet was allocated to the charter and all-cargo division. However, as the charter division's aircraft were configured in a higher density seating configuration than the scheduled division's planes and charter flights generally tended to have higher load factors than scheduled services, two-thirds of all passengers - representing the bulk of the new carrier's passengers - were carried on its charter flights during that time.
Former BUA air hostesses still wearing that airline's blue uniforms were working alongside their tartan-clad, former Caledonian counterparts in the cabins of all passenger flights - scheduled as well as non-scheduled - during the interim period. Eventually, the attractive Caledonian tartan uniforms became BCal's standard uniform for all female cabin crew members.
Following the end of the interim period, all former BUA aircraft were repainted adopting Caledonian's livery featuring a prominent Scottish Lion Rampant on its aircraft's fins.
The "Second Force" inherited BUA's extensive network of scheduled routes serving the British Isles, Continental Europe, Africa and South America. The newly formed airline's future scheduled ambitions received a major boost when the UK Government agreed to transfer BOAC's West African trunk routes to Nigeria and Ghana as well as its North African route to Libya to it. The Government also agreed to transfer an unused BEA route licence to serve Casablanca in Morocco. Furthermore, the Government agreed to license BCal to operate non-stop scheduled services between London and Paris and to begin negotiations with the French authorities to secure reciprocal approval for BCal to be able to commence scheduled operations on what was then the busiest air route in Europe. BCal moreover received Government assurances that it would be designated as the UK's sole flag carrier on all routes transferred to it and that it would be assisted in obtaining traffic rights for additional, selected scheduled routes where it wished to compete with the Corporations, including the lucrative London-New York and London-Los Angeles routes.
Another important concession by the Government designed to improve the competitiveness of the "Second Force" was to permit it to provide a first class cabin on its East African routes. (BUA, from whom BCal inherited these routes, had been prevented from offering a first class on its East African "Skycoach" schedules. To compensate for this loss of competitiveness, the late Sir Freddie Laker, BUA's managing director from 1960 to 1965, had come up with the novel idea of designing a cargo door to be installed on the right-hand side of the forward fuselage of that airline's long-haul VC-10s, where the first class cabin was normally located. This modification permitted the carriage of additional freight instead of first class passengers on the East African routes.)
In addition, BCal became the Government's "chosen instrument of the private sector". This meant that the Government agreed to accord preferential status to BCal's worldwide scheduled ambitions, especially in the award of additional licences to operate scheduled services on major domestic and international trunk routes. The Government hoped that putting BCal's requirements ahead of other UK-based Independent airlines' rival scheduled ambitions would help the new "Second Force" develop into a fully fledged, major international scheduled airline, thereby enabling it to acquire the "critical mass" to challenge the Corporation's near-monopoly among UK-based scheduled airlines.
[edit] A force to be reckoned with
BCal commenced scheduled operations from Gatwick to Lagos and Accra on April 1, 1971. Scheduled services from Gatwick to Tripoli began on July 1, 1971. On each of these routes BCal replaced BOAC as the designated UK flag carrier. On November 1, 1971 BCal inaugurated scheduled flights between London Gatwick and Paris Le Bourget Airport, where it competed with BEA's London Heathrow-Paris Orly Airport service. This was the first time ever that a wholly privately owned, Independent UK airline commenced a fully fledged scheduled service on a major international European trunk route.
On November 1, 1972 BCal extended its East African network to the Seychelles. The same year BCal also introduced a new Edinburgh-Newcastle-Copenhagen regional scheduled service to live up to its claim of being "Scotland's international airline". This service complemented the Glasgow-Newcastle-Amsterdam regional route BCal had inherited from BUA.
During the same year larger capacity, longer range and more fuel-efficient Boeing 707s that had been re-configured featuring a lower density, two-class scheduled configuration began replacing VC-10s on BCal's South American routes, where the 707's greater range enabled the airline to commence non-stop flights between London Gatwick and Rio de Janeiro, as well as on the West African trunk routes to Nigeria and Ghana.
To support its ambitious expansion plans, BCal acquired a number of additional, second-hand Boeing 707s from various sources through its British Caledonian Aircraft Trading subsidiary during the early 1970s. This included a pair of 320C series aircraft procured on a long-term lease from Britannia Airways featuring a two-class, "widebody look" interior. These aircraft were used to inaugurate the airline's transatlantic scheduled routes to New York and L.A. where the established competition was operating widebodied aircraft, such as the Boeing 747 "jumbo jet". It was thought that the aircraft's widebody style interiors would leave passengers under the impression that BCal was operating widebodied aircraft as well when in fact they were operating older generation, narrowbodied planes. During that time BCal also acquired two additional, second-hand BAC 1-11-500s, which were sourced from Court Line and Transbrasil respectively. (At the same time the airline sold the original pair of Boeing 707-399Cs [-99 being Boeing's customer designator for Caledonian] that were delivered to Caledonian Airways direct from the manufacturer's plant in 1967 to PIA. In addition, a VC-10 and a 1-11-200 were sold to the RAE, which was using the aircraft as testbeds.)
BCal inaugurated its two transatlantic "flagship" services from London Gatwick to New York JFK and from Gatwick to Los Angeles International Airport on April 1, 1973. Again, this occasion marked the first time that an independent British airline commenced transatlantic scheduled operations on what are sometimes referred to as two of aviation's "Blue Riband" routes linking the UK and the US. (Although British Eagle had managed to get a licence for a daily London Heathrow - New York JFK scheduled service due to commence in 1965, its inaugural flight was cancelled when the then UK Minister of Transport revoked its licence as a result of BOAC's last minute intervention.)
In 1973 BCal also inaugurated its fourth scheduled mainland domestic route between London Gatwick and Manchester (in addition to the Gatwick-Glasgow, Gatwick-Edinburgh and Gatwick-Belfast routes inherited from BUA). The new service was subcontracted to British Island Airways (BIA), BUIA's successor, which was operating two daily return trips on that route using its Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops.
On March 20, 1974 BCal switched its Gatwick-Paris services to the then brand-new Charles de Gaulle airport near the Northern Paris suburb of Roissy-en-France, thus becoming the first scheduled carrier to operate between London and the new Paris airport.
To further extend the network's reach and its connectivity, BCal agreed to host Dan-Air's new, twice daily Gatwick-Newcastle flights, which commenced in March 1974, in its computerised reservation system (CRS).
June 1974 saw the launch of BCal's non-stop Gatwick-Brussels scheduled route, the third European trunk route on which the airline operated scheduled services in competition with the incumbent flag carriers' established Heathrow-Brussels services. (In addition to Gatwick-Paris, the company already operated daily non-stop Gatwick-Amsterdam scheduled services, the route being one of the European routes inherited from BUA.)
[edit] Plan S
The creation of British Airways (BA) as a result of the 1974 BEA-BOAC merger (one of the other two recommendations contained in the 1969 Edwards Report on the future of British civil aviation) came against the background of the first global oil crisis in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, which led to the quadrupling of the price of a barrel of oil as a consequence of OPEC's decision to boycott the West in retaliation for its support of Israel during that war. This meant that the newly merged Corporation's original revenue and profit projections were far too optimistic. During that time BA began exerting pressure on the Government, at the time its sole owner as well as the regulator for all UK airlines, to curtail the activities of its Independent competitors generally and of the "Second Force" in particular.
The difficult operating environment at the time did not affect BA alone. In fact, the major scheduled airlines were all losing horrendous amounts of money at the time. The sudden spike in the oil price caused a major recession during the second half of 1974 as well as the first half of 1975 with much reduced demand for air travel. This, in turn, led to the collapse of a number of prominent travel companies and their associated airlines - most notably the Court Line group and Horizon Holidays, the latter having provided work for three BCal short-haul aircraft prior to its collapse. There was also massive overcapacity on the North Atlantic.
These circumstances forced BCal to put in place a major programme of retrenchment, known internally as Plan "S" ("S" for "survival") at the time, to avoid finding itself in a Court Line type of situation.
Plan "S" began to be implemented from November 1, 1974 onwards. It resulted in route cut-backs - including the suspension of the transatlantic "flagship" services, the immediate withdrawal and subsequent disposal of the remaining VC-10 long-haul aircraft, the temporary grounding of a number of short-haul aircraft pending disposal as well as several hundred redundancies among the company's staff (800 out of a total workforce of 5,600).
In addition to withdrawing from the prestigious long-haul routes to New York and L.A. after only 18 months, other specific measures the airline took at the time to ensure its survival included dropping all scheduled flights to Belfast, Copenhagen, Gibraltar, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Tunis as well as cutting the number of frequencies on the company's Gatwick-Glasgow and Gatwick-Edinburgh routes from six to four daily round trips. The firm furthermore retired its remaining two VC-10s. One of these aircraft was sold to Air Malawi enabling it to take over the Gatwick-Nairobi-Blantyre route, which BCal had been contracted to operate. Moreover, eight of the 14-strong 1-11-500 fleet were temporarily grounded. Four of these aircraft were subsequently sold. (Dan-Air acquired two and Monarch Airlines one of these aircraft in 1975.) A fifth aircraft was disposed of to Philippine Airlines in 1976. Two of the temporarily grounded aircraft that remained in BCal's fleet were leased out to Air Malta and Austrian Airlines respectively for the duration of the 1975 summer timetable period. Another aircraft was stationed at West Berlin's Tegel Airport during the month of July of that year to fulfill a short-term charter contract to carry Turkish migrant workers to and from Istanbul on behalf of a local tour operator. BCal also decided to increase its 707 freighter fleet from one to four aircraft and to acquire a five-seater Piper PA-23 "Aztec" for serving the rapidly growing executive charter market. These changes to the composition of the BCal fleet left the airline with 25 operational aircraft for the 1975 summer season, comprising eleven Boeing 707-320C long-haul aircraft (including four pure freighters) and 13 BAC 1-11 short-haul planes (six larger series 500 and seven smaller series 200 models) as well as a single Piper "Aztec". In a further move to reduce its operating costs, BCal decided to contract out its scheduled operations between Gatwick and Le Touquet as well as between Gatwick and Rotterdam to BIA. The reason for replacing BCal's 1-11-200 jet aircraft with that airline's Herald turboprops on these routes with the beginning of the 1975 summer timetable period was the high price of jet fuel, which had made BCal's own jet operation on the aforesaid routes uneconomic.
Even during this period of severe retrenchment, BCal continued launching scheduled services to new destinations. Dakar joined the airline's network on November 1, 1974, followed by Kinshasa on April 1, 1975. From 1975 onwards, the BIA-operated BCal service to Manchester was extended to Blackpool and the Isle of Man during the peak summer travel period. Furthermore, BCal agreed to continue holding details of the Gatwick-Belfast service - an important feeder route for its long-haul services, which had been taken over by British Midland Airways (as bmi used to be known then) following BCal's withdrawal from that route, in its CRS.
As a result of the "success" of Plan "S", BCal's fortunes quickly recovered and the airline managed to end its financial year ended September 30, 1975 with a small profit of £250,000 after having lost £5.6m - almost half of its paid-up share capital - the year before.
[edit] Moving the goal posts
The then Secretary of State for Trade Peter Shore, conducted a review of the Government's aviation policy and in 1976 announced a new "spheres of influence" policy that ended "dual designation" for British airlines on all long-haul routes. As a result of this new aviation policy BA and BCal were no longer permitted to run competing scheduled services on the same long-haul routes and the latter was forced to withdraw from the East African routes inherited from BUA as well as the London-New York and London-Los Angeles routes, leading to the revocation of BCal's Gatwick-JFK and Gatwick-L.A. licences. In return, BCal became the sole British flag carrier to the entire South American mainland by taking over the former BA routes to Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. The Government's new "spheres of influence" aviation policy effectively confined BCal's long-haul scheduled operations to two continents only, i.e. Africa and South America. The loss of BCal's East African routes enabled the airline to replace the one-stop scheduled service via Nairobi to Lusaka with non-stop flights. During 1976 BCal's recovery continued leading to the introduction of two new scheduled routes to Algiers and Oran and the reinstatement of scheduled services to Tunis.
[edit] Joining the widebody club
Following an exhaustive, three-week evaluation of the Boeing 747, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 "Tristar" during the summer of 1976, BCal chose the DC-10 as the widebodied aircraft best suited to serve its expanding long-haul route network. The airline placed an order for two long range series 30 aircraft with an option on another two. To ensure an early delivery, the company took over a delivery slot for two aircraft that had originally been booked by China Airlines.
BCal made its widebody debut on February 13, 1977 when the first of the two DC-10s on firm order arrived at the airline's Gatwick base after a non-stop delivery flight from the manufacturer's Long Beach plant in California. This occasion marked the first time ever a widebodied aircraft wore the company's livery.
The aircraft, which was configured in a 265-seat, two-class layout, entered commercial airline service on BCal's busy West African trunk routes to Nigeria and Ghana the following month, replacing the airline's Boeing 707 narrowbodies on six of the seven weekly services on these routes.
The second aircraft, which arrived at Gatwick in early May of that year, was initially configured in a 295-seat, single-class configuration. It entered service later that month on BCal's "Advanced Booking Charter" (ABC) routes to the US and Canada. The aircraft was re-configured in the airline's contemporary, 265-seat, two-class scheduled configuration at the end of the summer period. It began replacing Boeing 707s on two of BCal 's three weekly South Atlantic schedules to Brazil, Argentina and Chile as well as on one of the company's two weekly mid-Atlantic schedules to Venezuela, Colombia and Peru from the beginning of the 1977/'78 winter timetable period.
The introduction of the DC-10 widebodies also resulted in a reduction of BCal's 707 narrowbody fleet from eleven to nine aircraft. BCal had arranged a trade-in for these aircraft with McDonnell Douglas.
The DC-10's superior operating economics - compared with the 707 - enabled BCal to operate the aircraft non-stop from Buenos Aires to Gatwick with a viable payload.
Although the introduction of the DC-10 resulted in a huge increase in BCal's long-haul passenger and cargo capacity, the actual loads exceeded the airline's forecasts and helped it grow its traffic volumes on its scheduled services to West Africa and South America.
BCal was so pleased with the DC-10's performance that it decided to convert both of the options it had taken when placing the original order for two aircraft during 1976 into firm orders for delivery during the spring and autumn respectively of 1978. However, a subsequent strike at the manufacturer's Long Beach plant meant that McDonnell Douglas could not honour the delivery schedule on which it had agreed with BCal. This necessitated the temporary sub-lease of a Boeing 747-100 from British Airways. (BA itself operated the aircraft in question under a long-term lease arranged with Aer Lingus.) The aircraft, which wore a slightly modified BCal livery, was operating the Gatwick-Houston schedule during the 1978/'79 winter timetable period to cover for the late delivery of the airline's third DC-10. BCal's third and fourth DC-10 were eventually delivered during the spring and autumn of 1979 operating the airline's Houston and mid-Atlantic routes. These aircraft featured a 241-seat first-executive-economy, three-class configuration, which was a novelty at the time. This new three-class arrangement became BCal's standard long-haul configuration. The delivery of the third and fourth DC-10 resulted in the disposal of two further 707s reducing the long-haul, narrowbodied fleet to seven aircraft.
The same year itself BCal ordered a further four DC-10s, three of which were delivered during 1980. The final aircraft was delivered during the first quarter of 1981 giving BCal a fleet of eight DC-10-30 long-haul, widebodied aircraft. These aircraft formed the airline's core long-haul fleet until its takeover by BA in December 1987. (Interestingly, six of the same aircraft as well as two subsequently acquired, second-hand examples continued to form BA's core long-haul fleet at Gatwick until their retirement in 1999.) BCal's additional DC-10s were used to expand the airline's schedule to Nigeria and Ghana to ten weekly round-trips as well as to replace most of the remaining 707s on the airline's other long-haul routes. They were also used to launch a new Gatwick-Dubai-Hong Kong schedule during the summer of 1980 as well as to re-establish BCal's presence as a scheduled carrier on the Gatwick-L.A. route in 1982 following the withdrawal of the Laker Airways "Skytrain" operation on that route in the aftermath of that airline's spectacular bankruptcy.
Following the delivery of the last DC-10 series 30 aircraft BCal had ordered directly from the manufacturer, the airline retired its last remaining passenger-configured 707 in 1982.
1982 was also the year BCal acquired its first and only two DC-10 series 10 aircraft from the estate of the defunct Laker Airways. These aircraft were operated by British Caledonian Charter, a dedicated charter subsidiary set up to fulfill some of the charter contracts BCal had agreed to take over in the wake of Laker Airways' collapse.
During 1985 BCal acquired a further two, second-hand DC-10-30s, which were sourced from Air Zaire and Ariana Afghan Airlines respectively. They were the final examples of this aircraft type to join BCal's fleet. Both of the aircraft replaced two, originally brand-new Airbus A-310 widebodies BCal had primarily operated on its medium-haul routes to North Africa as well as on some of its newly launched Middle Eastern services for a brief period during the mid-1980s. They were also used to operate the Saudi Arabian schedules, which BCal had obtained from BA in return for its South American services.
The first Boeing 747 to enter commercial airline service with BCal on a long-term basis was a series 230B aircraft acquired from defunct US carrier and erstwhile transatlantic competitor Braniff Airways. The aircraft, which originally belonged to Lufthansa when new, entered service on the airline's Nigerian route in 1982 replacing its DC-10s. A second, second-hand 747-200B was acquired from Royal Jordanian Airlines in 1985. This was the first and only 747 to join BCal's fleet in a mixed passenger-cum-freight "Combi" configuration. It was used to re-establish a scheduled BCal operation between London Gatwick and New York JFK, three years after the original Laker Airways "Skytrain" operation on that route had ceased. BCal acquired an additional three second-hand 747-200s from various sources during the second half of the 1980s, which it used to replace the DC-10s on its Gatwick-Dubai-Hong Kong schedule as well as to launch a new Far Eastern schedule to Tokyo during the summer of 1987, the last year of the airline's existence.
[edit] A new transatlantic air services agreement
In July 1976 Edmund Dell, the then Secretary of State for Transport, renounced the original Bermuda air services agreement of 1946 and initiated bilateral negotiations with his US counterparts on a new air services agreement, which resulted in the Bermuda II treaty of 1977.
This presented BCal with new transatlantic opportunities to begin scheduled services to additional gateway cities in the US.
[edit] The Gatwick Year
Renewed expansion followed.
[edit] Reaching new financial heights
[edit] Linking Heathrow and Gatwick by air
[edit] Supersonic ambitions
[edit] Further diversification and expansion
[edit] A commuter division
British Caledonian created two subsidiary companies to expand into different market segments without diluting its core Scheduled International Airline brand. These were a charter subsidiary and a commuter subsidiary.
[edit] A helicopter subsidiary
[edit] An engine overhaul plant
[edit] A charter arm
The charter subsidiary was successful, and because it (almost uniquely at the time for a UK charter airline) operated widebody DC-10s, allowed the airline to economically open the Caribbean and Florida holiday markets to UK package holiday customers.
[edit] A flight training academy
[edit] Launching a new widebodied aircraft
In 1979 BCal became the European launch customer for the Airbus A310.
[edit] Expanding eastwards
[edit] Further expansion into Europe
[edit] Launching a new narrowbodied plane
In 1983 BCal became the first airline in the world to order the Airbus A320.
[edit] Changing the game plan
[edit] A major crisis
In 1986-87, the company entered a severe financial crisis with much of its cash locked in the African states (such as Nigeria) that has become the airline's major market.
[edit] Rapidly deteriorating financial performance
[edit] Diminishing future prospects
[edit] Three-way battle to gain control of crisis-stricken airline
[edit] British Airways' agreed takeover bid
[edit] Air Europe's unsolicited counter bid
[edit] A new twist
Negotiations took place with SAS to form an alliance.
[edit] British Airways' revised bid and bullying tactics carry the day
British Airways took advantage of the situation to expand by buying the airline (legally merging the two airlines and the British Airways charter operation British Airtours which was based at Gatwick).
[edit] End of a tale
The tight control of Heathrow landing slots and government restrictions on the charter operation had hampered growth and a full schedule operation at Gatwick was seen as a solution to all these issues. British Caledonian continued to operate throughout the period, surviving financially by selling and leasing back many of their assets.
British Caledonian charter operation was not bought by BA; it continued to operate as a separate organisation, as did the flight training school also based at Gatwick Airport. The management of BA had decided at that time to pull out of the charter market which was highly competitive and not sustainable given BA's staff costs.
The A320s on order were delivered to British Airways after the merger took effect in April 1988. Acquisition by British Airways caused some amusement in the aviation industry as BA had resolutely avoided buying Airbus aircraft (often creating rumours of significant sweeteners from Boeing to keep BA as a Boeing jet only company.)
British Airways then absorbed the international scheduled part of BCal into BA.
[edit] Reasons for the failure of the Second Force concept and for British Caledonian's demise
Challenges to the acquisition of routes by other British airlines diluted the advantages of the merger when the government of the day ruled that many of the routes (particularly the feeder European routes into Gatwick) had to be handed over to competitors.
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[edit] Incidents and accidents
[edit] Coding data
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