BR BCC Hubs London Gatwick Airport Ceased operations 1988 Hub Gatwick Airport | BCC Caledonian Founded 1970 | |
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Fleet size 26 jet aircraft as of 21 December 1987 Destinations 40+ as of 21 December 1987(British Isles, Continental Europe, West Africa, Southern Africa, Middle East, Far East, North America South Africa) | ||
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British Caledonian (BCal) was a private, British independent airline, operating out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlines and was described as the "Second Force" in the 1969 Edwards report. It was formed by the UK's second-largest, independent charter airline Caledonian Airways taking over British United Airways (BUA), then the largest British independent airline and the United Kingdom's leading independent scheduled carrier.
Contents
- British caledonian caledonian girls 1983 uk advert
- British caledonian tribute video
- The 1970s
- The 1980s
- Fleet details
- Incidents and accidents
- References
The BUA takeover enabled Caledonian to realise its long-held ambition to transform itself into a scheduled airline. The merged entity eventually became the UK's foremost independent, international scheduled airline.
A series of major financial setbacks during the mid-1980s combined with the airline's inability to grow sufficiently to reach a viable size put the airline at serious risk of collapse. BCal began looking for a merger partner to improve its competitive position. In December 1987, British Airways (BA) gained control of the airline. The Caledonian name and livery was then used to rebrand BA's Gatwick-based subsidiary British Airtours as Caledonian Airways.
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The 1970s
The Edwards Committee was formed in 1967 to look at the future of British aviation. Its report (British Air Transport in the Seventies) published in May 1969 made a number of recommendations. One of them was that a "second force" airline should be formed from Britain's independent (not government-controlled) operators to expand the UK's airline capacity on short- and long-haul routes. This private airline would get preference to be the second licensed British operator on a given route. In exchange for routes from the state corporations the corporations were expected to gain presence on the second force's board. Two British independents were specifically mentioned - Caledonian and BUA. At the government's instigation Caledonian - a 10-year-old profitable charter operator - took over the older but financially troubled British United Airways. The resulting company was initially known as "Caledonian/BUA" before becoming "British Caledonian Airways".
During the 1970s, as the third major airline in the UK, British Caledonian took the role counterbalancing the near-monopoly of the corporations, which provided 90% of all UK scheduled air transport capacity at the beginning of the decade. This entailed expanding the inherited scheduled network to provide effective competition to established rivals on a number of key routes, as well as augmenting the acquired fleet with the latest generation narrow-, widebody airliners to maintain a competitive edge.
The rapid expansion of British Caledonian suffered a temporary setback during the 1973-75 recession which followed in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. This undermined the airline's financial stability during its formative years and threatened its survival at that stage.
Following economic revival during that decade's second half, it regained its financial stability, enabling it to expand again and to become profitable.
The 1980s
There were many ups and downs for British Caledonian during the 1980s. BCal suffered a series of major setbacks as a result of several geopolitical events that occurred during that decade. Transatlantic bookings fell as a result of the American bombing of Libya and the Chernobyl disaster. The routes accounted for 25% of revenue. Devaluation and currency export controls affecting Nigeria cut off revenue from West African routes. Total revenue loss as £80 million.
These events significantly weakened BCal operationally and financially. They were the main factors that contributed to the airline's demise during the second half of that decade.
BCal disposed of assets and made redundancies but the benefit only lasted until mid-1987. and BCal looked to a merger as a solution. A merger of BCal and newly privatized BA was announced but other bids for the business and referral to Monopolies Commission was followed by BCal turning back on the merger proposal. Other airline partners were sought and SAS entered talks to acquire a substantial minority stake and restructure the company such that "nationality" clauses in the bilateral agreements covering air traffic would not be contravened.
In the end, BA made a take-it-or-leave-it deal worth more than SAS's offer which BCal's principal shareholder, and then the board accepted. The British and European monopolies commissions still had to agree the deal. As a result, following the merger landing slots at Gatwick and routes were given up to other operators.
Fleet details
BCal and its subsidiaries operated the following fixed wing aircraft types:
In May 1972 BCal's fleet comprised 32 jet aircraft.
5,300 people were employed.
In March 1975 BCal's fleet comprised 24 jet aircraft.
4,846 people were employed.
In April 1978 BCal's fleet comprised 29 aircraft with two DC-10-30 on order.
5,500 people were employed.
In May 1981 BCal's fleet comprised 29 jet aircraft.
6,600 people were employed.
In March 1984 BCal's mainline fleet comprised 25 jet aircraft.
6,300 people were employed.
In March 1986 BCal's mainline fleet comprised 27 jet aircraft with seven Airbus A320 on order. BCal employed 6,750 staff.
Incidents and accidents
BCal had an enviable safety record during its 17-year existence. Its aircraft were never involved in fatal accidents. There were a few noteworthy non-fatal incidents involving the airline's aircraft.
On 24 September 1971, a Vickers VC10 1103 (registration: G-ASIX) was hit by clear air turbulence (CAT) en route from Santiago de Chile to Buenos Aires while operating the first sector of BCal's weekly Santiago–Gatwick schedule. While the aircraft was cruising above the Andes, it encountered CAT above the mountain peaks. This resulted in the aircraft being thrown up on to its side at a greater-than-90-degree angle, and then tossed, headlong, nose down, towards the up to 27,000 ft (8,200 m) high peaks just a few thousand feet (several hundred metres) below. The severity of this incident injured an air hostess who was working in the rear galley and knocked out the powered control units (PCUs) of almost every flight control surface, leaving the aircraft to plummet downwards at a speed approaching Mach 1. The crew managed a successful recovery and reset the aircraft's PCUs. Following the aircraft's safe landing at Buenos Aires, a thorough ground check was performed before the aircraft was allowed to resume its flight to Gatwick. A detailed inspection of the aircraft at Gatwick revealed a fracture in one of the tail fin support spars, necessitating a lengthy repair. On an airliner with wing-mounted engines under the same circumstances, the engine mounting pins would probably have snapped.
On 28 January 1972, a Vickers VC10-1109 (registration: G-ARTA) sustained severe structural damage to the fuselage as a result of an exceptionally hard landing at Gatwick at the end of a short ferry flight from Heathrow. The airline decided that repairs were not cost-effective and the aircraft was written off and scrapped at Gatwick in 1975.).
On 19 July 1972, a BAC One-Eleven 501EX (registration: G-AWYS) sustained substantial damage as a result of aborting takeoff from Corfu Airport too late. The aircraft had passed through a pool of standing water close to its decision speed during the takeoff run. This caused a temporary reduction of engine thrust which the flight's commander interpreted as engine failure requiring an immediate rejection of takeoff. The flight deck crew's decision to abandon their takeoff was delayed and as a result, the aircraft did not stop on the runway but, after crossing some rough ground, finally came to rest in a 1 m (3.3 ft)-deep lagoon. None of the six crew members and 79 passengers was seriously injured in the crash, but an elderly female passenger collapsed after being helped from the aircraft and subsequently died of cardiac arrest on her way to hospital.