BEA at its peak (1961–1971)
By the early 1960s, BEA carried just under four million passengers per year, more than any other airline in Europe (excluding Aeroflot); worldwide (excluding Aeroflot and the Chinese CAAC Airlines), only the "Big Four" US airlines – American Airlines, United Airlines, TWA and Eastern – carried more.[8] By that time BEA served most major European cities, with the network stretching east to Moscow, Kuwait and Doha as well as to North Africa; it was a founder/minority shareholder of Alitalia, Aer Lingus, Cyprus Airways, Gibraltar Airways and Jersey Airlines.[53]
In 1961 BEA placed an order for three Armstrong Whitworth Argosy all-cargo aircraft, the airline's first dedicated freighters; the first one was delivered and entered service later that year.[25]
On 1 March 1961 BEA began Vanguard services following a delay to the aircraft's entry into service, as a result of major defects discovered in its Rolls-Royce Tyne engine's compressor during testing in early 1960.[29] Following their delayed entry into service, BEA's Vanguards began flying to international destinations such as Malta and Barcelona and by 1962, took over about half of the flights previously operated by Viscounts on the airline's UK domestic trunk routes,[54] where they operated in a 132-seat, single-class configuration.[9][55] The Vanguards' introduction on BEA's Heathrow–Scotland trunk routes increased traffic by more than 20%.[9]
On 1 April 1961, BEA moved some flights to Paris (Le Bourget) and other European destinations from Heathrow to Gatwick in accordance with the wishes of the British government to develop the latter airport.[56][57]
In 1962, BEA sold its 25% minority holding in Jersey Airlines. This was followed by the BUA group's takeover of Jersey Airlines in May of that year.[58][59][60]
On 19 May 1962, Pionair G-ALTT operated the type's final service on BEA's Scottish internal network between Islay, Campbeltown and Glasgow (Renfrew).[61]
In its 1962-63 annual report, BEA estimated that introduction of both the Comet 4B and Vanguard had cost it more than £6 million over a two-year period. The airline considered this "a heavy financial burden" in support of British aircraft manufacturers, which adversely impacted its ability to compete with overseas rivals whose choice of aircraft was not influenced by political considerations.
In November 1963, BEA's independent rival British Eagle became the first independent airline to compete with it on a main UK domestic trunk route, when the independent launched daily scheduled services between London Heathrow and Glasgow with 103-seater, two-class Bristol Britannias. This was followed by daily two-class Britannia services from Heathrow to Edinburgh and Belfast the next day.[62] This was also the first time a scheduled airline had offered a separate first class cabin on a domestic route in the UK. As British Eagle was restricted to a single daily round-trip on each route, it sought to differentiate itself from BEA. While BEA served these routes with 132-seat Vanguards in an all-tourist configuration with minimal onboard catering, British Eagle provided full catering on all flights.[55] British Eagle furthermore differentiated itself from its state-owned competitor by introducing assigned seating and "trickle loading".[63] The former was a first for a UK scheduled domestic carrier while the airline claimed to have started the latter in the UK as well. BEA, whose frequencies were not restricted, responded to the challenge on its three most important domestic routes by scheduling additional flights that departed and arrived at the same time or within 10 minutes of its rival's scheduled departure and arrival times. This had the effect of "sandwiching" British Eagle's flights. BEA's response also included the introduction of trickle loading and subsequent introduction of full onboard catering as well as a separate first class cabin.[55]
On 11 March 1964, a BEA Trident 1C operated the Trident's first commercial service, standing in for a Comet 4B that had been scheduled to fly 79 fare-paying passengers from Heathrow to Copenhagen. BEA's regular commercial Trident operations commenced on 1 April 1964.[68] Initially, BEA operated its Tridents in a 79-seat, two-class configuration, comprising 15 first class and 64 tourist class seats.[40]
In June 1964, BEA acquired a minority shareholding in Northeast England-based independent regional airline BKS Air Transport.[37]
On 10 June 1965, BEA Trident 1C G-ARPR performed the world's first automatic touchdown at London Heathrow on a commercial flight with fare-paying passengers. Another BEA Trident performed the world's first fully automatic landing in fog by a civil aircraft in zero visibility at Heathrow in November 1966.[69][70]
On 26 August 1965, BEA signed the contract for a follow-on Trident order. This covered 15 firm Trident 2Es plus 10 options for delivery from spring 1968. The 2E series was an aerodynamically improved version of the original 1C series incorporating the re-arranged interior of the "hot-and-high" 1E series that resulted in a greater seating capacity, as well as a higher gross weight, increased fuel capacity by providing an additional fuel tank in the fin and more powerful Rolls-Royce Spey engines to fly non-stop from London to Beirut with 90 passengers.[71]
In the mid-1960s, BEA's European rivals began placing orders for new "second-generation" jet aircraft, such as the Boeing 727-200 and its smaller stablemate, the 737-200, as well as the Douglas DC-9-30/40. Compared with the Trident, these were more economical, in terms of range, revenue generation and seat-mile costs. Of particular concern to BEA in this context were Air France's plans to replace Caravelles with new 727-200s on most of its London–Paris flights. BEA also had a requirement for a jet to replace Vanguards on the Heathrow–Manchester route to regain traffic lost to British Rail as a result of the electrification of the London–Manchester line and Berlin-based Viscounts to restore the competitive balance with Pan Am's new 727s on the internal German services. Therefore, in February 1966, BEA began evaluating the 727-200, 737-200 and DC-9-40 for these requirements, favouring the former two seating up to 166 and 111 passengers in single-class configuration respectively. In June 1966, BEA requested UK government permission to place an order with Boeing for 18 727-200s and 23 737-200s.[72] Following the UK government's refusal to grant BEA permission to order an all-American fleet of Boeing 727-200s and 737-200s, the Board of Trade (BOT) directed the airline to buy comparable British aircraft instead. This resulted in a BEA order for 18 firm BAC One-Eleven 500s plus six options in January 1967, for delivery from autumn 1968, to meet BEA's requirement to replace Vanguards/Viscounts on its Heathrow–Manchester and internal German routes.
In February 1967, BEA sought UK government approval to order up to 40[73] BAC Two-Elevens, a 200-seat, six-abreast development of the five-abreast BAC One-Eleven powered by Rolls-Royce RB211 high-bypass turbofan engines, for service entry in the early 1970s.[72][74] The UK government's refusal to let BEA order American aircraft, as well as its subsequent decision to stop funding the development of BAC's Two-Eleven and a delay to the rival Rolls-Royce RB207-powered, 250-seat pan-European Airbus A300 widebody,[72] also resulted in another Trident order from the airline for 26 firm 3B series aircraft plus 10 options in early 1968, for delivery from 1971.
As this necessitated the purchase of a greater number of aircraft with fewer seats and less range that needed to be inducted into the fleet over a shorter period of time due to later availability compared with the originally chosen American aircraft, BEA had made both its £32 million One-Eleven 500 order and £83 million Trident 3B order dependent on receiving a subsidy from the UK government to compensate it for having been directed against its commercial judgement to order British aircraft with a lower earning potential and later delivery dates. The UK government responded to BEA's plea by agreeing to transfer £25 million from the airline's existing borrowings to a special account on which no interest was payable, including the option to transfer this amount to its profit and loss account as required. This arrangement furthermore permitted a subsequent transfer to BEA of an additional £12.5 million in case this was required.
BEA's first order for the BAC One-Eleven enabled BAC to proceed with the development of the 500 series, a more powerful, stretched version of the original One-Eleven 200 launched by BEA's independent rival British United Airways in 1961; its second repeat-order for Tridents launched the 3B series, a more powerful, aerodynamically enhanced, stretched version of the earlier Trident models already in service with/ordered by the airline. The 3B had an unusual (and noisy) feature, a small fourth engine (a Rolls-Royce RB162) in the base of the tailfin to increase power during takeoff. The One-Eleven 510EDs ordered by BEA had a range of 1150 mi and were configured for 97 passengers in a single class while the Trident 3Bs entered service with the airline either in a 152-seat, single-class or a 130-seat, two-class[75] configuration.[76][77][78] BEA's BAC One-Eleven 510EDs and Hawker Siddeley Trident 3Bs also featured common instrumentation to attain a high degree of commonality. This was achieved by having Smiths supply the avionics of both aircraft, which in the case of the One-Eleven replaced the Collins
The differences in flight deck layout between the 510ED and other 500 series were so significant that a separate aircraft type rating was required to fly the former.[78] Another notable difference between the 510ED and all other 500 series was that the former's Rolls-Royce RB163-25 Mk 512-11 Spey engines lacked the latter's Mk 512-14DWs' demineralised water injection system, and that these engines were rated at the same thrust as the Speys powering BEA's Trident 2Es and 3Bs. To compensate for the 510ED's lower rated engines, no forward integral airstairs were fitted. The resulting weight saving permitted an increase in payload. It also offset (to some extent) the additional costs of customisation to attain commonality with the Trident 3B. Although unique in the context of the 500 series, the absence of forward airstairs was a characteristic BEA's 510EDs shared with BUA's 201ACs.[69][79][80][81]
On 4 January 1966, BEA's biggest independent rival, BUA, simultaneously launched daily BAC One-Eleven jet services from Gatwick to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, which indirectly competed with the corporation's London–Scotland and London – Northern Ireland trunk routes from Heathrow. This allowed BUA to steal a march on BEA by becoming the first scheduled all-jet operator on UK domestic trunk routes.[82]
In November 1966, BEA increased its shareholding in BKS Air Transport to 50%.[37]
In March 1967, BEA established British Air Services as a new holding company for BKS Air Transport and Cambrian Airways, its two loss-making regional airline subsidiaries.[13][37][83]
1967 was also the year the Wilson government appointed a committee of inquiry under the chairmanship of Professor Sir Ronald Edwards, at the time the chairman of the Electricity Council and a professor at the London School of Economics, to deliberate the future prospects of Britain's air transport industry.[84][85][86][87] The Edwards Committee published its report entitled British Air Transport in the Seventies on 2 May 1969.[84][85] Its principal recommendations were The report's publication led to the formation of BEA Airtours as BEA's wholly owned charter subsidiary later the same year while subsequent adoption of its recommendations by the Heath government resulted in the merger of BEA's independent rivals Caledonian Airways and BUA to form
On 15 February 1968, BEA took delivery of its first Trident 2E.[76] This was followed by entry into service on the airline's routes from Heathrow to Milan, Madrid, Dublin and Stockholm on 1 June that year.[98]
On 1 April 1968, BEA's first scheduled service to Paris Orly Airport departed Heathrow; this resulted in splitting its Paris operations between Orly and Le Bourget.[99]
Following its commercial debut on 1 September 1968 on BEA's internal German routes, the airline's new One-Eleven 500s began regular scheduled operations on 17 November 1968, respectively replacing Vanguards and Viscounts on the corporation's Heathrow–Manchester and Berlin routes.[100][101] By 1969, BEA carried 132,000 tonnes of freight each year. That year, it also opened a new cargo centre at Heathrow, which it jointly operated with BOAC. To cope with increasing amounts of air freight, it began replacing its nine Argosy freighters with the same number of Vickers V.953C Merchantmans, which were converted V.953 Vanguard passenger planes. Aviation Traders Engineering Limited (ATEL) of Southend converted the first two of these while BEA's inhouse engineering department converted the remainder using kits supplied by ATEL.[25][102]
In its 1969–70 financial year, BEA's revenue from ticket sales was £126 million resulting in a profit of £6.5 million, almost twice the previous year's and the biggest in the airline's history until that time.[103]
In its 1970–71 financial year, BEA carried 8.67 million passengers at an average load factor of just over 54%. During that period it employed just under 25,000 people, revenues totalled £133 million and the operating loss stood at £780,000.[104]
On 18 February 1971, BEA received its first Trident 3B. Commercial operations began on 1 March of that year on the airline's Heathrow–Orly route.[76][105]
On 31 October 1971, BEA operated its last scheduled service from Heathrow to Le Bourget, marking the end of 25 years' continuous operations by the airline at the historic Paris airport.[106] This move was necessitated by the Anglo-French bilateral air treaty to make room for British Caledonian's Gatwick – Le Bourget service,[107] which began the following day.[97] This in turn resulted in all of BEA's Heathrow–Paris flights exclusively using Orly from then on.[97][106]
In early-December 1971, BEA bought both of Channel Airways' Trident 1Es for use by the airline's Channel Islands Airways division and Northeast Airlines[108] on mainline routes from Birmingham and regional routes from Newcastle and Leeds/Bradford respectively. Together with the ongoing Trident 3B deliveries, this additional Trident purchase would bring the total number of Tridents in BEA's fleet[109] to 67,[110] making the type its most numerous jetliner.[111][112]
1971 was also the year BEA underwent a major reorganisation under its then chairman Henry Marking entailing the establishment of 10 divisions that were meant to act as profit centres. These were
BEA Mainline assumed responsibility for all of BEA's Heathrow operations other than those to and from Manchester, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Inverness, the Isle of Man, Berlin (including both non-stop and one-stop services) and certain regional European destinations such as Bordeaux, Cork, Luxembourg and Rimini, as well as its Birmingham operations other than those to and from the Channel Islands.[13]
BEA Cargo assumed responsibility for all of BEA's freight activities, including all pure freighter aircraft.[13]
The Super One-Eleven division was headquartered in Manchester. It assumed responsibility for BEA's entire BAC One-Eleven 500 fleet and all of the airline's Manchester operations other than those to and from the Channel Islands, as well as all of its Berlin operations, with at least six aircraft based at Ringway and up to 12 at Tempelhof.[81][100] From 1 April 1973, it also began replacing Viscounts and Tridents plying the Aberdeen–Heathrow route on behalf of BEA's Scottish Airways division with One-Eleven 500s, as the latter were more efficient and had greater passenger appeal.[100]
The Scottish Airways division was headquartered in Glasgow and assumed responsibility for all of BEA's Scottish internal routes, as well as all of the airline's Glasgow–Belfast, Aberdeen–Heathrow and Inverness–Heathrow services. In addition to its Viscount mainline aircraft, Scottish Airways also operated a dedicated fleet of smaller regional feeder aircraft. These served remote communities in Scotland's Highlands and Islands region.[2]
The Channel Islands Airways division assumed responsibility for all of BEA's services to and from the Channel Islands other than those to and from Heathrow, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool and Newcastle. It also operated domestic and international routes from Birmingham, using a dedicated Trident 1E, as well as a mix of Scottish and Channel Islands Viscounts.[2]
BEA's wholly owned helicopter subsidiary assumed responsibility for its entire rotorcraft fleet and all of the airline's rotorcraft operations, including the scheduled service between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly.[113]
BEA's wholly owned charter subsidiary BEA Airtours assumed responsibility for all of its regular, non-IATA flying activities using fixed-wing aircraft – i.e., predominantly IT charter flights under contract to third-party tour operators.[114]
The British Air Services division assumed responsibility for Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines, BEA's two majority-owned regional airline subsidiaries. This included all services operated by these airlines on behalf of their parent company, principally all of the corporation's domestic and international services from and to Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, Newcastle and the Isle of Man, as well as selected international regional services from Heathrow such as Bordeaux, Cork, Luxembourg and Rimini.[13]
Travel Sales assumed responsibility for all of BEA's sales-related activities.[13]
Sovereign Group Hotels assumed responsibility for the management of all Sovereign hotels, BEA's associated hotel chain.[13]
- creation of a British Airways Board to bring both BEA and BOAC under joint management control[86][87]
- creation of a majority privately owned "Second Force" airline to counterbalance the near-monopoly of the corporations, which provided 90% of all UK scheduled air transport capacity at the time[84][86][87][88]
- permitting the corporations to participate in the inclusive tour (IT) charter market alongside the independents by establishing dedicated, non-IATA subsidiaries[86]
- BEA Mainline
- BEA Cargo
- Super One-Eleven
- Scottish Airways
- Channel Islands Airways
- BEA Helicopters
- BEA Airtours
- British Air Services
- Travel Sales
- Sovereign Group Hotels.[13]
