1960
The BOAC / BEA virtual duopoly in UK aviation carried on throughout the entire decade. Each of the handful of domestic services that Dan-Air operated had had to be fought, tooth and nail to obtain. The independent carriers had to be content with flying second tier regional routes linking towns and cities, many of them close to one another. Bristol was one such example. Dan-Air were able to successfully apply to serve the Isle of Man from the city. Derby Airways also had a strong presence at the regional airport.
Liverpool Airport was very much in the shadow of Manchester Airport. During the war the Air Ministry took control of all UK airports. By the late 1950s the Government had encouraged many local authorities to assume running of their own regional airports. Manchester had in fact wrestled with the Ministry to take control of their airport, whilst Liverpool were content to allow the Ministry to retain control. This resulted in a huge drive and spirit of enthusiasm at Manchester. Before long, the airport was the main airport for the north of England. The results were inevitable, Manchester mad a profit of £98,000 in 1959 and Liverpool was operating at a loss. Liverpool refused to invest, and refused to sell the airport and refused to take it back from the Ministry. The decision as to whether to keep the airport open had to be taken in early 1960 as the de-requisition of the airfield would take place on January 1st. Starways, the Liverpool based airline, operated scheduled services to thirteen cities, and BEA had a handful.
Bristol Airport had been successful in operating independently from the Air Ministry, and Dan-Air saw the city as an ideal launch pad for domestic scheduled services. The state owned carriers had largely ignored Bristol and would therefore not be as likely to object to licence applications. In March such applications had been submitted for Plymouth and Cardiff. The Dan-Air fleet could be viewed on 30th March at Bristol, with the company inviting all to 'come and see for yourself'. In a fore-runner to the 'Link City' Dan-Air began branding the domestic services as 'Air Links'
Dan-Air's arrival at Bristol came with a flourish. The airline flew in no less than four airliners and threw a cocktail party. Managing Director Fred Newman and fellow Director John Davies flew into Bristol on a DC3 Dakota. In the airport restaurant they met with travel agents and airport managers. Specially floodlit in front of the terminal was that Dakota, a Bristol Freighter, a De Havilland Dove and the company flagship, the 49 seat Airspeed Ambassador. All of the aircraft were available for inspection, and for five shillings, members of the public were invited for fifteen minute 'air flips' over the city. These air flips would be carried out by the Dakota and two De Havilland Doves. Tickets went on sale at 9am and were quickly sold out. In total 602 people took the flights. Dan-air said 'We could have carried a thousand people had we a another aircraft. We knew we would lose money on these flights, in fact we are down about £300, but we wanted to put the airport and our aircraft before the public - and we sure have done that.
Flights to Liverpool would commence on April 1st followed by a service in May to the Isle of Man. July would see the introduction of flights to London Gatwick, with a timed onwards connection to Jersey if necessary. Finally the international service to Basle would commence in mid July. Basle in Switzerland would operate from February with flights departing on Saturday and returning on Sunday. Flights would operated between July 16th and September 4th. Fares would be £26 and 11 shilling return. Bristol - Liverpool which had to include a stop at Cardiff - Literally a few minutes flying time. would see departures from Liverpool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:20am. Returning at 5:40pm. These secondary routes often carried business travellers on flights as short as fifteen minutes - Only seven of those were spent in the air. Charter flights would fly from Bristol to Nice, Ostend, Paris, Knocke, Palma, Bruges, Brittany, San Remo, Blackenburge, and Switzerland. Most of these would be flown with Ambassador aircraft.
The Bristol-Liverpool flights were flown by DH Dove or Heron carrying between 9 and 20 passengers. The flights were timed to suit business travellers, but those very people would be denied connecting flights to Heathrow for onward world wide flights with other airlines. Dan-Air's best hope was to link cities to Gatwick and Manchester where onward flights could be connected with other airlines.
The next link city service added was to Plymouth for the Summer months. Flights would make the four airport link thrice weekly using two recently acquired DH Dove aircraft. As it appeared to be successful, Dan-Air planned to introduce a DC3 aircraft on the route.
Travel Agents reported with scorn the arrival at Bristol by both Dan-Air and Derby Airways. The agents had criticised the old Dakota aircraft that both carriers would use. Captain Terry Mayo of Derby Airways responded by saying;
'I think I can speak for both Derby Airways and indeed Dan-Air. The fact that we have arrived at Bristol Airport with Dakotas has been met with derision because we are using Dakota aircraft. There is no doubt that within a couple of years we will be using medium sized turbo prop aircraft from both Bristol and Cardiff, but both our carriers have to be sure that we have attracted sufficient local support for the services before we consider investing hundreds of thousands of pounds on new aircraft.'
Dan-Air had made quite an impact on Bristol with their scheduled service to Liverpool, so much so, that in May an application was submitted in extend the service to Glasgow and Edinburgh. They were given the go-ahead to extend the Bristol-Liverpool service from three to four times a week. Dan-Air submitted plans to make the service a daily one. The airline announced they planned to commence a car ferry service on their successful Liverpool-Isle of Man route. Also in the pipeline was a Car Ferry service from Anglesey to the Isle of Man. Two other carriers had previously applied to do this, but had been turned down as the airfield at Anglesey was operated by the R.A.F. Two other 'tidying up' applications were submitted in May. The first to allow a Liverpool-Manchester service and the second for the Bristol-Isle of Man service to be permitted to stop at Liverpool.
Mike Potter, who was Dan-Air manager at Bristol tells a very interesting Dan-Air story on 1960;
'One of the Bristol based De Havilland Dove aircraft was involved in a rescue mission in July when a Manchester garage owner, Mr. R Dyson took a motor boat from his rented holiday cottage near Land's End to the Isles of Scilly. The vessel ran out of fuel and the man, his wife and father were left afloat for 24 hours before being rescued off the coast of Southern Ireland by a fishing boat which took the family to Dublin. the family only had two suitcases and the clothes they stood up in. He secured flights to Bristol with Aer Lingus, the airport was still open, but all the flights that day had finished. He was anxious to make a speedy return to Land's End but the strip at Land's End was closed, but Plymouth Airport was still open. He made an approach to us and within 45 minutes I had got hold of a Dove for charter and they were on their way to Plymouth. The charter cost him £55!'
June was a very busy month, the second week of the month saw the TT races on the Isle of Man, Dan-Air carried 186 passengers from Bristol to the island, using Bristol Wayfarer (Bristol Freighter with seats added) the Dove and Dakota. It was also Ascot week, and so the Wayfarer was having a very busy time. In between the flights to Douglas the aircraft was stripped of its 44 seats at Bristol before flying to Dublin to pick up horses to be unloaded at Gatwick for the races at Ascot.
The Bristol-Liverpool service had proven to be successful and approval was given to increase the frequency. Three times a week the return would be extended from Bristol to Plymouth. It was hoped that the 36 seat Dakota would be introduced on the route in 1961.
As this new decade got underway, the acquisition of new aircraft posed additional problems for independent airlines. The UK carriers were not financially strong enough to purchase brand new aircraft, and finding suitable, second- hand machines didn't come hassle free. Heavy tariffs were imposed on imported American aircraft. Ideal models would be the Douglas DC6 and DC7. These airliners had substantial range and large capacity. The Lockheed Constellation could carry 100 passengers as did the Bristol Britannia. Both these perfect types were still in service with many national carriers and had not begun to appear on the used aircraft market in any significant number. The very thought of a jet aircraft was an impossibility for the independent airlines of Britain. The UK Government strongly urged carriers to purchase UK built aircraft. Naturally, airlines were still free to go ahead with a foreign purchase - provided they paid the tariff.
No decision had been made regarding the applications for the Bristol to Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh licence. At the same time Dan-Air had been working closely with Authorities in Dundee. It was announced in late July that plans were afoot for either ten return flights a week with Dakota or five return flights using a DC4. This was an interesting statement as Dan-Air did not have a DC4 at its disposal. The webmaster of this site has found that talks were at an advanced stage to obtain a DC4 from BOAC. The decision from the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) was expected in September and Dan-Air's R.A Auty said;
'This will be a 2 1/2 hour flight as opposed to a nine to ten hour train journey. The price will be £8 for a night time return flight, 10 guineas for a regular flight and 14 for a monthly period return. Dundee and St.Andrews are not served by any air services and we need to remedy this. There is great potential for air traffic to and from Dundee which had not been tapped into. Firstly we are aiming at the business man, getting him to London from Dundee and back home again in one day. Then, provided we get permission to operate to all three places, the holiday-maker who wants a swift journey south. At present we operate between Plymouth, Bristol, Liverpool and Cardiff. The new services can easily be linked up with these. Flights would operate with a Dove aircraft, but as demand increased Dakotas would be introduced and ultimately a 49 seat, fully pressurised Airspeed Ambassador.'
Approval had been given to operate five weekly flights from Plymouth to Gatwick and Bristol. As things stood, only five passengers could be carried on a ten seat aircraft, because of the airport's size. Dan-Air sought an amendment to the licence enabling them to double the amount by using two aircraft. The passengers could then join a larger aircraft which would be waiting at Exeter, where approval had recently been granted. After lengthy negotiations the approval was granted. This was a busy and successful time for Dan-Air with Newcastle being the next city to receive approval on the 'Air Link' network. An application was made in November to operate a scheduled service between Liverpool and Basle.
The Air Transport Licencing Board were approached to amend the Dundee applications after the Air Ministry rejected the application to fly into Leuchars Airport, as it was run by the R.A.F. Instead the new application would have H.M.S Condor in Arbroath as the terminal. This was the base for the technical school for the Fleet Air Arm. The Admiralty gave permission as they claimed very little service flying took place.
Meanwhile, in the summer, Inclusive Tour (IT) packages had begun to emerge as an affordable way for many British people to experience overseas holidays. Horizon Holidays had been the forerunner amongst Tour Operators. The firm's founder, Vladimir Raitz had by-passed rules concerning charter flights. Where previously only one-off charters could be carried out, now Horizon had successfully arranged for regular flights to several European destinations, including Corsica, Palma and Barcelona. Initial packages had been offered only to students, before going on sale to student nurses and doctors. From now, Tour Operators could now sell their holidays to everyone, ending the ludicrous situation which denied Brits the right to travel, unless they were rich enough to fly by scheduled services.
The Government still insisted that the price of a holiday would not be lower than the basic scheduled air fare. On top of that - the Government even restricted how much cash a person could take out of the country for spending money. Tour Operators including Lunns, Global, Leroy, Arrowsmith and Frames all joined the package tour market in 1960. Some offered packages that included scheduled air fares. These were more expensive, but would feature better standards of accommodation, meals and transfers. Horizon added Tossa De Mar, Portugal and Sardinia to its brochures. For the really adventurous Tangiers could be visited for 41 Guineas for a 15 day holiday. Most British holiday-makers opted for Belgium, France and Italy.
A man who would become well known to air travellers from Somerset, Gloucestershire and Bristol took a new post at Bristol Airport in 1960. Mr. Rex Matfett, was appointed station traffic manager for Dan-Air he was be responsible for the airline's scheduled services to the Isle of Man, Liverpool, London (Gatwick) Plymouth and Cardiff and for Dan-Air's growing local charter business.
Tour Operators faced more red tape when choosing destinations. Charter flights could not fly between two airports that were already connected by a scheduled carrier - which, in most cases, applied to BEA. Who operated from London Heathrow to almost every major city in Europe. Most major UK airports were connected to London Heathrow by the same airline. The airport excluded independent carriers.
This was less of a problem from regional airports. British European Airways did not have the same presence at Gatwick as they had at Heathrow. Benidorm, which was fast becoming a favoured destination, did not have its own airport, and so passengers aiming for the resort would have to fly to Perpignan in France, once deplaned, they would be ferried to Benidorm by coach. Barcelona was much closer to the resort, but couldn't be used because BEA operated scheduled services there already! The Benidorm situation did however please the authorities in France. Perpignan's airport had been practically deserted until then. Several years later a new airport was built at Alicante, which, fortunately for the charter carriers, BEA did not wish to use.
Dan-Air were awarded contract flights this year to Rome and Milan, that would be operated on behalf of BEA. In addition to the London to Glasgow flight and the Blackbushe - Jersey scheduled service Dan-Air operated for BEA. This year also saw freight contracts from London Heathrow to Milan, Rome and Brussels. (Only sub contracted flights could use Heathrow)
The fleet stood at fifteen aircraft and to meet the demand Dan-Air Engineering were recruiting Engine Fitters, Instrument Mechanics, Radio Mechanics, Air-frame Fitters and Engineers.
NETWORK & PRESS 1960
1961
The year started with a new application in January to the Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB) to operated scheduled services between Prestwick in Scotland to the Isle of Man, a route served by Scottish Airlines until early 1961. Scottish Airlines had a series of accidents involving York aircraft when their safety record was questioned. Dan-Air acquired their assets and took over the route. This happened whilst still the airline was awaiting approval for routes already applied for, such as Liverpool-Basle. The Air Link network added Swansea and Exeter as a stop off, but Bristol continued to see the biggest share of Dan-Air's scheduled traffic.
Dan-Air's Bristol Freighter aircraft carried cargo as far away a Australia, Singapore, Iran, India and all points East. In total, the Yorks had flown 20,000,000 ton miles. Fares on the Bristol - Cardiff - Liverpool route were reduced from £5-3s to just £3-18s with the fare from either Bristol or Cardiff to Newcastle priced at £5-6s. Those fares were one way - the discount was not as generous on a return flight!
Early in 1961 Dan-Air could boast that their scheduled services in Liverpool had increased by 61%. For a mere £5 10/- Monday-Thursday £6 12/- Friday and Sunday and £7 5/- on Saturday you could purchase a return fare from Glasgow to the Isle Of Man. These simple fare reductions had to have the approval of the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) who not only decided if an airline could fly a service, but the fares that were charged. International fares were fixed by the licencing bodies of the two destinations. No wonder airlines either disappeared or failed to grow. The Bristol Evening Post had carried a story stating that Dan-Air had applied for a licence to fly from Bristol to London and questioning whether the service was in fact to London as the licence only permitted flights into Gatwick. Dan-Air's scheduled services manager R.W Davies responded directly saying that they had 'applied for a licence especially wishing to fly into London Heathrow, only to be have the licence refused by the Ministry of Aviation, who granted us a licence to fly into Gatwick only.' He went on to say; 'On several occasions in the past we have received the same answer to our applications for flights from provincial cities into London Airport, from this we have concluded that the Minister of Aviation considers that the number of flights already authorised into the terminal is sufficient. As you may have seen, the Ministry of Aviation have been trying to convince Air France to transfer their services from Paris to Gatwick instead of Heathrow. When it becomes necessary to transfer routes of operators of such importance, I would suggest that the chances of obtaining a new licence from a provincial city into London Airport are very slight.' This thinly veiled swipe at the authorities did little to disguise how Dan-Air and other independent airlines felt about being denied access to the capital's main airport. Whichever way one looks at the situation there can be no denying that it was nothing more than a case of protectionism on a grand scale.
The Isle of Man was proving to be a success story for Dan-Air. Press adverts claimed that after 'a few minutes luxury you are there' with flights to the island from Plymouth and Exeter being only 125 minutes. January 17th saw the approval of the flights from Dundee (Arbroath) in Scotland to London, Liverpool, Newcastle and the Isle of Man. These flights would operate four times weekly from the H.M.S Fleet Air Arm base after other airports rejected flights. The Royal Navy airfield had restricted runway length, but could handle DC3 Dakota aircraft. The airport was 18 miles from Dundee. However flights had not yet started as January came to a close. On the 27th, a conference was held at Condor to iron out any technical issues that were still outstanding. R.W Davies said; 'Until we have certain technical difficulties sorted out we can't start on detailed preparations for air schedules with exact flight times, fares and son on. I don't envisage any hold up on these points however, and you can depend on it that the schedules will be prepared without delay. I am extremely pleased with the co-operation that the Admiralty has given my company. We are grateful for the administrative accommodation they have given us, and the airfield itself is in good condition.'
Fred Newman, the company chairman, sited that the Ministry of Aviation were to blame for increasing fares on many routes, as they had increased landing fees at Municipal Airports. 'The only way for Dan-Air to grow was to continue to provide excellent charter flights, with flixibility so that Tour Operators' requirements could be met.'
In January Thornton Travel, Lunns, Thomas Cook, Middleton Travel and Traveller's Joy all joined forces to charter Dan-Air Ambassadors for a series of flights to Switzerland from Swansea and Cardiff, prices would be from £22 two shillings return. Motours Travel Ltd chartered Ambassador aircraft to fly from Gatwick to Nice and Munich every Saturday for the Summer. New Tour Operators began to appear on the scene, often in the form of Travel Agencies who had begun to put package holidays together, and then selling them to their customers. One such example was Airtours who went on to become a large Dan-Air client.
An average UK holiday this year would cost £20 compared to a Spanish Holiday costing around £40. A new type of charter flight took to the skies this year - Affinity flights. Tour Operators could now charter aircraft to flights to destinations that British European Airways and BOAC flew schedules to. The stipulation being that all the passengers were members of a specific group. For example, bird watchers, or railway enthusiasts. Provided they could show that the group was a real group, and that the member had been a member for at least six months, these passengers could book the flights. The system was wide open to abuse, airlines had little way to store technical data other than by hand and no system was in place to check adherence. Would be holidaymakers were given membership cards to clubs and groups, that they had no interest in, and no proof of membership duration. They were assured that no questions would be asked, and that they should just get on with their holidays.
Many Tour Operators already had a poor reputation, often as a result of chartering aircraft from airlines with woeful operating practices and aircraft with a raft of technical problems.. Horror stories began to emerge where passengers had been stuck in dingy airports for many hours before being ferried to other airports. Hotels were reported as being unfinished and of poor standards. Competition was fierce, Dan-Air had proved to be exceptional amongst UK carriers. Tour Operators could choose aircraft ranging from a nine seat Dove to a 55 seat Ambassador. Scheduled services were still carrying very few passengers. This year the airline carried just 336 people from Liverpool in a full month - Those passengers could fit into just one Airbus A300 that Dan-Air would fly in twenty five years time!
In April it was announce that the Dundee-London flights would commence on June 1st with two flights a week operating in both directions using 36 seat Dakotas on all flights. There would also be flights to an from Dundee to Liverpool, Newcaslte, Bristol, Cardiff Swansea and Plymouth. Flights to Plymouth would be summer only. An additional Dakota had been acquired from Scottish Airlines. Fares would be London £8 12s - Newcastle £3 18s - Liverpool £7 10s - Bristol, Cardiff or Swansea £9 10s - Plymouth £10 8s single and Isle of Man £4 15s, with return flights priced exactly double. The fleet now stood at sixteen aircraft and were maintained by an engineering staff of 100 people.
In May the Dundee Chamber of Commerce pressed Dan-Air to increase the frequency of flights to London,following unprecedented demand.
The first flight left Dundee (HMS Condor) at 1010, arriving in London Gatwick at 1310. The return departed at 1340 arriving at Dundee at 1640. The aircraft would then depart Dundee for the Isle of Man at 1705, arriving at 1905.
The inaugural flight had left Manchester at 5am piloted by company chief pilot Captain Patrick Falconer the co-pilot was Captain H.K Gemmel. Brian Foster, Dan-Air base manager was on hand to assist boarding. The two cabin crew were Dan-Air's deputy chief stewardess Elizabeth Allen from Newcastle and Sandra Sykes who had recently joined the airline. The flight was delayed slightly as crew waited for late-comers. G-AMPP took off at 0825 flying over Arbroath, Falkirk, The Solway Firth, Manchester, Lichfield, Daventry and Gatwick. The aircraft flew at 7,000 feet. Passengers were served coffee and biscuits before joining the Captain in the flight deck. The aircraft made a perfect landing at Gatwick where everyone was invited to a reception. The return flight left on time and arrived on schedule.
In a very short time the route became a jewel in Dan-Air's crown. Cargo was carried on most flights including Scottish raspberries and strawberries that had been picked early in the morning, flown out to London at 10 am and arriving in Paris at 4 pm the same day. It was announced in August that there would not be a reduction in the number of flights for the winter period, instead an additional daily flight would operate, there would also be a flight to Liverpool timed to link with an Aer Lingus departure to Dublin with onward links to Shannon,Cork, Boston and New York.
The inaugural HMS Condor - London Scheduled Service
Undaunted by the ATLB's failure to grant Dan-Air any new services, the carrier made a licence application to serve Paris and Rotterdam from Liverpool in October 1961. Of course, British European Airways (BEA) objected, even though BEA didn't fly the route themselves! The ATLB rejected Dan-Air's application. Mr. L. E. Moore, director and general manager of Dan-Air complained on October 18th stating, 'Insufficient attention had been paid to the legitimate rights of the densely populated Merseyside area in regard to air transport.'
The board reserved their decision on two applications by Dan-Air for flights out of Liverpool direct to Paris and Rotterdam. British European Airways and British Overseas Airways Corporation objected to the Paris application. BEA and the British Transport Commission objected to the Rotterdam application. The two state airlines had argued that because BEA operated from Manchester to Rotterdam and Paris that the cities already had sufficient air transport.
Mr. Moore said he thought it wrong that Liverpool should be linked with Manchester, when one thought In terms of areas from which to draw traffic. Liverpool Corporation were supporting Dan-Air's application on the ground that there was a proven demand for a direct Liverpool-Paris service. Giving evidence on the Rotterdam application, Mr. H.W.G. Andrews (air representative of Liverpool Corporation) spoke of the close ties between the British and Dutch cities, and referred to the constant movement of ships' crews, stores and equipment between the two places. For BEA Mr. Collingwood said there would be diversion of traffic from their Manchester-Amsterdam service, even though different cities were involved. After an appeal Dan-Air was awarded the rights to fly into Rotterdam on November 1st. Experimental services commenced in December. They were given the right to fly twice weekly but would not use both flights unless the service was a success.
The winter timetable for the Dundee (HMS Condor) and London service was announced on September 1st. The additional flight was to operate on a Friday and would involve a stop at Newcastle. The stop would give Dundee residents a another destination to choose from. Once at Newcastle, passengers would deplane and board either a Viscount or an Ambassador for the onward flight to London Gatwick. Brian Foster, Dan-Air's press officer had disclosed that Dan-Air were looking at acquiring Viscount aircraft;
'It is still early days, but it appears that it is a resounding success. For too long the people of Angus and Tayside have been denied a proper air service. Our Dakota aircraft can carry 36 passengers in spacious comfort. They have had excellent bookings with very few seats unsold. If fact, on most flights there was over demand. Our next largest aircraft has 49 seats and that would be the perfect size at this time. But there is a problem with HMS Condor, the runway is too short for larger aircraft. That is one of the reasons we decided that the Friday flight would stop at Newcaslte, not only do passengers have two cities to fly to, but Newcaslte can handle the largest of aircraft. The Ambassadors are excellent airliners and they are not old by any means. But one has to look to the future. The Viscount has significant advantages over many comparable sized aircraft. It could potentially land at Condor, it has a larger capacity and it uses a lot less fuel than other aircraft of its size. As well as that, it is undoubtedly the most passenger friendly airliner in the sky. It's quiet, spacious and can fly above any bad weather. The main issue we have, is that Viscounts are difficult to obtain. Most major European airlines have orders for them and there is a very long wait for delivery. The alternative would be to purchase one second-hand. Sadly, airlines don't want to sell them as they are doing such sterling work for their owners. But that would be the ideal scenario. We have been overwhelmed at the initial success of the service and we have even had enquiries from two schools who wish to charter our aircraft for continental trips.'
From November fares would be reduced from Dundee with single fares dropping from £8 12s to £7 9s with return flights reduced from £17 4s to £14 8s. Dan-Air's spokesman said it 'Was in keeping with BEA trends' and that they hoped to attract even more people onto the service.
Liverpool would also see an increase in the number of flights operating between the city and Bristol, Cardiff Newcastle and Dundee. From September the ten weekly departures would be increased to fourteen. The nine seat Dove aircraft was to be upgraded to the 36 seat Dakota.
The Air Transport Licencing Board heard an application from Dan-Air in October to extend some of their services. The airline wished to include Paris and Rotterdam from Liverpool as well as Prestwick - Manchester. They also wished to extend the services between Newcastle,Prestwick and Dundee.
The French authorities refused Dan-Air's application to serve La Baule (Brittany) from Liverpool and Dan-Air reacted with anger. Claiming that it was 'Unfair'. The blow was softened with the Rotterdam success. When questioned about the aircraft Dan-Air would be using Dan-Air retorted that they had several options. Going on to say 'There is no use putting an Ambassador on the route if it was going to be practically empty.' Dan-Air stated that they would choose a suitable aircraft when they saw how bookings came in. The route would commence in January which was traditionally a poor month for air travellers.
Dan-Air announced that fares would be in keeping with that of the BEA Manchester-Amsterdam service: £11 2s.Od - single tourist; £20 return tourist. While details of the service were being planned, it is understood the company was still awaiting approval by the Dutch Government, though, a company official stated, it was not expected that there would be any difficulty from that quarter. In any event, the service was delayed until January 1962. Dan-Air was "Urged" by the Liverpool Council and the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) that it should consider revising times or offering a day return service. As it stood, the flight left at 12 pm and returned at 2 pm. This wouldn't give businessmen enough time to conduct business in Rotterdam, there should be a second flight later they said.
That week that the Dan-Air spokesman eluded to was in late November, when, on the recommendation of a retired Judge, the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) took a licence away from British Eagle Cunard, giving them the right to fly across the North Atlantic on a service that been granted following an 'extensive and exhaustive review.' The following day, the entire British United Airways delegation walked out of a meeting with the ATLB , called to consider the airline's applications for African services. They said that because of the Minister's Cunard-Eagle decision, the whole of the proceedings had been reduced to a farce. The next day Dan-Air's application to serve Paris from Liverpool was rejected because (a) there was not enough evidence of demand, and (b) the service would take passengers from the BEA service from Manchester to Paris, which was already being hit by Air France and (c) it was felt that there would be difficulty in securing traffic rights for landing in Paris.
The extraordinary feature of this rejection was that an identical application two years previously, by the now defunct Overseas Aviation had been approved by the same body. The Civil Aviation Bill of 1960 had been implemented the previous year, aimed at assisting independent airlines to be able to compete fairly. The British Government's licencing body's refusal to allow Dan-Air to operate to Paris condemned by the press and Dan-Air, who's spokesman said;
'The Function of the bill should have afforded us the same licence that had been granted to Overseas Aviation two years ago. That airline is no longer around, but we are, and we are in a position to operate these flights. It should have been for us to battle any difficulties out with the Air Ministry who should then made representation on our behalf to the French Authorities. This simply hasn't been done. In one week the intentions of that bill have been shattered. It looks as if British independent airlines are back in the same unsatisfactory position from which this bill was supposed to rescue us from.' What has happened in the last two years to change the circumstances of applications to fly passengers between Liverpool and Paris - THE ANSWER IS NOTHING AT ALL. There must be more demand for a Liverpool - Paris service today than two years ago, because more people are flying and the number of passengers using Liverpool airport has doubled. The second reason is no reason at all. Not in the opinion of anyone who has the interest of Liverpool at heart. Liverpool does not and will not believe that Liverpool is part of the Manchester air traffic area.'
The press had a field day condemning the ATLB, with The Liverpool Daily Post saying; 'British European Airways say they are suffering on the Manchester - Paris service due to stiff competition from Air France flying the same route. The reason they are suffering is simple. Air France are providing a faster and better service. A recent flight I made on Air France took 50 minutes on a Caravelle. The en route food was excellent, hors d'ouvres chicken, and sweet with half a bottle of wine, served swiftly, neatly and efficiently. the return on a BEA Viscount took one hour and twenty five minutes. A shoddy snack of afternoon tea and biscuits served so hurriedly, that after the meal, small as it was, the crockery was left piled in front of the passengers on a tray. The 1960 bill was meant to allow and promote fair competition. British European Airways don't have to bother improving their service, because in reality there is none amongst them an the smaller British carriers, who will always remain small an insignificant if they are not allowed to thrive.'
After much fanfare for the Dundee - Gatwick service, Dan-Air announced in November that the flights would be discontinued due to lack of support. The airline said that they would try again in the spring of 1962, but the lack of support was insurmountable during the winter. Criticisms about the services centred on distance of HMS Condor from Dundee itself (18 miles) the possibility of travelling to London and back within the same day, and the cost of the fare,which was considered rather high. Dan-Air rejected this saying that most airports are a great distance from the city they serve and that the timings of the flights were beyond their control as the airfield closed after five pm. The airfield was operated by the Navy and Dan-Air had no power to change any of the airfield's regulations. Dundee Council said they would do all they could to assist Dan-Air with the service when it re-opened in Spring. When asked about the figures, a company spokesman said 'The few passengers don't warrant any. The people of Dundee don't want to fly.'
NETWORK & PRESS 1961
1962
There had been issues in late 1961 with the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) who had been accused of breaching the 1960 Air Transport Bill, which aimed to improve the standing of independent airlines. Despite the ATLB rejecting Dan-Air's bid to serve Paris from Liverpool, the ATLB had given the go-ahead for them to operate between Liverpool and Rotterdam, but this was not without its own problems. British European Airways (BEA) had objected to the application for both services as they claimed they were already suffering on the Manchester-Paris and Manchester - Amsterdam routes due to competition from Air France and KLM. Despite Liverpool's protest that Liverpool was a completely different entity to Manchester. The ATLB argued that Paris was already served from a north west airport. Dan-Air insisted the ATLB nor BEA could complain if Dan-Air operated into Rotterdam from Liverpool, on the grounds that BEA flew from Manchester to Amsterdam - but they did! Fortunately the ATLB backed down and the licence was finally granted. Having missed opportunities to establish the service over late summer and Christmas, the new international service opened on January 9th. The month was a difficult trading month for all industries. Aviation was already affected by seasonal trends. Aircraft in the early 1960s lacked the sophistication of today's types and the weather often hindered operations in winter months., particularly on smaller types such as the De Havilland Dove. Despite this, the new service commenced - and was promoted as a 'luxury service'. With prices at £11 14s one way and return fares at £21 2s. In today's prices that equates to £306 one way and £585 return respectively. One can indeed say, that this was a luxury, if not only for the price. The new 'Air Link' would see Dove aircraft arrive in Liverpool from Newcastle and a separate Dove would ferry passengers from Bristol and Cardiff before setting off on the Liverpool-Rotterdam flight. the aircraft departed at 1030 arriving in Rotterdam at 1:50 pm (1250 UK time) the return would be at 2:50 pm, arriving Liverpool at 4:10 UK time. Dan-Air promised that they would look into re-arranging flight times to enable business passengers to fly to Rotterdam, have a days business and return the same day. The nine seat Dove would be used on the main service, with larger aircraft being introduced as the service becomes more successful. A Dan-Air spokesman said;
'This is the worst possible time to start a new service, but we are so confident about this link that we feel it is vital to get it started as soon as we can.'
British Farm Eggs made up part of the cargo on the inaugural Liverpool - Rotterdam flight.
International Services were vital to the airline's growth, but obtaining the licences always involved a fight with both the authorities and other airlines, mainly British European Airways and BOAC, who would always object to every route application independent carriers made. The Gatwick - Basle service was supplemented this year when several new licences were awarded to Dan-Air. Bournemouth - Basle,Bristol/Cardiff as well as Bristol - Ostend via Gatwick. The initial flights were hampered by severe fog at Liverpool which was a major problem for airlines in the early 1960s. In particular a combination of fog and industrial smoke, which became known as Smog, a thick, dark cloud often made visibility an issue in industrial cities.
The Dundee - London service that had been withdrawn in January was due to re-start in May. Dan-Air's promise to give the service a second attempt was to be discussed at a meeting in Dundee with the local authority and the Chamber of Commerce. Dan-Air management also attended. They did not expect to hear what was thrown at them. They said that Dan-Air was partly to blame for the failure of the route, claiming that the Dakota that the airline used was 'outdated' and that the company needed to invest in a new Fokker F27. This aircraft could fly the route in one hour 30 minutes as opposed the the two and a half hours the Dakota took. This aircraft they said could use short runways, Dan-Air had said the previous year that their Ambassador could not use the Condor airfield due to runway limitations. Dan-Air stressed that they were keen for the service to be a success, but it could not invest £239,000 (£6.3 million in 2024) on an aircraft that could not guarantee immediate success. In any event the service was re-scheduled and would commence in May, with an increased service and, subject to approval, a lower fare. The airline had applied to the ATLB to integrate services through Prestwick. Flights would be times to connect with a BKS service directly into London Heathrow. Fares would be £7 8s compared to the 1961 fare of £8 12s. Southbound flights would be Tuesday and Wednesday via Prestwick and twice on Tuesday via Newcaslte. Northbound flights would operate Monday through to Thursday. Dan-Air said that the services at HMS Condor were inadequate to allow them to operate as they would like to; 'The airfield has no lighting, so we are unable to fly at night. Our services had to leave late in the morning and have to be back by late afternoon. We have negotiations underway to make the airport position easier, but I cannot say anything about them at the moment. We hope that the two streams of traffic this year, with the addition of Prestwick will add up to something that is economic. By itself, the Dundee service was not economic. It is difficult to say whether it was due to a lack of traffic or our schedule. We are not going to be put off straight away. we have had a lot of criticism, but I think it must be remembered that BEA would not even tackle the service. Whether or not the service will continue this year into the winter will depend on the traffic trend.'
In December 1961 a new airline had been formed. The airline was established as Euravia (London) by British businessman T.E.D. Langton and aviation consultant J.E.D. Williams on 1 December 1961. Euravia was founded at a time of considerable turmoil for the independent sector of the British airline industry, during the early 1960s. Several carriers suffered from severe financial hardship and some were even driven into bankruptcy.
On 1 April 1962, the new airline; Euravia was launched. They established their initial operating base at Luton Airport; on 13 April. The first aircraft, a Lockheed Constellation, commenced charter flights on 5th May. Euravia benefited from its close association with inclusive tour holiday company Universal Sky Tours. Euravia's batch of three Constellations performed flights on behalf of Universal Sky Tours. Within ten days, the operation was reportedly breaking-even; by a month later, the firm's initial fleet was operating at its maximum planned utilisation rate. However, all was not well with the new carrier. One ex pilot told us:
'We looked on with envy at these large aircraft joined the UK charter market. They were huge compared to anything we flew. They seated a hundred passengers. The problems they ran into came because they only had two aircraft to start with, and aircraft that were manufactured in the late 40s and early 50s had a habit of going tech. Naturally Euravia didn't have much of a stock of spares and didn't have their own engineering division back then. Consequently when one of their aircraft packed up they were knee deep in do do.'
Stories began to emerge about Euravia aircraft being delayed for 36 hours, which then had a domino effect on flights that were to take place afterwards. The first months of Euravia's debut year were a disaster operationally. On 5 October of that same year, a rival charter airline Skyways, one of Britain's foremost independent airlines during the 1950s and early 1960s, was taken over by Euravia and integrated into its operations. With it came operational expertise and technical capability. The decision had already been made to replace the Constellation aircraft with Bristol Britannias. Euravia could be safe in the knowledge that there would be an abundance of spare parts and engineers on hand at BOAC to ensure the aircraft could keep flying.
UK independent airlines were fighting hard to gain a foothold with scheduled services and in many respects they had not seen what was about to come. The idea that a massive package holiday explosion that would see millions of people head off into the sun. The fact that independents were concerning themselves with tiny, opportunistic scheduled service, whilst largely ignoring what would go on to be a revolution in travel should not go unnoticed. Upon deciding to launch operations, Euravia obtained the necessary licences from the ATLB, airworthiness certificates for its aircraft from the Air Registration Board, and an Air Operator's Certificate from the Ministry of Aviation. These applications were not without some difficulty as Euravia had the distinction of being refused more licences than any other two airlines put together; this was due to the fact that they had placed a larger number of applications than any British airline, except for British United Airways (BUA).
On April 28th Dan-Air applied to the ATLB to operate from Perth's Scone airport. but Dundee Council said they believed that Scone Airport would not be attractive to the business men of Dundee, as it was too far away from the city. A few days later on 11th May, Dan-Air announced that Perth Scone airport would be used instead of HMS Condor, saying 'Scone is a much better equipped airport that HMS Condor and there isn't really any difference in the distance between Dundee and the two airports.' the flights would no longer be operated with a Dakota, instead a superior Airspeed Ambassador would leave Prestwick at 9:15 am and arrive in Gatwick at 11:30 am. the return would leave Gatwick at 6:15 pm arriving in Prestwick at 8:30 after one week the flights would be extended to include Scone with an additional 20 minutes flying time added. Flights operated by BEA had been disrupted due to industrial action, and so Dan-air brought the inaugural flights forward a week. They hoped to cash in on cancelled BEA flights due to fly between Glasgow and London. However, the electrician's strike action was resolved early, and Dan-Air declared they had been left 'High and dry'. By late May, plans to operate the service using Ambassadors had been shelved, and Dakotas would now carry out the the flights. May 21st saw the first flight without any passengers booked on the Dundee (Scone) sector, whilst the Prestwick - Manchester and London Gatwick was booked up. The second flight had just one passenger booked, and took off as scheduled, with a spokesman saying: 'We weren't expecting great things initially.'
The next day three passengers were carried on the Newcastle-Scone leg which was operated by an eight seat Dove aircraft. Dundee Chamber of Commerce were scathing in their criticism. 'What the business man needs here is a day-return service. As far as we are concerned, the present service which doesn't offer a day-return is of little use. The journey time of four hours is terrible. We need a more up-to-date aircraft.'
The Liverpool-Rotterdam service had built up slowly from its launch in January, and by June Dan-Air were given the licence to operate the flights until January 1969. Flight times were altered allowing for an 7am departure in Bristol and a 9:25 am Liverpool take off. The return flight left Rotterdam at 4:25 pm, which allowed for a days business in the city.
In June Dan-Air commenced a service to Jersey from Gatwick. Flights would depart on Fridays and Saturdays. In April the airline was able to add Dundee and Perth to its list of airports. With flights bound for Liverpool. From there you could connect to Rotterdam, Bristol and Cardiff. Now known as 'Link City' Dan-Air's domestic network was growing. The service had been successful and was now being operated by Ambassador aircraft. The service had began with a nine seat Dove aircraft, before progessing to a DC3 and was now successful enough to warrant an Ambassador on the route. Mr. Laurence Moore of Dan-Air said the service had grown and was now carrying freight as well as passengers. The flight times were altered to allow for Dan-Air passengers to arrive from other cities on their Link City Network.
Cargo was a vital part of Dan-Air's early 1960s business. One such flight was carrying 115 pigs bound for Bucharest and Prague. The Bristol Freighter took of from Stanstead shortly after the pigs broke a barrier and ran wild in the cabin. Captain Warren Wilson said 'They generated a terrific amount of heat. When the barrier broke they ran about the aircraft. Sadly two of the pigs died because of suffocation as they all piled on top of each other.'
Another cargo flight took off from Gatwick carrying £2 million worth of paintings. The artwork was flown with a police escort to Milan on a Bristol Freighter aircraft.
Following intense research Dan-Air revealed in July that they planned to operated scheduled services from Enniskillen in Norther Ireland to the UK Midlands. The ATLB turned down their application to operate the flights. Liverpool saw record growth for an airline at the North West Airport. Thanks to the Rotterdam service the airline carried 411 passengers in January alone, an increase of 277%.
The move from Blackbushe to Gatwick was swift and successful. Dan-Air needed to have the Blackbushe - Jersey service relocated, which was approved by the ATLB .
Something that could never happen today occurred in October... A stewardess was taken ill just before she was about to fly to Rotterdam. She was taken to the airport hotel to rest. Meanwhile, Lynne Kilroe, a junior receptionist with the airline took her place. She was given a quick run down of safety drills, told to read the announcements from a sheet and serve drinks to the two passengers booked on the Dakota flight. She made the return trip too. At the end of the year Dan-Air could boast it had carried more than 6,000 passengers from Liverpool. The Dundee-Prestwick-Newcastle-Manchester-Gatwick service was altered in September with Prestwick and Dundee dropped entirely.
British European Airways had reported a loss of £1.5 million. Lord Douglas in charge of BEA's Highlands and Islands Services. He requested that the Government grant BEA a subsidy of £540,000 to help cover the losses, which he said were inevitable on services that were deemed 'social services' that were vital to Scottish people. The independent airlines were incensed. Many of them declared that if the services were 'social services' then they should be put out to tender, so that all airlines could apply. Dan-Air's commercial director, Lawrence Moore said he had carried out a complete study of the Highlands and Islands Services and believed Dan-Air could carry out the services with just a £150,000 subsidy; 'I think there is something to be said for putting it out for tender. If the Government don't, then they will leave themselves open to accusations of squandering public money. We are interested in serving Scotland, and if the Government are proposing to put these Highlands and Islands Services in a special category, with a subsidy, BEA should not go unchallenged. Whatever the Government decide to do, the whole thing should be open to competitive application. BEA are using aircraft that are totally unsuited to the Highlands route network.'
Euravia's success saw Dan-Air's strong position in the charter market severely dented. Euravia's Constellations larger capacity and greater speed outperformed Dan-Air's flagship Ambassador. In a further blow Skytours chose to greatly reduce charter of Dan-Air aircraft, in favour of their own. In Liverpool, one of Dan-Air's main bases, Euravia had carried almost 2,000 passengers out of Liverpool alone before the year was out. Dan-Air had carried 6,000 on a mix of charter and scheduled services.
In November it was announced that from spring next year Prestwick would once again be served as an 'Air Link' destination. Dundee would not return, as load factors had been abysmal.
In 1962 the Government had decided that the Association Of British Travel Agents (ABTA) would no longer be responsible for regulating accommodation abroad. This followed news that Tour Operators had been 1962 selling holidays before they had even been given licences to sell them. There were stories of passengers stranded in terrible hotels, flights had been double booked and passengers had little means of redress. The Associated National Tourist Office Representatives brought out a code of practice to safeguard passengers. But 1962 was to be critical year for the charter industry. Laws were now in place to see that companies selling these holidays would have to be registered and a scheme was in place that would see Tour Operators, on a voluntary basis, secure Bonds with banks or insurance companies to protect holiday makers should the company go bust. Rules were implemented to ensure travel brochures be more accurate. Double booking was outlawed and companies that merged would have to have approval.
The Bristol flights were doing well, and by the end of the year, Dan-air announced that the next step up would be to replace the nine seat Dove aircraft with Dakotas on these flights.
More passengers than ever before were carried in 1962. The fleet was enhanced with the addition of a fourth Ambassador. Three Dakota, two DH Dove, four Avro York and three Bristol Freighters made up the rest of the fleet.
Second international service commenced
- Liverpool-Rotterdam.
NEW ROUTES
- Bournemouth to Basle
- Bristol and Gatwick-Ostend began.
NETWORK & PRESS 1962
1963
The early part of 1963 saw major disruption to Dan-Air's flights. Severe weather hampered many flights. The Dove aircraft was unable to operate for several days in January due to snow. Several Ambassador flights were also delayed due to fog. The disruption lasted until well into February.
Dan-Air applied to the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) in January to operate scheduled services from Liverpool to Kristiansand in Norway as well as to increase the number of flights from Liverpool to Rotterdam. There was also an application to extend the Gatwick - Bristol - Cardiff - Liverpool - Newcastle service to Prestwick, which was objected to by Starways of Liverpool who presently flew from Liverpool to Glasgow. Mercury Airlines also objected.
The Avro Yorks that flew for Dan-Air were destined to be retired at the end of the year. Whilst the Yorks were serviceable, they were not efficient. They were also noisy and looked old fashioned. Three of the carrier's main rivals, Caledonian Airways, British United Airways (BUA) and Euravia had started 1963 with headline grabbing stories. Caledonian had been given access to the USA for unlimited charter flights from Prestwick, and were lobbying for rights to operate similar flights out of Gatwick. Their flights offered unprecedented levels of service amongst charter carriers, including free champagne. British United had fought the ATLB to win licences to operate scheduled services into many European cities, including Paris, Athens, Barcelona, Brussels, Genoa, Milan and Palma. This of course meant absolutely nothing if the authorities in the corresponding countries did not give their approval. The Greeks flatly refused to allow BUA into Athens, and both the Spanish and Belgian regulators were stalling at every opportunity. Euravia's own ambitions were not limited to Luton, the airline's main base. In 1963 the carrier applied to operate to 34 destinations from Liverpool alone. Similar applications were made from Manchester and Gatwick with a smaller amount from Newcastle and Bristol. If granted, the licences would be valid until 1970. Euravia's fleet of six Lockheed Constellation would carry out charter flights primarily on behalf of Universal Sky Tours, the largest Tour Operator to emerge in the 1960s. One former Dan-Air manager told us;
'We were in a difficult position, because we faced many obstacles in whatever we tried to do. We couldn't get a real foothold on any significant scheduled routes, and we had been caught unaware as to how much the package tour business had suddenly burst into the market. Our Ambassador fleet was the best aircraft we had by far. Several Tour Operators chartered them, and they went to work on flights in Belgium, Holland, France,German and Austria. The problem we had was that the Ambassador relatively was small. Our York aircraft had been built in the 1940s and they had many limitations in terms of range, and capacity. They didn't look very good either I'm afraid. Then along came Euravia with their Constellations which were very large and gracious looking aircraft. They could seat a hundred people and had galleys with ovens. They had excellent range and speed compared with anything we had. Their Constellations were built in the mid 1940s, and our Ambassadors were very youthful compared to them. What was a problem was the lack of new aircraft that were available, although I am sure we could have financed the Connies in a similar way that Euravia had. But we chose to carry on trying to get scheduled licences on piddling routes. It's ironic that when we eventually did decide to really muscle in on the charter scene, that we did so in a spectacular way, that made us by far the largest and most successful charter carrier in the late 60s. It really was uphill in the 1960s. Looking at the fleet as a stand alone, it looks rather crummy, but at the time it was on a par with our competitors'. But, and I have to stress; it is a big but, not re-equipping our fleet fast enough was always a problem that dogged us. We should have stuck our neck out an got hold of Viscounts at this time, and possibly Bristol Britannias. the latter had started to become more readily available.'
The three Bristol Freighters still in the fleet carried out cargo flights, but had finally been withdrawn from passenger flights. Three Ambassadors also joined the fleet this year. The ATLB had given Dan-Air a licence to operate Manchester - Birmingham to Lille, but flights had never started. The airline asked for a suspension of the licence. Which would prevent other airlines from applying for it, whilst allowing Dan-Air to not fly services themselves.
Passenger numbers continued to increase with the expansion of scheduled services, the extra flights meant that more aircraft were needed, and so a second DH Dove joined the fleet. A new international scheduled services was also added this year; Gatwick - Ostend.
A licence was granted in February for the Liverpool - Kristiansand service. Flights would be timed so that passengers on the 'Air Link' flights from other UK airports could join the service. Departures would be on Mondays and Fridays from Liverpool at 10:00 am and Newcastle at 11:30 am. The return flights were at 2:45 pm. There would be a flight from Newcastle to Liverpool at 5:50 pm. Dan-Air had hopes that they could fly seamen working in Norway.
The Norwegian Authorities were first to agree to the Kristiansand route. There would be special fares for seamen. The ATLB approved the route and the 40% seaman's discount. A Dakota with 36 seats would operate the passenger and cargo flights. The success of the Liverpool Rotterdam service saw to a new Sunday flight added.
Successful applications were submitted to operate flights from Plymouth to Jersey and from London Gatwick to Basle and Ostend. On each occasion the timings were designed to enable passengers to fly into Gatwick on one of the airlines 'Air Link' flights from an ever growing number of UK airports which now included Plymouth and Gloucester as well as existing cities Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Cardiff, Bristol, Swansea and Exeter.
A Scottish councillor complained about what he called 'Rag-bag airlines' who, he claimed, 'Were coming up to Scotland to make money, regardless of safety.' The ATLB responded by saying:
'It is pretty evident that this councillor is not really thinking about airlines at all, but charter companies, who are quite a different kettle of fish. The standards imposed by the Ministry of Aviation have to be rigidly observed by all operators and are backed by a scrupulous inspection system. In addition the Air Transport Licencing Board will have a lot to say before any 'rag-bag airline gets near a scheduled service. Until recently, some charter airlines were operating on the razors edge of the regulations. I should doubt now that many or any remain now.'
The Scotsman Newspaper journalist reported 'I flew with Pegasus Airlines UK three years ago, and the aged Viking they used was so heavily loaded that it just staggered off the end of the runway. This firm, I know is no longer in business, that they didn't have an accident is entirely to the credit of its excellent pilots. I asked our pilot how he had found himself with such a firm. He told me about the difficulties he had experienced in trying to get back into a scheduled airline as opposed to a charter. He gave me a very useful tip for the future: 'Always find out if an airline has a trooping licence - if they do, they are as safe as the scheduled airlines.'
The newspaper claimed that if Dan-air had been given the £1 million subsidy that British European had been given, would never have walked away from Dundee in a million years. The paper said that BEA were using 'obsolete Viscount' aircraft and that the Herald airliners that BEA were replacing Viscounts with, had been foisted on the corporation against their better judgement. Dan-Air's DC3 were 'out of date' but if they were to use F27s then they would have been in a position to 'clean up'. Finally, the newspaper said that Scotland deserved better than BEA, concluding 'If anyone thinks BEA is the ultimate airline, then perhaps they should try a trip with Swissair.'
In April a chartered Dan-Air Ambassador carrying 54 British nuclear disarmament campaigners gained publicity when it and its passengers were denied entry into West Berlin. Their plane stayed overnight at Dusseldorf because the crew's flying hours had expired. After being refused entry by German police, the demonstrators returned to their plane but refused to fasten their seat belts and the plane could not leave. The Dan-Air spokesman said; 'According to the plans made during the night. the plane should arrive at Gatwick today The Intention is that the British party should be on board.' The German police spokesman, Herr Herbert Klein officer told reporters 'The pilot, a Captain Arthur Larkman braked hard on the runway as he was preparing to take off, because he learned that only 16 of the nuclear disarmers had fastened their seat-belts. The plane then taxied back to the airport with engine trouble.' Herr Klein said that the engine trouble was a result of the sudden hard braking. The disarmers had refused to get off the aircraft and had spent the night on board. This was because the German authorities had refused them entry. The passengers were provided with breakfast. Authorities said that it they refused to co operate that day they would be detained. Director and General Manager of Dan-Air, Mr. Laurence Moore said the aircraft would be grounded until that afternoon. The passengers agreed to pay the day demurrage charge for the aircraft.
On July 1st a company Dakota with 17 passengers on board developed engine trouble midway on a flight from Liverpool to Bristol & Cardiff. The aircraft turned back to Liverpool where it landed safely on one engine. The aircraft was met by fire crews who escorted it back to the terminal. A Replacement aircraft was flown from the Isle of Man and passengers completed their journey after a short delay.
Dan-Air's ground staff threatened a strike on the August bank holiday if they were not paid an increase in Salary of between 9 Shillings and £1. They were not alone, British United and four other airlines were also threatening strike action. BEA and BOAC had agreed to give their staff the 3.5% pay rise, but Dan-Air were adamant that they would not toe the line. With an intervention by former industrial commissioner Sir Wilfred Needen Cunard Eagle, Starways and Cambrian Airways agree to pay up. This led to seven UK airlines, including British united and Dan-Air , leaving the Joint Council for Civil Air Transport. Freddie Laker, who was Managing Director of British United said that the seven airlines had been sacked by the JCCAT, by the state owned carrier because of their refusal to give up their rights to independently negotiate the employment terms and conditions of their own workers. The dispute was ended on 15th August after airlines agreed to increase wages, whilst refusing to agree to any future terms that the trades union imposed. The independents have to have the right to their own deals as all of these carriers have different styles of operation to those airlines within the public sector. It would be impossible for the private sector airlines to have the same terms and remain profitable. Laker said it was an attempt to destroy any form of independent air transport.
The slower growth of 1963 was a result of the stranglehold of UK law that continued to thwart independent airlines. Standby fares had just been introduced and BEA had achieved 3-4% increases without affecting traditional business. BOAC, the intercontinental state owned airline wanted to also commence standby fares. BOAC applied for the London Heathrow to Glasgow section of their Transatlantic routes. Dan-Air objected. Mr Louden, Dan-Air's Scheduled Services Director said that it was unfair because BOAC were wanting domestic fares when they were an international airline. BKS finally managed to get a foothold into Heathrow airport with domestic flights operated to Leeds/Bradford, Tees Side and Newcastle. BKS flew international services to Bilbao in Spain, Biarritz and Bordeaux and had taken delivery of the new Avro 748 prop-liner, which had many technological advances over Dan-Air's Ambassador.
British Eagle Airways were at last allowed to open a base at Heathrow, it then purchased Bristol Britannia aircraft. British Eagle, along with BUA and Caledonian had brought about a change in UK Law that hitherto gave the state airlines a duopoly. From now onwards, in theory at least, airlines could compete head to head with BOAC and BEA. This, in reality, didn't happen. The independent airlines had sought a change their airlines into scheduled carriers. They claimed, the seasonal nature of charter flights made advance planning difficult and the low profit margins made expansion impossible. Eagle, BUA and Caledonian were aiming to break into long haul scheduled markets, primarily across the Atlantic. This was not the direction Dan-Air wished to take, but without an integrated tour operator behind them, Dan-Air knew that the purchase of newer and larger aircraft would be extremely difficult. Dan-Air were well aware that if Caledonian and British Eagle were to be successful with their bids, that a substantial gap in the charter market would open. Provided they could match the equipment that Euravia operated, Dan-Air could potentially 'clean up'. One former pilot told us:
'There is absolutely no doubt about it. Euravia's Constellations were a problem to us. The package holiday boom was just around the corner and we knew it was coming. Fred Newman was a splendid fellow, but a cautious man when it came to spending big bucks. He knew that Britannia's, even second hand ones, weren't going cheap. The Constellations that were available had limitations. They were old piston aircraft too, the only advantage to them was that they carried more passengers than our Ambassadors; which incidentally were hardly state of the art. We were not in any position to purchase new aircraft, certainly not jets. I walked over to one of our Ambassadors one day and saw it standing next to Viscounts and 748s and I knew, no matter how lovely it was to fly or to be a passenger on, that its days were numbered. I thought it had a perhaps only a few years of service left. Even the Government were against the use of piston aircraft, shoving extra tax on the fuel. Turboprops had less tax to pay and were already a whole lot more efficient. I confess that I looked at other airlines for jobs and was sorely tempted to leave. My loyalty to Dan-Air was the thing that kept me, but I knew that the search for a replacement had to happen sooner, rather than later.'
In November Starways, the Liverpool based carrier began a 'co-operation' with British Eagle which led to the eventual take-over. The former pilot went on to say:
'I had noticed that Starways had purchased Viscounts from Air France a couple of years before. When I had brought this to the board's attention previously I was told that there were not any Viscount aircraft available. I had argued back then that we needed new turbo-prop aircraft. We could not ever hope to really expand and compete with airlines with an all piston engine fleet. I was, not told the truth shall we say, when I was told these aircraft couldn't be sourced. Those in charge couldn't have known at this time that a huge opportunity would come our way in three years time! So, I remain convinced that the board didn't know where we were heading at that time. It was hardly resting on our laurels. We were not that fortunate. We were more likely to be accused of stagnating.'
Although this year saw an increase in passenger numbers to more than 115,000, only 36,000 of that number were carried on scheduled services. In a difficult year, one of the largest Tour Operators - 'Fiesta' went bankrupt, leaving passengers stranded in resort and those booked to travel were facing a cancelled holiday, and no provision to pay them back. The Government was forced to make rules even tougher. Several angry passengers protested outside Travel Agents' shops and angry scenes followed, with people complaining that they did not fully understand that a Tour Operator, a Travel Agent and an airline were three separate entities. Travel Agents were only selling holidays on behalf of Tour Operators. Who had chartered aircraft from airlines. Travel Agents were innocent. From 1962 onwards ABTA registered travel agents could sell scheduled airline tickets as well as Inclusive Tours. From 1963 they could only sell holidays from ABTA registered tour operators.
NETWORK & PRESS 1963
1964
The Dan-Air scheduled network continued to grow, albeit slowly. The International network comprised of just three destinations - Basle Ostend and Rotterdam. The 'Air Link' Network. Domestic services comprised of Gatwick and Plymouth to Jersey and a series of flights operated between the Isle of Man and Cardiff, Bristol, Prestwick and Gloucester. A service linking Gatwick to Prestwick commenced The airline also flew from Gatwick to Liverpool, Bristol, Plymouth where flights linked up for the Isle of Man.
In January the De Havilland Heron was involved in an accident at Liverpool. The aircraft's braking system failed upon landing. This resulted in the pilot having to swerve off the runway and onto a grass verge, where he brought the aircraft to a sop. The twelve passengers on board were unharmed and ferried by car to the terminal. The flight was arriving from Newcastle and was set to fly to Cardiff and Bristol. A replacement aircraft flew the eight passengers to their destination.
In January, the council at Dundee asked Dan-Air to operate a scheduled service to Edinburgh. The airline refused, having failed to make a success from Dundee two years in a row, it was not a surprise. Loganair agreed to take on the flights.
Dan-Air made an application to the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) to use Hawarden airport in north Wales. The 'Air Link' network connected Plymouth, Exeter, Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool together. This proposed service would connect northern and southern Wales. The Flintshire council were certain of success, claiming that business men were already chartering aircraft at a much higher expense. The 'Air Link' operated a daily morning and evening service in both directions. From May this year there would be a Sunday flight in both directions using Dove or Heron Aircraft.
The Ambassador fleet now numbered seven models and were used for both charter and scheduled services. The main problem the airline had was in finding replacement aircraft. Although the Ambassador was a piston powered aircraft, it was still relatively young. In May, the charter carrier Euravia, owned by the Thomson Holidays group announced they were purchasing six Bristol Britannia turbo-prop airliners from BOAC. The deal was worth a cool £1 million. The Britannia was a superb machine and was capable of carrying 117 passengers. The Britannia had a cruising speed of 360 mph, whilst the 49 seat Ambassador lagged behind at 260 mph, with a maximum range of 500 miles, compared with a 4,500 mile range of the Britannia.
On paper, it was simple, Dan-Air should purchase the Britannia or a similar type. But the airline's style of operation couldn't warrant such a purchase for domestic services that often saw flights in single figures. Charter flights to southern Europe were certainly something that Dan-Air would have liked to engage in. It has been speculated over the years whether the airline should have launched their own Tour Operator at this time, or tied in with an established company in order to maximise the utilisation of aircraft. The five Britannias were capable of carrying more than a million sector passengers in a year. Dan-Air's own fleet was fully utilised for the year Fred Newman had declared, but at some point in the not to distant future, the company would be able to compete with charter rates of other airlines, nor offer non-stop flights to further afield places.
In April Dan-Air flew 1,500 people in and out of Liverpool which was a substantial increase from the 600 or so who had travelled in the same period the previous year. It was undeniable that certain domestic routes had been popular with the public.
The ATLB gave Dan-Air permission to operate'no more than fourteen flights a week' between Cardiff - Bristol and Rotterdam. The airline had built up a significant reputation on the west of the UK and had started to gain a loyal following. Former travel agent Edward Wheeldon who had several shops in and around Bristol takes up this story.
'I had a wonderful relationship with Dan-Air - they would provide me with point of sale items such as posters and display material. Those little air links on the west of the country were convenient for our locals and it was an area that the national carriers seemed to neglect. The thing we started to notice in the mid sixties was that their rivals had started to replace the old Dakotas and so on with Viscounts and Vanguards and British United even got jets. I was told by a Dan-Air chap that they were truly a Great British airline as all the aircraft in the fleet were British....They were also looking a bit dated. What we wanted to be able to sell was nippy little aircraft like the Islander. The situation had to change.'
Pilots from nine airlines threatened strike action over pay in June. This would cause havoc to the upcoming summer season and a settlement was quickly sought. Failure to reach entente saw Dan-Air and eight other airline pilots go on strike on 30th June. The pilots had said that they had effectively had a pay freeze the previous year and demanded to be paid the same wages that their contemporaries employed by the state owned airlines were paid. The airlines said they were not in a position to match the BEA and BOAC pilots as it would destabilise their airlines. The proposed strike was called off when BKS, British Eagle, Channel Airways and Derby Airways agreed to meet the pay demands. Cambrian Airways agreed at a later date, leaving British United, Dan-Air, Skyways and Morton Air Services who were willing to go to an industrial court. The court had the authority to impose a 'compulsory arbitration'.
A settlement was eventually reached. In a fresh round of route applications British Eagle was rejected licences on several domestic route applications, as was Derby Airways. Dan-Air was given approval to fly to Cardiff/Newcastle in Norway twice a week, starting in June. The fact that so many proposed routes were turned down was further proof of the bias towards British European Airways (BEA).
A noticeable shift in foreign holiday options began in 1964. Destinations such as Tangiers, The Greek Islands, Romania, Poland and Yugoslavia begun to appear in advertisements. The limit on how much money a person could take out of the country varied by the amount a holiday cost. It was roughly 60-40%. The new resorts now available offered holidaymakers cheap drinks, food and excursions. Prior to the Summer season, Sir Henry Lunn's company acquired Polytechnic Travel Services which had been a seller of holidays to students. The new company name was Lunn Poly. Meanwhile, Universal Sky Tours, which was owned by Captain Ted Langton was proving to be very successful. His airline, Euravia was re branded as Britannia Airways, to coincide with the acquisition of their six Bristol Britannia aircraft. The tour operator, Universal SkyTours, had previously been owned by Great Universal Catalogue. Now, under Langdon's ownership, the company had set out to be a very different Tour Operator. In 1964 Euravia submitted plans to fly charters to 34 destinations from Liverpool alone. Similar numbers would fly from Luton and Manchester. The Britannias became the obvious choice for Tour Operators, who were quick to charter any available aircraft that Britannia had available. The type created a new benchmark, that other airlines and tour operators would have to try very hard to reach. One series of charters that the Britannia operated was Luton to Valencia in Spain, clipping almost an hour off the flying time that Dan-Air's Ambassadors took and carrying 68 more passengers.
British European Airways (BEA) were flying roughly 5,000 passengers a year from London to Valencia. They were able to do this because of a loosening of rules that allowed charter flights into airports that the state airlines flew into, as long as they did not depart from the same airport. Although Britannia flew out of Luton, much further away from the capital than Heathrow, Britannia Airways were now challenging BEA much closer to BEA's main base. Arrowsmith Holidays chartered Dan-Air Ambassador aircraft to fly to the city from Manchester.
Dan-Air re-configured their Ambassador aircraft used on charter flights to carry 65 passengers on the Valencia flights which was more than the type had ever carried before. In 1964 the total number of passengers heading to Valencia from various UK airports was 43,000. BEA reacted with indignity. Complaining to the ATLB that charter airlines were effectively killing off their business. Despite the challenge from Britannia, Dan-Air increased their own Ambassador fleet and didn't introduce a new type of aircraft. One of our pilot contributors said;
'I met up with Fred Newman and discussed with him on more than one occasion that we had to do something to get ahead, or at least get equal to Britannia Airways. He was very sympathetic and agreed that things would have to change. He told me that he was working toward a solution. I knew that BOAC had begun to sell off their Britannias, and urged for us to purchase them, but I was told that they were 'expensive' I also knew that we had made a profit for many years, so I couldn't understand the reluctance to re-equip.'
In July Dan-Air applied to add Middleton St George airport (Now known as Tees Side) as the latest destination on its Link City network. The ATLB chose Dan-Air over British Eagle for the service, commenting that Dan-Air already operated between Liverpool and Newcastle, so a further stop would be beneficial to the area. Dan-Air's smaller aircraft (which would be the Dove with eight seats and the Heron with 15 seats) would also be an advantage on this service. The new route would serve Plymouth - Swansea - Bristol - Cardiff - Chester' (Hawarden) - Liverpool - Middleton St. George - Newcastle - Dundee / Perth (Scone) The fare from Middleton St.George to Liverpool would be £3 6s (student £2 19s).
Having given Dan-Air the licence for a service from Cardiff to Hawarden to Cardiff, Dan-Air had to decide what to do with it. Archie Louden the scheduled services manager said that there had to be a great deal of planning undertaken when adding any new service to a timetable. He hoped to have details of the new service when the new timetables were printed in September, but hoped to have flights up and running by spring 1965. Discussing the possibilities Mr Lowden said that one possibility was the creation of a link from Cardiff to Hawarden that would then fly to Liverpool and Newcastle. There was also a possibility that Middleton St.George on Tees Side might be available at a later date. He said the attraction of any route could be enhanced by the onward routing possibilities. The Welsh Authorities were keen to know about passengers travelling from Cardiff to Hawarden in the morning and returning late in the afternoon or early evening. Lowden said 'This was one of the primary purposes of the proposed service. I realise that the local Government would greatly benefit from this'.
The sole Avro York in the fleet was retired from service in October. The aircraft had an interesting history having carried equipment to the Woomera Rocket Range and had taken part in the Berlin Airlift. Dan-Air used the aircraft to transport Hungarian refugees following the 1956 uprising. After its last flight it was donated to the Scout Association's new air training centre at Lasham. The York would be used as a bunk house for anyone interested in flying.
In November Dan-Air applied to the ATLB to operate up to ten flights a week in either direction between Manchester and Glasgow. Derby Airways objected on the grounds they wished to vary one of their own services from Birmingham - Glasgow to enable a stop at Manchester. There was a major row at the ATLB in London over West Country flights. Two airlines disagreed and came face to face to settle the argument. The British Westpoint Mayflower company sought a licence to operate between Exeter and/or Plymouth from Newquay & Isles of Scilly to enable to company to connect with inter-line services in London Heathrow. Dan-Air opposed and sought a variation of the service already held by Mayflower Air Services. The licence permitted the carriage of passengers, cargo and mail not more than three times a week in any one direction between October and March. Traffic rights, according to the licence may not be exercised between Exeter and Plymouth, Plymouth and Newquay and Exeter and Newquay unless such carriage is extended by a longer journey by air between Newquay and Exeter and Plymouth, unless it is otherwise impossible to make reasonable connection with air services from Newquay (*Webmaster note - if you follow this you are doing very well!!) Mr. Dixon, director or British Westpoint Airlines said 'because of the growth of Plymouth as an industrial town and the increased use of air transport by businessmen, there was sufficient demand' for his company's proposed service. Businessmen flying into Heathrow airport would have better facilities for flights to other parts of the country and overseas than from Gatwick, where Dan-Air flies. Mr Archie Louden of Dan-Air said; 'Mayflower Air Services have placed undue stress on the need to cater for inter-line passengers at Heathrow. Dan-Air are providing a good service on the route, which is still in a very delicate position, and needs full protection so that the route and Dan-Air might be able to develop.'
The Liverpool - Rotterdam service was something to crow about. The service had initially been operated with Dove aircraft and had been upgraded to DC3 Dakota aircraft seating 36 passengers. Dan-Air's spokesman proclaimed "'The route has proved so popular so far and Dan-Air are making it it even more attractive, when we introduce larger, pressurised Ambassadors on it.'
The Ambassador was re-configured to carry 55 passengers and would cut the flying time by 20 minutes to just two hours. The service from Liverpool would depart at 10.05 a.m. The return service left Rotterdam at 5pm the single fare to Rotterdam from Speke was £11 / 18s and £22/ 13s return. A monthly excursion return cost £18/ 7s.
The airline's growth was sluggish for a second year in succession. The company was in profit, but passenger numbers had hardly increased in either scheduled or charter services. There was little to show that the Government had any intention of making life any easier for independent airlines. In fact, while British European and BOAC could boast impressive fleets including the very latest VC10 and Tridents, the only UK independent airline with any jets in its fleet was British United Airways, who the UK Government had already deemed 'a preferred carrier'. Britannia Airways had seen huge growth in just a few years, without having to glance sideways at scheduled services. It had become apparent that British citizens did want to travel overseas on holiday. Dan-Air's fleet was far from ideal. If the carrier wished to stay on the scene, there would have to be many changes in the forthcoming years. The DC3s in particular were almost obsolete, but the fleet had now increased to four. The flagship of the fleet, the Ambassador, had now grown to in number to seven. The two remaining Bristol Freighter aircraft worked hard carrying cargo. This left the Heron and Dove flying the Link City Network.
NETWORK & PRESS 1964
1965
For several years Dan-Air had enjoyed a healthy lead over many other independent carriers in terms of passengers carried and fleet size. Dan-Air had ambitions to become a scheduled operator, but they, and other airlines were regularly thwarted by the Government's refusal to allow an even playing field. Charter operations were, by nature, seasonally dependent and were not as profitable as scheduled services. British United and British Eagle Airways had achieved a significant share of the market amongst scheduled airlines. BKS and British Eagle had licences to operate very few flights out of Heathrow and British United had a twenty one strong fleet that included VC10 long haul jets and BAC 1-11 short haul jets. The rest of the fleet consisted mainly of Vickers Viscount prop liners. Dan-Air's fleet was made up of piston engine propellor driven aircraft that were subject to higher fuel taxes, than more modern aircraft fuelled by kerosene. For the first time in the company history, passenger numbers fell. The fall was from charter passengers. The scheduled services figures remained stagnant. More than 85% of domestic flights and more than 90% of international scheduled , flights were carried out by the two state owned carriers. Thomson Holidays, who had formed their own charter airline, Euravia, in 1961 had been re-branded as Britannia Airways in 1964 and had replaced their entire fleet of piston engined Lockheed Constellations with ex BOAC Bristol Britannias that same year. Within months Euravia was in profit. By 1965 well over 180,000 passengers were being carried on their airliners.
Dan-Air did not operate any airliner of that size and could not offer Tour Operators a suitable alternative. The mish-mash of types that Dan-air operated gave the airline flexibility. Whilst the Britannia flew passengers to the more and more popular Spanish resort of Valencia, Dan-Air flew Ambassadors on the flights from Manchester and cities that didn't have such large populations.
The Ambassador was a beautiful aircraft and could comfortably fly to Spain. What it lacked was the high density capacity that was clearly needed in the ever expanding world of air travel. Dan-Air were aware of this and had to evaluate what to do next. New aircraft were expensive and not easy to procure, second hand aircraft were less efficient and required more maintenance. Most of the aircraft in the fleet were now starting to show their age.
Should the airline choose to carry on they would have expand, and they would have to re-equip the entire fleet.
The decision to carry on, and seek new equipment was made and Dan-Air executives were tasked at finding new aircraft. This had to be done discreetly, if other airlines were aware of their plans, they might try to step in and purchase the very aircraft Dan-Air were on the lookout for. The most obvious choice would be the Bristol Britannia. BOAC had started the process of phasing the type out of their own fleet. Britannia, Caledonian, Donaldson Aviation, British Eagle, BKS, Air Links and British United had all acquired them. The aircraft was nick-named 'The Whispering Giant' because of its quite performance. Britannia Airways ad hire purchased their six ex BOAC Britannia 102's and introduced them in 1964 in preparation for the summer season. Each of the aircraft had an identical layout and Tour Operators were able to display the booking form in their brochures, thereby giving passengers the option of requesting their seats, on both outbound and inbound flights. The aircraft had a sophisticated galley, enabling cabin staff to prepare and serve hot food (most often, shepherd's pie) thus making them the first charter airline to offer hot food to all passengers. With such impressive credentials, it was natural that almost every Tour Operator wanted to use Britannia Airways. Britannia had locked horns with the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) and had the distinction of having more licence applications rejected that any two rival carriers combined. Britannia had a strategy that would see them expand, they had acquired Skyways of London, and thus the contract to fly Pan Am's engines from Heathrow on their newly obtained Avro York aircraft, as well as troop carrying flights on behalf of the MoD.
Caledonian were making large profits using them on their Transatlantic services. Caledonian's in-flight service standards were arguably superior to most scheduled airlines' economy offering. Passengers would receive complimentary cocktails shortly after take off, hors d'oeurves, meals and hot food, post meal brandy's, free cigarettes and overnight bags. The airline was carrying the majority of UK affinity charter flights across the Atlantic, more than the scheduled flights of Sabena, Aer Lingus El Al and Swissair. The standard of service of these carriers gave them a competitive edge over Dan-Air, who on the face of it, flew smaller aircraft to much closer destinations. Dan-Air could not offer this standard on flights to Ostend or Rotterdam.
The Bristol Britannia could touch down in Spain's Costas from London in just three and a half hours and four from Manchester. The website creator's own thoughts are that Dan-Air was in an extremely difficult position. Trying to combine their efforts with obtaining charters whilst at the same time concentrating much of their time on scheduled services - which was a tough market. British European Airways (BEA) were not ever going to relinquish routes or allow other airlines to compete with them head to head on major European services. Routes such as London-Paris or Berlin were undoubtedly large revenue earning routes. Far more so than Newcastle to Kristiansand in Norway.
Tour Operators were keen to charter larger aircraft - the simple truth was that Dan-Air could not offer what major Tour Operators needed. One Tour Operator that extensively used Dan-Air was Clarkson's Holidays. It came as a surprise to the industry when Clarkson Tours purchased Autair, a UK airline with a small fleet consisting of mainly DC3 Dakotas and Ambassadors. Autair had several secondary scheduled services, largely from Blackpool and Luton. One of our contributors told us;
'1965/66 was a turning point for the industry. Skytours had surprised everyone with their phenomenal success in such a short time, it was, without a doubt, because their whole operation was vertically integrated. Skytours sold holidays and flights together, they could organise a complete package without having to talk to other airlines. When Autair was taken over, we knew why. Clarkson's would have their own in house airline just like Skytours and soon-after Thomson's, they had big ambitions to use jets in a very short time. It left Dan-Air floundering I'm afraid.'
The ATLB were still restricting independent airlines at almost every application hearing. The ATLB opposed Dan-Air's route application for a service between Manchester and Gatwick and even dictated the size of an aircraft on the Liverpool-London service operated by Cambrian and British Eagle. The latter wanted to operated a two class service (Denied) But British Eagle's desire to replace the DC3 with a Viscount was permitted. The Viscount is a superb aircraft, and was the first turboprop airliner driven by propellers. The turboprop was much smoother and quieter than piston engine aircraft.
In January British European Airways (BEA) appealed to the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) and ultimately to the Transport Secretary, Roy Jenkins, about the approval of nine airlines who had been given licences to operate charter flights for package tours. In total, 46 appeals were made by BEA against the airlines including Autair, Britannia, British Eagle, British Midland, British United, Caledonian, Channel Airways, Dan-Air and Lloyd International - The flights were all to Palma in Majorca and would be operated from several UK airports. For once, someone in Government saw sense - Roy Jenkins overruled the ATLB stating that he wished the market to be 'As free as possible. The very idea that scheduled services would be the only type of flight into a holiday airport was arrogant.', he said. His decision was based on the recommendation of Sir Arthur Hutchinson who had been appointed by him. Altogether there had been 96 applications to fly into the Balearic Island and BEA had objected to 46 of them!
The huge increase in package holidays that were available this year saw many more UK independent airlines wishing for Tour Operators to charter their aircraft. The independent airlines sought to re-equip their fleets with larger aircraft to meet demand. In 1965 Derby Airways changed its name to British Midland, following its purchase of Mercury Airlines. The re-branded airline would operate Argonaut aircraft on charter flights for many Tour Operators. Gaytours and Arrowsmith Holidays based in Manchester chartered BEA Vanguards with 100 seats for their Manchester programme whilst Dan-Air's Ambassadors made up the Liverpool and Leeds/Bradford programme.
In 1965 Universal Sky Tours was sold to the Thomson newspaper and broadcasting organisation. This giant organisation had the financial muscle to expand thier market leading product, producing the best brochures and even advertise holidays in their own publications. This financial power meant their own airline, Britannia could also expand, this year they flew more people than Dan-Air. The airline now posed a real threat to all of its competitors. Sensing this major change in the market, airlines and tour operators began scrambling for chances to join forces with Tour Operators. Others chose to expand just their airlines. Cunard purchased British Eagle Aviation outright and renamed it Cunard Eagle. This, it was later revealed, was a bad decision as the airline was on the verge of financial collapse.
The much despised 'Provision One' rule stated that holidays could not be sold cheaper than the normal scheduled air fare to the same place. As it stood, scheduled Winter fares were higher than those in the Summer. To apply the rule to a package deal including flights, meant that Winter holidays cost more than Summer ones. This absurdity was relaxed in 1965. The rule changes came into force, but not without a fight from BEA, who claimed that charter airlines could operate their flights at a lower price.
Tour Operators could now reduce their prices for Winter from a typical £48 to £30. BEA then chose to reduce night time Winter fares to £38 12s. Cunard Eagle had wanted to reduce their fares to £25, but this was rejected by the ATLB.
Late in January the ATLB approved Dan-Air's application to fly direct from Bristol into Rotterdam. The flights would operate on Saturdays with flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays via Liverpool.
The level of interference of the ATLB cannot be stressed too strongly. Five UK airlines had to force the Transport Secretary to intervene over a dispute with the ATLB who had banned charter companies and Tour Operators giving a free seat to the leader of a group or party on an organised package. In what was to become the norm, Clarkson's had offered one free seat for each party of twenty or more. The ATLB did not approve!
Dan-Air's Hawarden - Cardiff service which had been approved in 1964 finally commenced this year. The service would link north and south Wales. Operating on Tuesdays and Thursdays through Summer from May 30 to September 17, the aircraft would leave Hawarden at 10.30 a.m. and Cardiff at 5.50 p.m. for the 65-minute flight with a Heron aircraft. The service was primarily designed to service the needs of business travellers. Dan-Air said that 'Booking are doing well, and if the service is a success, there is no reason why we couldn't increase the frequency of the flights and operate larger aircraft. The journey between the two cities by road makes it difficult to work, unless one is being driven and the rail journey with stops and changes is tedious.'
The service closed after only 27 days. Dan-Air stated; 'Week after week there were one or two or no passengers at all from Haworden, and the company could not go on under those conditions. We had plenty of promises of support before we put on the service, but the promises were not fulfilled. One cannot go on in the hope of eventually getting some passengers, initially at this time of year, our commitments are so heavy on charter work, and we can use crews more profitably. The first week saw quite a lot of interest with four or five passengers on each flight, but that dropped off completely. In any case, it was something that the company had been asked for, against our better judgement under the promise of support. It was really asked for by the Air Advisory of Wales, they had pressed us for it. Despite being promised support from businesses and local councils in a short time it was operating empty, so the decision was inevitable for this year. We may consider operating next year. We said before that we did not think it would pay, and now we can prove that it does not pay. It is interesting to note that the Cardiff - Liverpool service was very popular and always received lots of support.'
The local council asked Dan-Air to reconsider, saying that the trial period was too short and that they were convinced that there would be more support over time, because passenger numbers at Hawarden had doubled in the last six months. Dan-Air said that the decision was not a reflection on Hawarden Airport. They would very much be interested in incorporating the airport in their network as 'soon as possible'
A new service provided links from Liverpool and Chester to the new Middleton St. George Airport, serving Tees-side was started this year and Dan-Air successfully made an application to operate a service from Liverpool to Plymouth for the summer months. Leaving Liverpool Speke at 4 p.m. on Fridays from May 30 to September 17 and returning from Plymouth at 5pm on Sundays. the flights would cater for holidaymakers and business travellers. Liverpool passengers were given an upgrade when their Dutch service to Rotterdam was relocated to Amsterdam with flights on Mondays - Wednesdays and Fridays. the flights previously operated on DC3 aircraft would now use Ambassadors.
In July Dan-air were given approval by the American Civil Aviation Board to handle the ground operations of US carrier Continental Airlines at Gatwick. The ATLB approved two licences from Liverpool, with Autair being granted a licence to operate Ambassadors to Ibiza and Dan-Air were licensed to fly between Liverpool and Ostend. Captain Alan Selby recalls;
'It was a recurring theme in the mid-sixties that we seemed to be flying to the Channel Islands, Ostend and Lourdes. Lots of flights were carried out, but it couldn't be ignored that we were not being charted to several European destinations simply because we didn't have large enough aircraft. A temporary solution was found when we obtained a couple of DC4 props. They had 89 seats, if I am being honest they were not really suitable for the job. They often had technical issues. But it was around this time that I heard some of the management had been in talks with BOAC with a view to purchasing some of their Comet aircraft. They hadn't been in service for that long, but the Boeing 707 had come along and that was much more suited to what BOAC wanted. No-one was sure if the Comet could adapt from flying long haul to flying six sectors a day to and from the Med. It was pretty hush-hush. Several of our competitors had the Britannia, which was just a wonderful aircraft. I wish we had purchased some of them. The Britannia would have been a huge seller if it had been made ten years earlier. Nothing the Americans had made at the time could match it. But jets came along and scuppered it!'
One such technical issue with the DC4, which operated on both scheduled and charter services, was at the Isle of Man. the aircraft ran into difficulties with a technical fault. An engine fault grounded the aircraft resulting in a heavy delay. The aircraft had significant range capabilities but it was not to become a mainstay with the fleet. Behind the scenes, Dan-Air had plans that were coming together towards the end of the year. One of our pilot contributors said;
"I was told towards the end of 1965. Alan Snudden told me that he had been in talks with BOAC, who were replacing their Comets with Boeing 707s and VC10s. It was quite a big deal and I was told to keep it to myself, which I did. Someone else wasn't as discreet because I was told the same story three or four times within the same day. In any case I learned that Clarkson's, who were looking at expanding were also involved. I had mentioned to colleagues before that I was looking around for a new job and I had been offered a position with Autair, who were also using the Ambassador. The money was good, but I didn't see much point in jumping ship to fly the same aircraft that I already flew. I wasn't aware that Clarkson's would soon get their hands on Autair. There was definitely an air of change within the whole industry, but several airlines were not in a good financial position.'
In September Dan-Air applied serve Manchester - Rotterdam with scheduled services. Immediately British European objected, claiming it would affect their own service to Amsterdam. BEA also objected to licence applications to operate charter flights from Liverpool to Palma.
The ATLB approved a change in The Liverpool - Rotterdam service. Rotterdam was dropped in favour of Amsterdam. Naturally BEA objected, but in August the approval was given by the ATLB and the Dutch Authorities gave traffic rights for the service to commence in October.
The new service from Liverpool to Amsterdam took off with fanfare. Despite there being only eight passengers aboard the inaugural flight, a 55 seat Ambassador. The airline was confident that numbers would soon grow, claiming that the company had their eyes set on Frankfurt and Copenhagen soon. The flight was under the command of Captain Arthur Larkman with Brian Newman as First Officer. Gerry Northgate was the flight engineer. Cabin crew were Theresa Crawley and Pauline Foden. The goodwill message to be handed to the Burgemeister of Amsterdam was handed to the captain by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool.
In October Dan-Air applied to fly from Gatwick to Newcastle with an onward connection to its already established service to Kristiansand. BKS Airways, a rival to Dan-Air supported its application and wanted to operate on the alternate days that Dan-Air flew the service. The ATLB reserved its judgement. Naturally, BEA opposed the application, but British United supported it as it might put work in their direction for the many routes they operated out of Gatwick. The ATLB also gave Dan-Air rights to operate charter flights next year to Ostend, Bruge and Lourdes. The services would use Airspeed Ambassador aircraft. A larger DC 7 cargo prop-liner joined the fleet this year for freight work. The DC7 had a much longer range than anything operated until now, however it was beset with technical issues from the start. Its oil leaks earned the aircraft the nickname 'Torrey Canyon'.
One of Dan-Air's Dakota aircraft was chartered for ten day in November by the TV quiz show 'Double Your Money' The presenter of the show, Hughie Green had asked viewers to write in and tell producers about a place they had visited and loved, and to give the reason they loved the place. Ten of them would then be flown to that place and take part in a special version of the quiz. The aircraft was piloted by Mr.Green who had gained his wings with the RCAF during WW2. He still had a love of flying and had kept his pilot's licence. He had to undergo Dan-Air training and fly commercial flights with the airline to meet insurance requirements and ensure that his competency was to the level Dan-Air were happy with. The twelve strong team for the show would accompany the contestants to their destination of choice.
The Plymouth-Jersey service was dropped this year with Dan-Air disclosing that they were waiting to hear the results from an inquiry into the building of a new airport closer to the city. The ATLB approved Dan-Air application to fly scheduled services from Gatwick to Newcastle. The flights would be permitted to then carry out their already approved flights to Kritiansand in Norway. The reserved decision would allow passengers to book flights with Dan-Air from Gatwick to Kristiansand.
The ageing DC3 fleet was reduced to three models. The introduction of the DC7 for cargo flights and the DC4 for passenger flights had not been particularly successful. The two Bristol Freighter aircraft continued with cargo flights, and the Heron and Dove aircraft worked on the 'Link City' network. Finally, the seven strong Ambassador fleet carried out both charter and scheduled flights.
New services introduced were:
- Tees-side -Chester - Cardiff service started, followed by Cardiff - Bristol - Amsterdam and Gatwick - Newcastle-Kristiansand services.
- 4 October - Liverpool - Amsterdam service began.
NETWORK & PRESS 1965
1966
In January this year Dan-Air were able to report that they had carried 26,550 passengers and 69 tons of freight from Liverpool alone. A recuitment drive early in the year saw the airline search for new hostesses to be based at Newcastle, Joy Moore flew to Newcastle to conduct the interviews. She stated that she had no idea which of the girls she would choose. Questions included "Who is the secretary of state for transport? and asking the girls to calculate 15 two and eight pence".
In an interview with Bristol's Evening Post, Dan-Air's spokesman said that the airline was in the market to obtain Viscount Aircraft to carry out scheduled services. The aircraft would be a replacement for the Ambassadors which, whilst still only about 14 years old, had lost much of their appeal. Tax penalties were heavy on aircraft that did not use Kerosene. More to the point, Viscounts had now started to appear on the second hand market. Three UK carriers, Caledonian, Lloyd International and Transglobe had all successfully applied to carry out Transatlantic affinity charters, a market Dan-Air was keen to avoid they said. The airline had a vision where they were flying small aircraft around the British Isles and to European hubs, where they could connect passengers to world-wide destinations. The Amsterdam flights already had connections to New York, Tokyo and Rio.
Even closer to home, was the Isle of Man which, in the 1960s at least, was a popular destination for UK holiday-makers. Dan-Air had regular scheduled flights to the island from Prestwick Swansea, Bristol and Cardiff. These flights were carried out using the Airspeed Ambassador. January saw a major advertising campaign for the lucrative upcoming summer season. Bad weather conditions hampered several flights at the start of the year, with major disruption at Bristol and Liverpool airports.
Meanwhile, negotiations that had been carried out in secret came to a conclusion and the deal between BOAC and Dan-Air to purchase two of the former's Comet jets was certain to go ahead. The airline would need to have them ready for service for the summer. The charter market in the UK was about to experience a hitherto unprecedented boom. Clarkson's, one of the UK's largest Tour Operators had part financed Dan-Air with the purchase. They wished to 'time-charter' one of the Comet jet-liners. This method of charter would mean that Clarkson's would have the exclusive use of the airliner and be able to decide where they wished it to fly. In effect the Comet should be able to fly three return sectors each day, which was roughly 21 return flights a week, with 2,000 people flying out and then returning. Clarkson's also wanted to charter the second Comet, on regular charters for much of its available utilisation.
Most UK airlines had to fight to obtain a slice of the schedule service traffic. Charter flights, whilst still regulated, and could only operate with licenses, that were more readily available. It was fortunate that not all carriers were wanting to achieve the same thing. The new series of Transatlantic flights would commence the following year; Affinity Charters. These charters were a totally new conception. It would be a way for charter carriers to fly to long haul destinations, most notably the USA can Canada. These flights could operate provided the passengers were all members of a group. The rules at the time stipulated that the group had to be approved by relevant authorities and that members of the group were established with at least six months membership. Of course, this was widely open to abuse, particularly in the pre-internet days. Travel Agents could obtain a membership card and simply back-date membership. BOAC were the most vocal with their protests about the flights.
Britannia Airways had seen a turbulent start whilst trading as Euravia, but now with the Thomson organisation firmly cemented as a leading Tour Operator, the company announced in January that they had placed an order for three brand new Boeing 737s direct from the manufacturer, for delivery in 1968. This move rocked rival airlines, who would not be able to match this product. UK Government officials had been known to lean on airline executives in order for them to purchase UK manufactured aircraft. Airlines were aware that imported aircraft carried significant tariffs and most yielded to Government pressure. Tariffs were lower if no suitable UK airliner was compatible. Britannia had done their homework and were aware that no such UK manufactured jet aircraft was available that could carry 130 passengers at high speed with the same operational costs as the Boeing 737. One of our contributing pilots noted;
'Britannia had kept that pretty quiet and although delivery was going to be a couple of years away, the other airlines knew they had better get their backsides in gear. I was told again that we were going to have some of BOAC's Comets, I went to see the chief pilot and asked him if I could be on the list to convert to the Comet! He smiled and said that if and when Dan-Air takes delivery of any new aircraft that I was welcome to apply to join the fleet....I never did apply for Comet ratings, but I was on the first training course!"
A former Tour Operator senior staff member commented;
'It's fair to say that British charter passengers were not flying in the most up to date aircraft. But as a Tour Operator we had to seek the best that we could get. Bearing in mind that flag-carriers were already using Boeing 727 and 737 jets. Some of the old types that charter carriers operated were dreadful. In particular the Argonaut and the Ambassador that British Midland and Dan-Air used. I know the service standards of both of these airlines were high, but the aircraft were just old fashioned. It might be ok for a flight to Jersey or Ostend, but to expect people to sit there for four hours to get to Spain was not good. The Britannia was exceptional. it looked good and hadn't dated, and it could carry the numbers in comfort. The airlines had a problem finding suitable aircraft. From our point of view, we would much rather have chartered a Britannia or a Viscount than an Argonaut, better still, a BAC 1-11 that British United had just bought. When Britannia ordered the 737 it really did put a gun to the other airlines heads. They would have to invest in newer aircraft or go under.'
That statement is true, airlines did have a problem obtaining new aircraft. In today's aviation world airlines largely lease aircraft. This was not the case in the 1960s. Financing aircraft was also difficult as banks were reluctant to invest in an industry that had notoriously low profit margins and notoriously high casualty rates. Those rates were all to visible to see today. Dozens of airlines have gone under as a result of low operating margins and world events, economic cycles and Government regulations all made operating an airline a risky business. Brand new aircraft were very expensive and delivery times often years ahead. Second hand jets were unlikely to become available for a long time, and when the eventually did become available, they were already out of date in many aspects. One of the first jets to become available was the Comet. The very first jet airliner. Although the first design, the Comet 1 had been grounded because of a fatal design flaw, the Comet IV had been in service since 1958. Although not an old aircraft, it had been surpassed technologically by the Boeing 727 and 737 and the UK's BAC 1-11. Newer aircraft were emerging as second generation jet-liners. The largest Douglas DC8 and Boeing 707 would be too large and expensive to consider, but the Comet, if altered would enable Dan-Air to leap frog over its competitors for a couple of years, and enable the airline to be among the first among the booming package tour market. Within days of the order being made public, the two Comets were fully booked for the whole of the 1967 season.
In January Dan-Air submitted an application to operate unlimited flights from Carlisle to the Isle of Man and Newcastle. These flights would naturally join the 'Link City' network, giving the airline a route that extended from the Exeter in south west of the country and went to Cardiff, Swansea, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Carlisle, Tees Side, Newcastle, Glasgow and London. The proposed Isle of Man flights would operate separately to the 'Link City'. Dakota and Ambassadors would operate the services. There were no objections to the application and a seven year licence was granted.
On February 21st it was announced that Dan-Air had purchased two Comet 4 jets from BOAC. The package was to include spares, training and eventually the Comet simulator. The jets were eight years old and cost approximately £600,000. The first was purchased by Clarkson's Holidays and leased straight back to Dan-Air, the second was purchased by Dan-Air on a loan terms with interest. In their current state, the aircraft were not suitable for the work they would be undertaking. BOAC had configured the aircraft with 79 seats in a two class layout. The BOAC first class seating featured 'sleeperette' seats, which were almost as large as an armchair (and almost as heavy!) Dan-Air Engineering were given the mammoth job of preparing the aircraft for high density, short haul flying. The floors had to be strengthened and lightweight seats installed to seat 109 passengers. This involved replacing the galleys and even adding extra windows. Toilets were replaced, seating pitch reduced and where the aircraft had been four abreast they would now have an off centre aisle with two seats on one side and three on the other. Carpets were changed, along with hat racks, water systems and even toilet tanks. The eight page modification list can be viewed here (Courtesy cometra.uk) BOAC had nine Comets for sale, and several Bristol Britannia prop-liners. The deal would make Dan-Air only the second UK independent airline to operate jet aircraft, the first being British United, who's managing director, Freddie Laker announced that he had left the company and would be launching his own airline in the Summer and so it came to pass that in August the first two of his Laker Airways Bristol Britannias took to the sky, even more competition on an already fierce industry.
The Comet had been scheduled to enter enter service with Dan-Air in late Summer 1967. But before it could begin revenue earning flights a great deal had to done to make this happen, not only with the air frame modifications, but with staff. Flight deck crews would need to be trained on the machine, as would cabin crew. This would be carried out at Newcastle. Simulator training would be undertaken at Crawley. (Incidentally, the simulator was not transferred to Dan-Air until 1970)
The 1967 season was already being mapped out by UK airlines. In June Dan-Air applied for licences to operate flights to twenty nine continental destinations from Gatwick. It was announced in May that Liverpool would have a charter programme of its own for Summer 1967 featuring Dan-Air charters to Palma, Lourdes, Ostend and Perpignan.
The company had reduced the number of flights operating from Liverpool. Daily flights became three day a week flights for the winter months. In May the daily service was to be resumed, although the airline said it would need to increase fares. It is interesting to note the argument Dan-Air put forward. The flights had been reduced because of tax on fuel.
'Unless the fuel tax is alleviated we will be forced to apply to the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) for a substantial increase in fares. We have approached more than fifty M.P's in an attempt to have the tax reduced. Last year the tax was £50,000. In February of 1964 we pointed out to the Ministry of Aviation, that the tax on aviation gasoline was 4d per gallon (36 pence - 16 pence decimal) compared very unfavourably with only 2d (2 pence - 1 pence decimal) on jet turbine fuels.'
Dan-Air operated the Dakota on Liverpool services to Bristol, Newcastle, Cardiff and Tees-Side, and were looking to increase fares by 25%. The airline considered re-equipping with turbo-prop aircraft but said; 'investigations have shown that this would worsen, rather than improve things from a cost point of view. The present low utilisation of aircraft on the route would not justify the large amount of capital expenditure involved, and the increase of landing fees for turbo-prop aircraft would off-set much of the cheaper operating cost. The service has operated at a loss for almost six years. During that time, whilst passenger loads have consistently increased, the increasing cost of operation has completely absorbed the additional revenue. In 1965 almost 20,000 travelled on the services and yet they still lost money.'
In fact, the tax charged amounted to 17% of the entire cost of operating a flight.
Dan-Air revealed in May that the Bristol-Newcastle service had not made a single penny profit in the six years it had be operating. The service had carried 20,000 in 1965. This, and other routes flown by the airline had paid more than £50,000 in fuel tax alone. This had led to the airline approaching fifty Members of Parliament for help. Robert Cook, the Conservative MP for Bristol West asked a question in the House to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Callaghan, whether the fuel tax could be reduced on these vital flights . Mr Ray Dobson the Labour MP for Bristol South East asked whether landing fees could be fixed at regional, municipally owned airports to encourage people to take the flights. A Motion was laid down in the names of Mr Dobson, John Ellis (Labour Bristol North East) and David Watkins (Labour, Consett) mentioning Dan-Air, stressing the need for continuing inter-city air services. The fuel tax of 3 shillings 3 pence per gallon compared with just 2 shillings per gallon on Jet Turbine fuel was crippling many airlines. Dan-Air said;
'Unless the tax is cut, we will be forced to apply to the Air Transport Licencing Board for a substantial increase in fares. We operate Dakota aircraft on this route and we have considered re-equipping our fleet with turbo-prop aircraft, but investigations have proven that this would worsen the situation and not improve it from a cost point of view. The present low utilisation of aircraft on the route would not justify the large amount of capital expenditure involved, and the higher landing fees of the turbo-prop aircraft would off-set much of the cheaper operating costs. The service had operated at a loss for almost six years, although passenger loads have consistently increased, the increased cost of operation has completely absorbed the additional revenue.'
Captain Brian Martin and First Officer Dick Brownie, along with Air Hostess Judith Jacobs formed the crew of the inaugural Dan-Air flight flight from Gatwick to Friday 26th April was a success. The flights were timed to allow passengers from Kent, Surrey and Essex to make the flight. Departing on time at 9:05 am and arriving in Newcastle at 10:50 am the aircraft would then travel from Newcastle to Kristiansand in Norway on a scheduled service before returning to Newcastle to be ready for the 1755 service to Gatwick, arriving there at 1935. The Ambassador operating the flight was described by the press as 'quiet, comfortable and with a surprising amount of leg-room. The return fares on the service were £14 whilst the return Newcastle-Kristiansand flights were priced at £48:00.
A seamen's strike that affected sailings to the Isle of Man brought a 31% increase in the number of passengers that Dan-Air carried to the island in May. There was also a desperate shortage of cigarettes that were delivered there as a result of the strike. One company chartered three Dan-Air aircraft, A Dakota, and Ambassador and a Dove to fly five million cigarettes to the island. The strike also benefited Dan-air who were chartered to fly 45 home extensions from Gatwick to Copenhagen.
The plea from MP's calling for a reduction in tax on aviation gasoline fell on deaf ears and in view of this Dan-Air applied to the ATLB to increase fares on several scheduled services by 25%. The airline also made an application to the board for licences to fly charter flights to 19 holiday destinations from Manchester.
On 20th July Dan-Air announced that they were suspending several services from Newcastle. Where a twice daily, morning and evening flight operated in both both directions there would now only be one. Previously the aircraft flew to both Cardiff and Bristol from August the flights would operate into Bristol on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays and Cardiff on Tuesdays and Thursdays. the airline blamed the Government's lack of flexibility regarding the excessive tax on aviation gasoline.
Airlines around the world were trying a new way of 'pooling' resources from Next year. It was announced in August that Dan-Air will fly jet services to Istanbul in conjunction with Pakistan International Airlines. The two airlines would share information and timetables.
Three Ambassadors were chartered to fly Welsh pilgrims to Lourdes in August. The aircraft took off from RAF St. Athen in Wales and returned a few days later. RAF Athen could not provide customs for the returning passengers and the runway at Cardiff was not long enough to handle Ambassadors. Salvation came when Bristol Airport offered to handle the aircraft, which all landed safely. The mix up was a result of lost paperwork said Dan-Air. 'We were under the impression that the RAF base was able to provide customs assistance, but this was not the case. It would have been a shame had the aircraft all been forced to land a Birmingham, which was the next closest. Fortunately Bristol Airport could handle our flights, and were able to provide coaches to make the relatively short transfer back to Cardiff.'
In September, a four seat Piper Apache aircraft owned by the Dan-Air flying club crashed into a hill-side in Surrey. The aircraft was on its way to the Dan-Air Engineering base at Lasham in Hampshire. All those on board died. You can read more about this here.
Also in September a company pilot had to shoot dead two cows on a cargo flight to Tehran after the animals 'went berserk' mid-air. The aircraft landed safely. The anniversary of Dan-Air re-routing the Liverpool-Rotterdam service to Amsterdam was celebrated in October with the airline inviting nineteen people from Liverpool's Chamber of Commerce. The new flights had proved to be an overwhelming success with passenger numbers increasing by 85%.
Further talks between local councils, Hawker Siddeley and Dan-Air aimed at re-instating the Hawarden link on the airline's west country services broke down. Dan-Air said;
'We can confirm that there were talks between interested parties regarding the re-starting of the North-south Wales air service in relation to the Dan-Air route between Bristol-Cardiff- and Liverpool. It is very evident that Dan-Air are interested in the project, but in regard to the present economic climate of the country and particularly the very high rate of fuel tax in relation to the type of aircraft concerned, it is not feasible to take any further action in relation to the matter at this time. It was therefore agreed that we should resume negotiations at an appropriate stage in the near future.' The flights had commenced in August 1966 and were cancelled after 27 days. Each flight cost Dan-Air £105 and on many occasions, the aircraft carried no passengers.
An application was made to the ATLB to increase fares on the 'Bowler Hat' flights that Dan-Air operated. This would mean the West Country routes, favoured by business men would potentially see fares rise by £1 3s each way.
An Ambassador aircraft on a pilgrimage flight to Lourdes left Gatwick on October 27th with a special passenger on board. Mr. J Delaney, who was the courier for the All Night Vigil Group was celebrating his 100th birthday. Cabin staff Pauline Foden and Yvonne Sweeney presented Mr. Delaney with an especially iced cake that read 'Congratulations on your centenary'. It was also Mr.Delaney's 71st flight with Dan-Air, to mark the occasion airline chiefs had provided him with a bottle of champagne - held on ice - until after take-off.
Dan-Air began operating four day holidays using Ambassadors to Northern Europe on behalf of Cooks Tours. Destinations included Ostend, Zurich, Innsbruck, Bruges and Lourdes. The scheduled service network was also boosted this year with the granting of licences for the Carlisle - Newcastle route. The network was further enhanced with an extension to the Isle of Man. The licences would apply for seven years. Fares would be from £3 6s to £4 4s single.
Competition was tough between the independent airlines, it wasn't helped with the ATLB actively prioritising BEA and BOAC. Airlines like Dan-Air simply could not establish a presence on any high visibility routes. This led to confrontation between Dan-Air and British Eagle who wished to take over the Liverpool - Rotterdam service after Dan-Air had switched it to Amsterdam. At an ATLB hearing Dan-Air objected saying that further competition would weaken them as their own service wasn't making any profit as it was, and wouldn't break even on current trends until 1968. The ATLB didn't agree with Dan-Air and granted British Eagle the licence. If one reads back on this section - BEA had objected to Dan-Air flying to Rotterdam from Liverpool as BEA flew there from Manchester! Yet the ATLB gave a rival independent a licence to operate from the same UK airport.
At the time British Eagle was in a desperate financial position it was rumoured that they were about to go bankrupt.
The state controlled airlines were not limited to frequencies on their flights. The independents were. This would mean that any high profile licence that an independent gained could be killed off by BEA who could increase frequencies to ensure their flights would be timed to depart earlier than an independent airlines' flight. BEA were known to supplement their aircraft with a more modern, larger aircraft as well. Driving passengers onto their own flights. Liverpool flights were hampered with stiff competition from the railways too, causing Dan-Air to reduce the number of flights to Dundee, Newcastle Cardiff and Newcaslte. BEA's London-Glasgow service offered fine wines, catering and a first class cabin. Eagle passengers trialled a new service; 'Trickle Boarding' Where passengers were invited onto the aircraft by seat number, giving passengers dedicated seating, thus avoiding scrambles when boarding. It was an all new way of domestic travelling. The frequencies that British Eagle were quickly sandwiched by BEA who put flights on, as was their right, either side of the Eagle departure. Eagle's passenger loads tumbled.
Any attempt by an airline to increase profit is to be welcomed. Seamless stockings were in short supply in the UK and Dan-Air had managed to acquire a huge supply of the nylons and decided to sell them to passengers on their domestic flights. In a somewhat sexist statement they said 'We carry a lot of business men on our flights and they might wish to purchase them for their wives as a present.' If the trial was a success the product would be extended to international services.
The Comet appeared at Gatwick on 1st November wearing full Dan-Air colours. The aircraft was to fly to Tees Side where it would stay for a weeks crew training. The second Comet was still at Lasham undergoing its total refit. The aircraft would enter service at the end of November. Next year would be a pivotal year for Dan-Air. The expansion into jet services was expensive and lots of people were relying on the charter division of the company being a success. The scheduled services were barely making any profit, whilst the charter division was consistently profitable.
November 25th this year saw the Comet take its first proving flight; Barcelona. On the flight, the 99 seat aircraft, were a party of staff and engineers from Gatwick and Lasham with Managing Director Alan Snudden. The Comet was piloted by Captain Walters, also on board was Fleet Stewardess Judy Jacobs and Chief Stewardess Joy Moore. The aircraft interior was decorated turquoise and grey and was equipped with soft background music amongst other things. The Comet flew a second promotional trip to Munich in late November. Passengers included catering managers and Dan-Air staff. The aircraft flew out of Gatwick and landed on time at the German city. The passengers enjoyed a fifty minute tour of the airport before boarding the jet to fly home. The five hour trip ended up taking 17 hours as the aircraft was diverted from Gatwick, first to Stansted and then to Manchester on this very foggy November day. A hot meal was served on both directions of the journey and passengers were taken home by train arriving in the early hours of the next day.
The Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, imposed yet another restriction on holiday makers this year, travellers would now not be able to take UK currency of more than £15 out of the country. Package holidays included the costs of the hotel, meals and in resort representatives, but excursions and additional food items had been dropped from most tour firm packages. MP's debated the matter in Parliament and the ruling was amended to allow a further £15 to be added to the total, as holidaymakers were not expected to return home penniless. The ruling became known as the 'V Form' and focused on a £50 total. So, if a holidaymaker booked a holiday for £30 he would be able to take £20 spending money, in the form of traveller's cheques or pre purchased foreign currency - PLUS the £15 UK currency to spend in resort or bring home. If a holiday was £42 the same person could only take £8 spending plus the £15 in UK currency. More details can be seen looking at a V Form! here To put this in perspective, £50 in 1966 would be worth £1,167. Which is not a great deal when one has to understand that this was for the cost of the holiday, spending money and money to come home with. The £15 would be £350 in 2024!
The Labour government also reduced the value of the pound. The Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously said on TV that this "would not affect the pound in your pocket." This was met with howls of derision from the opposition and the travel industry. It may not affect the pound in your pocket in the UK, but overseas the sliding pound severely hampered what one could purchase abroad. It was inevitable that hotel prices would increase for Tour Operators. who were forced to pass on the increased prices to their clients. Scheduled airlines also increased their fares because of fuel price hikes. This surcharge was either to be paid for by passenger or the Tour Operator, who, in turn, could not decrease the prices that had been advertised in their brochures. So, the Tour Operators would have to take the hit that year. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Callaghan said that he did not think it was the right time for people who were being asked to take a decrease in their standard of living in the UK should then see other people benefiting by spending money that would go to other World economies.
Major Tour Operators using Dan-Air this year included Clarksons Lunn Poly, Ellermann, Global, Cosmos, Gay Tours and Luxitours. Soon after, the latter two were fully absorbed into the Thomson's organisation and no longer would they need to use Dan-Air, it was a terrible blow.
The Heron and Dove aircraft were quickly becoming obsolete, not only in terms of size, but their age, they were sold this year and the sole DC4 in the fleet was returned to its owner after its lease had expired. The Bristol Freighter was still flying cargo routes.
The further proving flight left Manchester on December 1st, carrying northern Travel Agents and the press. The hour long flight made a perfect landing back in Manchester after taking its payload over the North Sea. Captain Alan Selby took up the story;
'It was an exciting time for all of us. I had joined the airline from the RAF and after a short time flying the Comet I was able to join Dan-Air as a Captain. The airline had a friendly, inclusive approach to staff. The sort of flying we did was very low-key in as much as scheduled services were concerned. There was very little opportunity for us to expand in any meaningful way. Charter flights that we had operated until now were largely to the north of Europe, and I believe we were overlooked by some of the larger Tour Operators as other airlines had obtained much larger aircraft than we had. I am led to believe that the management were in a make or break situation, where we either got hold of some new equipment to jump ahead of our competitors or to stagnate, which I am certain would have resulted in us either going under as a company or being taken over by a larger company. Even then, they would have wanted our licences and our training, maintenance and administration rather than our fleet. We would have perhaps two years where we could reap the benefits of being one of only two independents with jets, the other one used theirs on scheduled services as well, so that meant we really had a head start.'
NETWORK & PRESS 1966
1967
The year got off to a great start with a new international service being added to the network. Licences were awarded for six years to operate to Basle from Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol, Exeter and Bournemouth. The flights would be operated using Ambassador aircraft, with flights would commencing on April 1st. Usually, we look at each year in monthly order, but if I may be indulged. The decision to acquire the Comet at such a critical time was a stroke of genius. By the end of this year the fleet had doubled to four of the type. After two years of passenger numbers that had been static and a further year that saw a reduction in the number carried, the introduction of the Comet saw 150,000 more passengers flown than the previous year.
In total, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) had placed nine Comet jets up for sale. Clarkson's Holidays had sole use of one example and the second to arrive was fully chartered for the entire year. With such an impressive start it was decided the company should purchase two of the remaining models that were still up for sale. British Eagle looked set to purchase four others in a deal which ultimately fell through. The two additional aircraft would undergo the same modifications at Lasham to enable them to join the fleet. The first of the new order would be time chartered by Clarkson's whilst the fourth was available for other Tour Operators.
The number of Tour Operators wishing to charter Dan-Air jets grew to new levels. On one occasion, passengers who were used to travelling from Liverpool-Newcastle on the Dakota were shocked to find a Comet waiting at Speke to take them to the North East instead of the usual Ambassador or Dakota. The flight normally took 90 minutes, on this occasion it took 30 minutes. The aircraft was a replacement to coincide with the opening of the new terminal at Newcastle.
Additional new scheduled services started this year, including, Carlisle - Isle of Man, the seventh city to serve the island. Gatwick Handling, who were handling agents for Dan-Air and other carriers went into receivership in February. In response Dan-Air agreed to take care of their own handling at the airport, this involved the take over of five check-in desks, and twenty five ground handling staff. Dan-Air had no wish to enter the ground handling arena - or so they said!
An Ambassador was configured for freight flights, capable of carrying 5 1/2 tons. The all cargo flights would leave Liverpool bound for Amsterdam. Dan-Air even tied up with CPS of Canada for cargo flights from Amsterdam to Vancouver.
The Comet had completed its proving flights and would be commencing regular flights in May. In April one such Comet was chartered to fly eighty beauty consultants to a conference in Milan. The make up and stands were also carried on behalf of Lentheric. Several air stewardesses applied to transfer from their existing aircraft onto the Comet fleet, and new girls were recruited for the season. One air hostess, Judy tells us about her experience; 'I had been working for Dan-Air for almost two years on the Ambassador, after first working on the Dove. I loved the Ambassador, it was certainly a step up from the Dove because I felt like a proper hostess. The Ambassador, or 'Lizzie' as it was known was a fairly large aircraft. I made an application to train on the Comet, and the stuff I had to learn was incredible. Stuff like duty free, drinks and how to lay out a tray was the same, but on a larger scale, but the technical knowledge was a whole new ball game. We did some training for a day on a cabin mock up which was at BOAC's headquarters. We then did tons of things in the classroom. Then we went to Lasham to actually use the real aircraft. We got to familiarise ourselves with doors and safety equipment. We could also use the galley and serve pretend drinks to each other. We all got to fly on several proving flights because the ovens needed to be tested and that needed to be done whilst we were airborne. I think it was all done in a week, possibly a little longer. I had often looked at other airlines with their Bristol Britannias and felt a tinge or jealousy. Definitely I was jealous of the big jets of BOAC going around the world. To go from the Ambassador to a jet airline in one move was huge for us. Up until then I had never thought of us as a big airline. Almost overnight we became a big deal.'
The Ambassador in 1967
Bulb Field charter flights had become commonplace in the UK in the run up to the busy summer season. Most UK airlines took part in the programme. Dan-Air was no exception. The day-trips would leave early in the morning arriving in time for travellers to visit the bulb fields before visiting a palace and exploring the Hague. After that the flights returned home to the UK. Transolar Holidays, a Wallasey based Tour Operator chartered Dan-Air Ambassadors for the Summer to fly from Liverpool to Ostend, Rotterdam, Tarbes and Beauvais.
To say that the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) were reluctant to make changes and break down Government regulations is an understatement. The Affinity Tour Charter Flights that first commenced the previous year had been a great success. It took the ATLB a full year to allow the charters to carry more than one group on a single flight. As it stood, if, for example 'The country Music Appreciation Society' wished to carry out a charter, the entire aircraft would have to be filled with members of that group. From this year, the aircraft would be permitted to carry two groups! It was hardly a revolution, but Caledonian were thrilled at being allowed to have two groups on their 165 seat Boeing 707, which was due to enter service this year. When asked if Dan-Air were interested in joining the Affinity Group market, a company spokesman said; 'It is a very small market and it is very crowded. We would like to carry on expanding in the European sector. We have been incredibly fortunate to have such a large share in the field.'
The ATLB granted a Air Operator's Licence to a new carrier this year. Treffield International Airways, who had initially leased a Bristol Britannia from Laker Airways and returned it when they obtained their own Vickers Viscount. The airline then ordered Trident jets from the manufacturer and announced they would purchase up to four ex-BOAC Comets. Reports began to circulate that the company was in trouble in 1967, which the airline said 'Was nothing but a load of old guff' However, just a week later the carrier admitted it was having a 'rough time'. The board included Lord Trefgarne, 26 and Peter Masefield, chairman of the British Airports Authority. The company folded in July with a loss of seventy jobs. The charter contracts were awarded to Dan-Air and British Midland. Dan-Air expressed an interest in purchasing the Comet aircraft that Treffield had ordered from BOAC. Independent airlines were able to source second-hand jets in substantial numbers for the first time.
In February, Flintshire County Council released a statement saying they were in talks with Dan-Air with a view to resuming the Cardiff - Hawarden link which would connect north and south Wales as well as other cities on the west country air link. The talks had gone ahead, minus Dan-Air, with the welsh Advisory Committee for Civil Aviation, Flintshire County Council and Mold Local Authority. Dan-Air said;
'The is no-chance whatsoever of the Cardiff-Hawarden link being revived. There just isn't the support for it. We have had several enquiries about this since we left the flight two years ago. We haven't the aircraft that would facilitate this service.'
Haydn Rees of Flintshire County Council said; 'This statement has come as quite a surprise to me, at the last talks we had with Dan-Air their representative told us that they hoped that in some point in the future, they hoped to resume the service. Naturally, this means we will have to get in touch with Dan-Air to clarify this.' - The flights never did resume. Unlike another set of flights that did restart. Dan-Air's DC7 cattle flights had been delayed for three weeks following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. Three flights took off from Gatwick from 3rd February, one to Kristiansand in Norway, one to Tehran in Iran and another to Malpensa in Italy. The DC7 was able to carry 30 penned and tethered cows. Cargo only flights from Liverpool to Amsterdam would operate three nights a week with an 11 pm departure from March 7th. Ambassador aircraft with a 5 1/2 ton capacity would return to Liverpool at 5 am the following morning. Ted Jones Dan-Air's commercial representative said;
'During the time we operated to Rotterdam cargo featured as part of our loads, but the amount was restricted by the frequency and the number of connections from Rotterdam. When we switched to Amsterdam the amount increased because of the number of available transfer connections to all parts of the world making Schipol Airport one of the major freight centres of the world. It has been realised however that the departure of our passenger service from Liverpool at 10 am is too late, and the return from Amsterdam to early to meet the demands of freight shippers. Our new cargo service has been tailored to meet the needs of industry and we are sure it will be see a considerable development of freight traffic between Liverpool and Europe.' Freight at Liverpool had increased by 96% over the last year and a new cargo terminal was planned.
The first all scheduled international cargo service from Liverpool.
However, just four days later the service was cancelled. Archie Louden, Dan-Air's Scheduled Services Manager said;
'It has already become painfully obvious that the expected demand was not there. To continue the service would only involve the company making heavy financial loses.
Dan-Air had grown at Gatwick over six years. Ever conscious of overheads, and to ensure profitability, the company sourced out ground handling to a third party, Airbourne Aviation, under the ownership of Mr. Herbert Snowball. Airbourne had manned check-in desks and provided ground support to several airlines. To keep pace with the growth of Dan-Air's Gatwick operation and to keep the airline's contract, as well as to win more third-party business at the airport, Herbert Snowball partnered Messrs Metcalfe and Foukes to form a new company named Gatwick Handling. Poor results forced Gatwick Handling to cease trading and go into liquidation within a short period of time, putting Dan-Air and the other airlines who had given the now-defunct company their ground handling business at Gatwick in a difficult position. To secure the check-in desks Dan-Air had contracted from Gatwick Handling and to minimise additional costs arising from its handling agent's failure, as well as to avoid confusing the travelling public who had already been informed by tour operators and travel agents to report to Gatwick Handling for check-in. Gatwick Handling Services pulled out of the airport in 1967. Dan-Air had been left in the lurch, and had no desire to shoulder the burden and costs of its own ground handling operation. The company was forced to take over its own handling however and issued a statement saying quite firmly that they were taking over only the handling concession and five additional check-in desks for their own airline only. This would mean that the airline would be taking on additional staff, and they were likely to be former Gatwick Handling staff. Twenty five staff had been made redundant without notice.
A Comet took over the Gatwick - Newcastle scheduled flight, replacing the Ambassador that normally flew the service, but only for one day. Prime Minister Harold Wilson was at Newcastle to open the airport's new terminal. On board was Dan-Air Scheduled Services Manager Archie Louden.
Despite saying that they only wished to provide ground handling at Gatwick for their own flights, Dan-Air agreed to handle the charter flights for the Romanian state carrier Tarom this summer. They also agreed to take on handling of Laker Airways flights.
In April, the Hawarden saga was concluded when Channel Airways successfully applied to the ATLB for a licence to operate from Liverpool to the Isle of White, with a drop off at Hawarden. Channel would use a HS 748 on the flights. Dan-Air was given the licence to operate between Swansea and Tees Side with an optional stop at Hawarden.
International holidays centred on Spain, but travellers wanting somewhere more adventurous could try Greece which was now featured as a destination. Several of the islands were natural choices for charter services but The UK regulations still gave Tour Operators and charter airlines a major headache. Athens was the main airport in Greece, as the law stood, charter carriers could not fly there as BEA already did so. The Greeks were only too aware of the boom in Spanish travel, and naturally wanted a a share of the available business. Thee Greeks vowed to open new airports on several islands, the first to open was on Crete. The Spanish Government had provided financial assistance for companies wishing to build hotels. Businesses would pay back the government over time with very generous repayment plans. The Portuguese market had begun to flourish. Previously passengers could only take holidays in Oporto as flights to Lisbon were not permitted, because, you guessed it - BEA already flew there. To get to the Algarve passengers would have to travel by coach from Oporto to Lisbon and then train to Faro. The Portuguese Government decided built and international airport at Faro as quickly as possible, opening up the Algarve. As soon as Faro opened the Algarve boomed with thousands of holidaymakers taking advantage of what Portugal had to offer. Vilamoura was the first resort with good hotels and gorgeous beaches. Tunisia had already welcomed charter flights and had a modern and very well designed hotel infrastructure. Fortunately for the Tour Operators, BEA did not have a presence there! The Communist states of Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria welcomed British visitors.
By 1967 More than two million people were travelling abroad, hardly any of them travelled to Greece. The Greek authorities were keen to get in on the action and quickly built an airport on the island of Crete. Soon after they welcomed new visitors; many thousands of them were Dan-Air passengers.
The hated 'V-FORM' continued to hinder holidaymakers in 1967. What this meant was that £50 was the starting amount. So let's say a holiday cost £37 - this would mean that a person would have £13 to take as pre- exchanged spending money. PLUS £15 which could be converted in resort. A further £25 could be spent on car hire for a minimum of 7 days, provided it was booked before departure. It was unwise to convert money overseas as this was meant to be for a person's home-coming so they could purchase 'essentials' upon their return. If we look at £13 in today's money, it sounds a ridiculously small amount. Converted to money today, it is roughly £300. When one considers that meals were included in holiday prices, and that one could take a further £15 (£350) to convert - it doesn't seem so bad - does it?
A third Comet would join the fleet in May and enter service in time for Summer. The 99 seat layout jet would be used primarily by Clarksons Holidays. Dan-Air Comet charters to Rhodes were carrying out on behalf of Cadogen Holidays. Other charters were undertaken for Lord Brothers, Global, Hickie Borman, Lunns, LeRoy and Frames. The third Comet would be used exclusively by Clarkson's for the winter season, which would be the first time that Clarkson's had become a year round Tour Operator.
Ground handling was becomming a major source of revenue for Dan-Air, who already handled their own flights at Gatwick, Bristol, Liverpool and Cardiff as well as an increasing number of other carriers at Gatwick. Newcaslte flights were now to be handled 'in-house' by Dan-Air who were approached by German carrier Bavaria with a view to handling their flights. A deal was secured which would see the airline re-evaluate the lucrative business of ground handling.
On July 19th a company Ambassador with 42 passengers on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Liverpool was involved in a near air-miss. The aircraft was flying over Hull when he spotted a military aircraft, believed to be a Lightning Fighter flying at great speed toward him. The pilot took evasive action and reported the air-miss upon landing. The RAF later claimed that they did not have an aircraft in the vicinity at the time.
Horizon Holidays signed time-charter agreements with two independent airlines that enabled them to make cuts of up to ten per cent in the cost of their winter sunshine holidays. The company was to use a guaranteed minimum amount of flying time with British United Airways and Dan-Air. They were able to charter aircraft very cheaply. BEA reduced fares on night time flights to Malta to £36. As Malta was a Sterling currency area there would be no £50 currency limits. however, the tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean at only seventeen miles long by nine miles wide had only one airport. As British European flew into Malta, charter carrier were denied the right to fly in from London.
In August, the Board Of Trade announced new rules that would come into force in January 1968. Pilots had been allowed to fly 125 hours per 28 day period and this was to be cut to 100. For the first time, Cabin Crew would have restrictions placed on them in respect of the hours they worked. They would now be limited to a maximum of 14 hours in any one day. This would mean that airlines would probably have to recruit more flight deck crew. British United were unaffected as their crews flew less than 50% of the hours already stipulated. Dan-Air said they would await the full report before giving a verdict. The rules were aimed, so the Board of Trade said, to reduce the likelihood of accidents occurring.
The same month saw the successful outcome at a hearing in London with the ATLB who agreed to give a licence to Dan-Air to operate charter flights out of Manchester to the Canary Islands. This would be the first time the region had seen charter flights to the up and coming Spanish Islands. A Comet would be based at Manchester for the Winter season and would remain at the airport for the following summer.
The Kent Chamber of commerce were in negotiations with Dan-Air in November with a view to chartering Dan-Air aircraft to bring French visitors on shopping day trips. They were arguing with airlines about having to pay for any seats that were not sold. Dan-Air's solution was to offer food vouchers provided by large stores as an incentive to sell tickets!
The tax on fuel issue had not been favourably resolved so Dan-Air were left with a decision; to give up or to re equip the fleet and carry on. After major board room talks the decision was made to carry on. A major boost came when rival British Eagle suffered a disastrous financial year. The carrier withdrew from scheduled services and only resumed them after British United sought to wrestle them from British Eagle. Two Boeing 707s had been ordered and would incur a 14% tariff because they were not British manufactured. The carrier's long term plan was to use Boeing 747s on the long-haul market. British Eagle was unique in that it had access to Heathrow with several domestic routes operated.
Plans to operate package holidays from Gatwick to Majorca with Horizon Holidays at a starting price of £26 were hindered when the ATLB refused to allow permission for the flights. Travel Agents had already been selling the holidays. Permission was only granted when the price was increased to £36. To make the holiday price more palatable, Global would be providing free excursions and cocktail parties for their guests. The packages would be flown by Comet aircraft over the winter months.
The end of the year saw four Comet jet-liners in service. Dan-Air, had overnight, become one of the biggest players on the charter scene. Several airlines had began to order jet aircraft, in many cases they were financed by the larger Tour Operators. But Dan-Air were here to stay, with a much larger presence than anyone could have imagined.
The Ambassador did have a place with the airline in the short term, but a replacement would have to be found, the same applied to the Dakota which had almost reached the end of serviceable life. The Ambassador fleet was reduced six to four, the three Dakotas numbered three, two Bristol Freighters, and the sole DC7 were used exclusively on cargo flights.
It was perhaps a year of consolidation. British United were desperately trying to gain a foothold on long haul scheduled services, whilst at the same time flying charter passengers. BKS and Cambrian Airways joined forces as British Air Services (BAS) and were heading towards a take over by BEA who owned 70% of BAS. Britannia had suffered their first fatal accident when more than 100 people died when a Britannia crashed in Ljubljana. Blame was placed on the flight deck crew. Laker had a promising start, their Britannias were supplemented with BAC 1-11 jet aircraft. Lloyd International Airlines had success in Berlin with the German Tour Operator Neckermann And Reiss who chartered their Britannia's for European sunspot fights. British Eagle continued to struggle and Monarch Airlines became the next 'new kid on the block' - their operation was aimed specifically at charter flights, backed by their owner, Cosmos Holidays.
NEW SERVICES
- Carlisle - Isle Of Man
NETWORK & PRESS 1967
1968
1968 was to be a troubled year in aviation, however Dan-Air looked toward to the ahead with confidence. The UK economy was not performing well. Airlines across the country were feeling the effects of the slump. The 'Link City' had seen four thousand fewer passengers in 1967 at Liverpool than in 1966. Dan-Air were hit with the revocation of a licence to operate flights between Glasgow, Belfast or Liverpool to Lourdes. The Northern Irish carrier Emerald Airways closed and a new start-up airline, Ulster Air Transport was formed. Behind the scenes Dan-Air secured many new charter contracts, - enabling them to order more aircraft. American Airlines had, in 1966, taken delivery of the first of 30 BAC 1-11 twin-jets. Just two years later the American company began selling them. Dan-Air saw the opportunity early and entered talk with banks and American. The aircraft that American had ordered as replacements would be available in early 1969. Dan-Air secured the finance which see the type in Dan-Air colours. The further Comet was purchased from BOAC. The aircraft would join the airline late this year and would enter service in 1969. The Comets had ovens in the galley which meant that Tour Operators were given the option of providing their guests with hot meals. Britannia Airways were already offering them on their Bristol Britannia aircraft, and so it was a natural progression for Dan-Air.
Mid England Travel chartered Dan-Air Comets to fly to Cyprus for the Summer months. The hefty price of £85 was counter balanced by the fact that Cyprus, like Malta, was a Sterling currency country. This meant it was exempt from limits on how much money could be taken to spend.
Some of the routes on the scheduled network were not making money. The Bristol - Cardiff Bristol -Liverpool -Newcastle service had not even broken even after six years, despite this, the frequency was increased to seven flights a week in each direction from Monday to Friday, an increase of two flights a week. The Liverpool-Amsterdam service was reduced from three flights a week to two. In an effort to drum up more trade, the flights were switched from Wednesdays and Fridays to Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Dove and Heron aircraft were sold and some of the smaller regional airport stops were dropped from the 'Link City' network. Dan-Air would begin testing new aircraft to replace the Dakotas on domestic flights.
Hundreds of residents of Newcastle were 'forced to endure the scream of jets' in January. The Comet, which roared over the rooftops of residents was being used in an 'intensive conversion training of Dan-Air pilots'. On 20th February this year a spokesman said;
'The training will continue practically every day this week and then in regular intervals over the next four or five weeks. We chose Newcastle, because we already have crew rest rooms and office facilities at the airport, and so our overall costs will be lower. However, the new jets will not be operating from Newcaslte, only Gatwick and Manchester. '
The Newcastle Chronicle covered the story saying;
'High over the cloud peppered sky over Newcastle, the graceful Comet circled and swooped like some giant seabird diving for fish. For two, maybe three hours it roamed the sky, flirting occasionally with the runway before pulling up again. Down below, someone cursed the sky and made an angry, protesting phone call to the airport as the Comet and its four engines screeched overhead. Less than a year ago there would have been non complaints about the quiet drone of the piston engined Ambassador or the larger turbo-prop Britannia. But now, Newcastle has joined the jet-set. For almost two months, it has been visited several times as week by the Comet G-APDO, dressed in Dan-Air's silver, white, red and black. Day and night the and its crew have been circling the airport on training flights of 'circles and bumps'. During that time 16 crewmen - pilots, first officers and engineer officers - have been undergoing their compulsory six-months proficiency tests. 'If you don't pass the tests, you just can't fly.' commented one crew member. They know there have been complaints, and despite silencers, they accept that the jet engines do make a lot of noise. 'The problem has been that the jet has been continually taking off and landing, so the noise is more noticeable.' Said John Clementson, Dan-Air's Station Manager. But the fact remains, that despite the annoyance to the people on the ground, the training programme is earning a great deal of revenue for the modern airport in a season when not much else is happening on the tarmac. Although, Mr. James Denyer, the airport's director could not say how much the training flights were making for the airport, he commentated; 'You can be sure it will be getting considerable financial benefit from the training programme. The exact amount, he added, was a contract between the airport committee and Dan-Air.'
It is hard not to forgive the Comet its noisy voice when it sits serenely on the runway or glides gracefully across the sky. 'The Comet is the original jet airliner and the finest piece of engineering that this country has ever produced.' Said engineer Clifford Rewton, who had just completed his proficiency check. 'Nothing the Americans have built is quite like it.' There were nods of agreement as other crew members endorsed his view. The De-Havilland Comet is undoubtedly well-known on medium and long range international routes. It is comfortable and its safety has been proved over many millions of flying. Generally it carries a crew of three, excluding hostesses, but on long flights and journeys over expanses of water, there is also a navigation officer. There was a touch of pride in John MacLoughlin's voice when he reeled off statistics to the latest addition to Dan-Air's fleet. 'It flies 99 people at 500 miles an hour at 32,000 to 33,000 feet, carries 9,000 gallons of fuel and goes through four tons an hour.' Like Clifford Rewton, John MacLoughlin is also an engineer officer. Both had enjoyed flying out of Newcastle because it didn't have the 'rugby scrum' atmosphere of larger airports. During training, all the crew face every possible type of emergency - fires in different sections of the plane and engine failure. They are a cheerful lot, these men who take on the responsibility of perhaps thousands of passengers. They like a joke as much as the next man, even if it gave them a worry or two at the same time. Backed by laughter, Clifford told us one of his near-miss stories. 'We were flying into Heathrow when one of the controllers told us there was a puddle on the runway.' He said; 'I thought it was funny when they said to overshoot, but when we came in it turned out that they had said 'there was a poodle on the runway.'
And a final word about the training flights from Mr. Denyer; 'There has been a lot said about the noise and the fact that these planes will not fly from Newcastle, we sympathise with the people who complain, but unfortunately, we have just got to accept that jets will be flying into Newcaslte in the near future and we have just got to get used to the idea.'
Dan-Air's first overseas expansion occurred during the Cold War this year when Frank Tapling, the sales director, visited German tour operators to increase utilisation of the growing Comet fleet and take advantage of the fact that all airlines other than those headquartered in the US, the UK and France were banned from West Berlin. Operating out of West Berlin let Dan-Air redeploy capacity left surplus in the UK due to sterling's devaluation and exchange controls which limited passengers to £50 a trip, and to obtain better rates than in the oversupplied UK charter market. The Comets' low acquisition costs also enabled Dan-Air to offer German tour operators with flying programmes from West Berlin offering keener rates than other Allied charter carriers – chiefly, fellow British independent Laker Airways and US airline Modern Air.
31 March 1968 marked the beginning of Dan-Air's association with Tegel which lasted 25 years. On that day, a Comet 4 left the airport for Málaga, the first of almost 300 IT flights under contract to West German tour operator Neckermann & Reisen.
Dan-Air Comets were chartered to bring hundred of Kenyan's who held a British Passport to the UK. There were ugly scenes at Nairobi Airport as relatives turned up at the airport to see-off their relatives who had decided to opt for a new life in the UK. The UK Government had imposed a deadline for those wishing to live in the UK and several airlines were chartered at the last minute to ferry them to London. French housewives had formed groups in their homeland with a view to shopping trips in the UK. Worthing was the preferred town,with French visitors taking advantage of the much cheaper goods. Several people had carried out runs, bringing back goods for friends and families. Worthing Chamber of Commerce contacted Dan-Air to see if special flights could be carried out. Dan-Air offered to carry out the charter flights using a 55-60 seat Ambassador for £25 return. This would include a complimentary return bus service from the airport to Worthing.
May 9th saw the annual 'Air Hostess Annual Beauty Contest' at Biggin Hill. Dam-Air's chosen representative was Patricia Ann Goodrich
Dan-Air successfully applied for a licence to operate shceduled flights to Stavanger in Norway from Bristol, there would be optional stops at Cardiff, Liverpool and Newcastle. The flights would be twice weekly and run until September.
In May 1969 an American Beechcraft commuter aircraft was evaluated at Liverpool to be followed the next week by an HP Jetstream. Both aircraft were similar with their fuel consumption. They would be capable of flying between 10-15 passengers at 250 mph. The Beechcraft took 15 minutes to fly from Bristol to Cardiff and forty five minutes to Liverpool compared with 20 minutes and 70 minutes with the DC3. Dan-Air's Archie Louden said 'We have made the decision on the fact that the route had had varying levels of success and the only way to make it profitable was to use modern, efficient aircraft.' He also disclosed that Dan-Air were looking at replacing the Ambassadors on the Liverpool-Amsterdam service with pure jet 1-11 aircraft. What was unknown to the public at the time was that Dan-Air had all but completed their agreement with American Airlines for the purchase of three BAC 1-11. The sad fact was that the DC3 'Dak' and the Ambassador were coming to the end of their useful life as newer, more efficient models became available.
Manchester had become a well established operating base for Dan-Air's charter division, with an Ambassador based permanently at the airport. Northern European charters were carried out to Ostend, Antwerp and Lourdes. Naturally the first Comets would be based at Gatwick. But before long, Tour Operators became anxious to feature jet aircraft in their programmes. It would take a while before Comets began to appear on a regular basis at Manchester as they were working flat out from Gatwick and Stansted. As soon as additional Comets joined the fleet some would be based at Manchester and Dan-Air presence at the airport became undeniable.
Dan-Air became Manchester's biggest independent carrier in just a few years. Comet jets would also undertake charter flights from other airports and then head back to Manchester for repositioning before getting back to work early the nest day. It would seem that the Comet could not have worked any harder. All the fleet was utilised to maximum, and any doubts that the airline had about whether a Comet could adapt from long-haul flying to high-density charter flights, quickly evaporated.
On 12th June a Comet mad an emergency landing at Gatwick after smoke filled through the cabin. The 95 passengers were evacuated down the emergency chutes. The aircraft was returning from Palma when the flight deck reported an engine failure. Emergency services were on standby. A company spokesman said 'There was no panic and everyone was evacuated very quickly indeed. As the aircraft descended, an electrical fault developed in a small motor causing smoke to enter the cockpit and passenger cabin. It was for that reason that the Captain decided to carry out a full emergency landing.'
It was no help to the airline in June when the World's Comet fleet was grounded. Cracks had been found in some models. De Havilland grounded the 44 Comets that were in operation while a spare part was fitted. Several flights were disrupted. Dan-Air's decision to base aircraft at Luton was also dealt a blow in August of this year. The airport had allowed night flights throughout 1967. In August they informed Dan-Air and Autair that their Comet BAC 1-11 night flights would have to be reduced by 50%. In Dan-Air's case that would mean losing 30 flights a week. Birmingham which in 1968 was not a 24 hour airport said that it would welcome night flights and have no restrictions in the amount that could be flown.
Further inconvenience occurred just a month later following the crash of an Airspeed Ambassador of Autair saw the type grounded. The Autair aircraft crashed at Heathrow killing all on board. The routine flight was carrying eight valuable racehorses and their grooms and was being flown by a crew of three. Six people were injured on the ground and taken to hospital. The aircraft scythed its way between two BEA Tridents before hitting the building. The investigation the followed quickly established that the aircraft had metal fatigue. This led to the Board of Trade grounding the type on the first week of July saying; 'The accident investigation branch of the Board of Trade had concluded that there was fatigue failure on the port main attachment to the flap actuating rod tot he flap operating jack. At the final stages of the flight, both flaps would have been extended prior to the landing. the failure would have permitted the port flap to retract and thus create a strong rolling moment to port (Moment is a technical engineering term) This is consistent with the observed manoeuvres of the aircraft during the terminal stages of the flight.'
Dan-Air's four string Ambassador fleet was withdrawn from service to undergo immediate safety checks. Withing two days the entire fleet had resumed flying. A spokesman said; 'When the order came to inspect the aircraft and replace specific parts, it was compiled with in a very short time.'
An Ambassador operating a busy programme of flights from Prestwick to the Isle of Man caused major headaches for 200 passengers in July when 15 minutes into its first flight to the island the aircraft developed engine trouble. The aircraft turned back and declared an emergency landing. Fire engines and ambulances were on standby as the aircraft landed safely. Check confirmed that the aircraft would have to be removed from service for repairs. This left only one Ambassador to operate the flights that day. The aircraft soldiered on and eventually all fourteen flights that had been scheduled were flown. All 200 passengers eventually made it to the island, several hours late.
IT flights continued to be bulk of the airline's flying. Dan-Air was now firmly established as a profitable, reliable and competant company. Applications were made for more scheduled services, but as ever, the UK Government refused to stop their protectionist practice - Provision One - Any attempt by an independent to obtain a scheduled route was met with the response 'Material Diversion Of Traffic' It is not without some irony that in pre 1992 days it was the Conservative governments who had been more reluctant to allow competition from independents than Labour ones. This was not the case in all business, but it was particularly true in civil aviation. On August 26th applications were made Air Transport Licencing Board by Dan-Air and Britannia Airways to operate charter flights from Manchester to the Canary Islands, Spain and Italy. The public hearing would take place in September. British United, BEA and British Eagle objected. Howard Page who was a manager at Clarkson's told us;
'I don't think people today could have any comprehension of how the system used to operate. Everyone knew about the BEA and BOAC bias against the independents, but often the independents would fight like rats in a sack. They were all wanting a larger piece of the cake, and they all were jealous of a rival's success. For what it mattered, BUA and Eagle were all involved in charter flights - every airline was. For these Manchester flights, it would not have affected them one bit. British European did have some Spanish and Italian flights, but most of them were via Heathrow. They type of people who could afford to holiday with British European Airways would not be likely to want to use Clarkson's.'
A company Ambassador on a scheduled flight from Kristiansand heading for Liverpool via Stavanger and Newcaslte was forced to make an emergency landing with one engine shut down. The aircraft had just taken off when the incident occurred, passenger Dr. Dennis Chapman told us;
'The nose cone suddenly flew off the port engine and hit the central tail fin and also breaking the radio aerial. The pilot shut down the port engine and began to circle using only one engine. the plane returned to Kristiansand and made a perfect landing. He did a magnificent job and everybody on board remained absolutely calm. Once the plane was down it was examined and it was decided that it was safe to fly without the nose cone. Temporary repairs were carried out on the tail fin and we set off about six hours late.' Dan-Air arranged for a DC3 to fly to Newcaslte to take the passengers who were booked on the Newcastle-Liverpool leg of the journey and that arrived just two hours behind schedule. the Ambassador was taken out of service for repair. The next day the DC3 was scheduled to fly to the Isle of Man with 36 members of the Byker Ladies Guild. The aircraft developed a technical fault and the passengers had to de-plane. The aircraft could not be repaired quickly and the passengers were given a meal, before the flight was cancelled until the next day. The women were put up in a hotel at Dan-Air's expense. When journalists heard about the issue they contacted Dan-Air and pointed out that this was happening to a lot of Dan-Air aircraft. The journalist asked about the airworthiness and age of Dan-Air's fleet. A company spokesman said; 'We will not be commenting other than to say all airlines experience technical issues, delays and cancellations.'
An Ambassador on a routine training flight in October left Gatwick and shortly afterwards it became apparent that the undercarriage had become stuck. The trainer, Captain Moody took the aircraft through an aerobatic drill to shake the undercarriage out and this failed. The aircraft was diverted to Manston where Captain Moody and Captain James Lecky performed a wheels up landing on a £600 blanket of foam. Captain Moody performed a text book landing which saw only damage to the propellers and the undercarriage
The DC7 was put up for sale this year. Boasting that is was available as a 104 seat passenger aircraft or cargo liner. Check IV had been completed and the aircraft had radio, and radar - cost? £65,000 with spares extra!! Prices for a Bristol Britannia at the time ? £325,000.
At the ATLB hearing to licence Manchester flights, Dan-Air and Britannia Airways were successful in the applications. This would mean that a Comet would need to based at Manchester for the whole winter season. at the same hearing, Dan-Air objected to Cambrian Airways' application to fly from Liverpool to the Channel Island via Bristol saying; 'For years we made considerable losses and it was not until 1967 that we saw an increase of about 8%. but the last twelve months have seen a drop of 14%. On the Bristol-Cardiff-Liverpool-Newcastle service there has been a drop in passengers from point to point of about 38%, any diversion of our traffic by another operator would be a disastrous for us. Cross country services represent around 33% of our total earnings. We have tried to operate a daily service and even a twice daily service, but they had lost even more money.' The ATLB reserved their decision.
This year saw the end of the absurd rule that meant if scheduled airlines increased their fare that Tour Operators would have to do the same. (Surcharging) However when brochures initially were printed, the rule was still in force. The holiday in total must not cost less than BEA's standard return fare. So, passengers were somewhat protected now from surcharges. They were also more safe in the knowledge that ABTA registration for travel agents and tour operators was essential. The Edwards Committee was convened and set to work. They proposed a lot of changes. Most significantly that the Tour Operators should be allowed to sell their holidays for the same price as two standard single BEA tickets. This would mean that a weeks holiday to Majorca would now cost £30 7s instead of £35 3s.
By the end of the year the Comet fleet had grown to five. The BAC 1-11 would be ferried to Lasham to undergo modifications enabling the aircraft to join the fleet, they would be configured to seat 89 passengers., ten more than whilst they flew with American Airlines.
The three DC 3 Dakotas were relegated to fly solely on UK domestic routes. The DC 7 failed to sell, and was scrapped a Lasham. The last two Bristol Freighters were now used for cargo only flights.
British Eagle and its sister companies ceased trading at midnight on 6 November 1968 due to growing financial problems. the airline went into voluntary liquidation two days later. Their last-ever aircraft movement was the the following day. The financial crisis leading to the collapse of Britain's second-largest independent airline had been triggered by the devaluation of sterling and the tightening of the existing exchange control regime, which limited the amount of foreign exchange British holidaymakers were allowed to take out of the country. Chairman Harold Bamberg said the renewal of the £50 rule had been a devastating blow, coupled with the loss of the company's Caribbean licence.
The £6 million contract with Lunn Poly and Everyman Holidays was an injection of revenue that had hitherto never been hear of at Dan-Air The contract was to fly 200,000 people to European destinations from Newcastle in the summer of 1969. The press speculated that Dan-Air would purchase some of Eagle's BAC 1-11 jets to fly the new charters, with Dan-Air's spokesman saying; 'We don't want to commit ourselves in case the market hardens against us.'
Poor decisions at senior and executive level and the end of the trooping and migrant contracts had led to disappointing results, the charter and IT division alone had lost £1 million. The overall UK economic situation had made British Eagle an increasingly non-viable business. The final flights were cancelled when fuel companies at UK airports refused to re-fuel aircraft for fear of non-payment.
the following day, Mr. Harold Bamberg appealed to the Government saying that British Eagle's closing 'would not be in the national interest.'
The Air Transport Licencing Board along with several industry peers regarded the firm as seriously under-capitalised and saw this as a major cause their financial instability. The management's refusal to contemplate a fundamental change in the way the business was run, which would have included changes at the top of management itself, undermined the confidence of Hambros Bank, the airline's main creditor, in its future prospects. These circumstances led to the withdrawal of Hambros' support. At the time of the bankruptcy, British Eagle operated 25 aircraft and employed a staff of 2,300, including 220 pilots. The failed company owed its creditors £5½ million; Rolls-Royce and Esso, who were owed £630,000 and £300,000 respectively, headed the list of creditors. Bamberg was unsuccessful with his appeal to the Government, and he announced that 'after a disastrous year, the airline would fold. Bamberg had started the airline in 1948 with £100 and a converted Halifax bomber.
Following British Eagle's overnight collapse, other airlines moved quickly to take over the abandoned scheduled routes. Former rival Cambrian Airways assumed the Liverpool–Glasgow and Liverpool–Heathrow routes while BEA applied for the European routes from Heathrow. BUA added an extra daily round-trip between Gatwick and Glasgow and applied to serve some of the European routes as well. Dan-Air took over London–Newquay services, which it operated from Gatwick for one season from May 1969. Dan-Air also won the contest for the Travel Trust charter contracts for the 1969 summer season against stiff competition from BEA. These had originally been awarded to British Eagle and entailed operating Travel Trust's entire summer charter programme on behalf of its subsidiaries Lunn-Poly and Everyman Travel, the bankrupt airline's former in-house tour operators. These contracts provided additional work for four Dan-Air aircraft — two Comets and two BAC One-Elevens that had recently been acquired. The Heathrow scheduling committee's refusal to allow Dan-Air access to British Eagle's former main operating base resulted in Dan-Air opening a base at Luton for the Lunn-Poly/Everyman flying programmes from London. In addition to the 1969 summer programme, Travel Trust also awarded Dan-Air a "time charter" contract for the following three years (1970–1972). This in turn resulted in Dan-Air acquiring two further One-Elevens that had originally been operated by British Eagle.
In addition to the two former British Eagle One-Eleven 300s Dan-Air acquired a further example from Kuwait Finance to complement the ex-American pair of 400 series. A further two former BOAC Comet 4s that were fully employed on the Lunn-Poly/Everyman charters.
The £6 million contract was increased to £7 million overnight. With this news Dan-Air confirmed to the press that they would be purchasing the BAC 1-11 500 series from bankrupt British Eagle's Administrators. The flights had been expected to operate out of Heathrow, where British Eagle had a base. The British Airports Authority and the ATLB refused to allow Dan-Air (or any other independent airline for that matter) to carry out charters out of Heathrow. This would mean that the flights would have to fly from Luton. Comet aircraft would carry out initial flights until the BAC 1-11s had been re-fitted and painted in Dan-Air's interior and livery.
The year was rounded off with a bitter argument with the Air Transport Licencing Board who had given Cambrian Airways the right to absorb their year round domestic flights into the Channel Islands. Dan-Air said they had borne significant losses maintaining their Bristol - Cardiff - Liverpool - Newcastle services and competition on the route would be disastrous for them. Nevertheless the ATLB awarded licences from 1969-1975.
Yvonne Pope, Britain's first international woman pilot sensationally quit her job at British United over a dispute over contracts. She, along with six male pilots left the airline on the advice of the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) who advised against signing individual contracts. She announced she would be joining Dan-Air on January 1st flying Dakotas out of Bristol on domestic services and holiday charter flights to continental airports. She said; 'I hope to be back at Gatwick before too long flying big aircraft, I have already qualified to fly on anything right up to Concorde.' the contract dispute with British United involved 68 pilots who were offered differing contracts following the merger and the forming of British United Island Airways. Mrs Pope was with Morton Air Services and the six others were Jersey based. They would leave officially at the end of the year when their contract expired.
In December Dan-Air launched their new cabin crew uniform. Navy blue was banished and replaced with a stunning two piece suit in scarlet wool worsted. The outfit, complimented with a white blouse and blue had been designed by Frank Russell from the House of Mansfield. He also designed a matching 'great-coat'. each of the 100 stewardesses were given a wardrobe consisting of two suits, three blouses, a hat and a great-coat. Pauline Foden who had been with the company for five years modelled the new look.
Dan-Air, had, overnight, become a major player on the charter scene with aircraft being chartered to fly to dozens of European airports. The Ambassador fleet was reduced over the year from six to four, whilst the three DC3s and two Bristol Freighters.
NETWORK & PRESS 1969
1969
In January Dan-Air applied to the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) for a licence to operate scheduled services between Gatwick - Newquay. Meanwhile, emergency services were alerted at Liverpool Airport when the pilot of a company Dakota radioed to say that he was flying the aircraft on one engine. Police, fire fighters, and ambulance were on standby as the aircraft came in to land. The pilot, 26 years-old John Snelling brought the aircraft in safely along with 18 passengers, eleven of whom had already boarded at Liverpool. The aircraft had left Liverpool t 9:25 on the flight to Newcastle. Captain Snelling, a pilot for four years said; 'I was just ten minutes into the flight, until then everything had gone smoothly. We landed and mechanics went to repair the plane.' Dan-Air supplied taxis for those who needed to be at Newcaslte.
John Snelling
In March industrial action by airport workers blighted travel for many people. The Dan-Air Comet training plan at the airport was unaffected. The Comet fleet had swelled to eleven models by the end of the year, which meant that more pilots had to be taken on. Several ex-British Eagle pilots joined the airline, which had never operated Comet jets. The conversion was straightforward enough, but time consuming and expensive. In today's aviation world pilots can convert from one type to another safely end effectively with simulators. Dan-Air had not taken delivery of their Comet simulator, which was pretty rudimentary with it's simulation options anyway. Therefore the conversion would need to be carried out on a real Comet. Newcaslte was not as busy as many airports and particularly in Winter. Captain Selby notes;
'There was, overall, a good feeling within the company at the new aircraft and many pilots who had been with the airline for some considerable time were keen to convert to the Comet. Financially it was better, and for obvious reasons the Comet was more attractive, and certainly flew to more interesting locations than the Dakota. Still there was a little bit of aggro when some pilots were held back to fly the Ambassador. What they perhaps hadn't taken on board was that we were still a working airline that did lots of different types of flying. We still needed Ambassador pilots for a couple more years. There were some pilots who were at retirement age every year and that resulted in promotions for First Officers to get their command, as one would expect. It was natural for some Captains to resent more junior members joining the Comet fleet as First Officers than themselves converting. But that's all politics within an expanding airline. Everyone wanted to get on and not everyone could do it at the same time sadly.'
Newquay town council asked the ATLB to hasten a response to Dan-Air's application to serve the town from London Gatwick. There had been no objection to the application. British Midland wanted to operate from Liverpool to Newquay, to which the liquidator of bankrupt British Eagle submitted an application!
Fred Newman, Dan-Air's Chairman announced in March that there had been a major fleet expansion. Three Comet 4 aircraft were purchased from BOAC and two BAC 1-11 were acquired from American Airlines. Newman said that the planes were needed due to an increase in business for this year.
The new uniform, which was premiered late in 1968 was introduced in April. The two piece scarlet wool worsted suit was designed by Frank Russell from the house of Mansfield.The wool blend was complemented with a The suit consisted of mini skirt with matching bolero jacket. A white Mandarin collar blouse and neck tie was also featured. The hat, in worsted, was navy blue, the ensemble was completed with a scarlet overcoat. . Each stewardess was provided with two suits, three blouses, a hat and overcoat.
British Eagle's closure resulted in Dan-Air taking over their charter programme in Berlin. The Station Manager post was offered to the same title holder at Liverpool who would introduce Dan-Air to Germany. The move would mean Dan-Air jets would be based at Berlin on a permanent basis. The flight deck crews would be British, whilst the cabin crew would be locally recruited and trained at London. Channel Airways, Laker and Britannia Airways had all taken up opportunities in the free section of Berlin. Dan-Air established its first overseas base at Berlin's Tegel Airport this year. Up to five aircraft were stationed there for over two decades. These initially comprised Comets, One-Elevens, Boeing 707s and 727s. They would later be replaced with Boeing 737s, Hawker Siddeley 748s and BAe 146s. The Berlin fleet operated charters under contract to tour operators Gatwick aircraft and crew operated most of the regular charter flights At its peak during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Berlin was staffed by 170, mainly local, employees and handled more than 300,000 passengers annually. One former manager told us;
'The beauty of West Berlin operation was the lack of interference from the Government. In the UK the Authorities poked their nose into EVERYTHING. The main restriction was that a holiday could not be cheaper than the standard return scheduled air fare to the airport, or one closest to it. Nor could we fly to an airport already served by BEA. In Berlin there were no restrictions on pricing. We could offer charter rates that were cheaper than the UK. To make a holiday attractive, because on the face of it they were expensive, Tour Operators had to give so much to justify the price. Hotel, transfers, meals on aircraft, full board at hotels, excursions - the lot. In Berlin, we could fly to any airport overseas and the Tour Operator could charge far less than a comparable firm in the UK. The Authorities in Britain had absolutely no jurisdiction over anything we did. When the 727 came to fleet it had a lot fewer seats than those in Britain. The Germans wanted it that way. We had no objections, because they were paying the going rate. We had by far the biggest UK airline presence at Tegal. With five aircraft based there. That was like several UK airlines total fleet. In some ways it was nice to stick two fingers up at the UK authorities.'
With the contract to carry 200,000 passengers from UK airports in the bag and more large contracts to undertake this year, it was necessary that Dan-Air acquire more aircraft. It was estimated that a Comet had a value of £500,000 in 1969 so Dan-Air's decision to purchase seven of them this year was a considerable investment. One of our pilot contributors told us:
'It was well known in the industry that Dan-Air did not like to spend heavily on brand new aircraft. By the late sixties the Comet was the only jet aircraft that was available in large enough numbers to purchase. The Comet was a marvellous airliner to fly in every way. The main drawback was that it consumed incredible amounts of fuel. The BAC 1-11 used as much fuel as a 737 and carried less people. The Comet used perhaps almost as much as the two combined. It was enormously overpowered and it was possible of to close engines down mid flight without any noticeable loss of power. That was never standard procedure, just a fact. That said, Boeing 737 aircraft cost millions of pounds, even in the late 60s. If Dan-Air could get three or four Comets for the price on a 737 then I can see the logic in that. Passengers wouldn't really have noticed that their aircraft was that much older. One has to remember, that most people were flying for the first time anyway. But it is true, our aircraft used a lot of fuel but were cheap to buy, I believe that the balance was in the Comet's favour re: fuel consumption plus aircraft cost. It didn't seem to affect the number of companies wanting to use us. Remember that comparable flights to Palma with Monarch were on a Britannia!'
March 27th saw the announcement that Dan-Air were cutting he number of flights from Prestwick to the Isle of Man from a maximum of 23 a week to just five at weekends. The company said it was a result of a major modernisation programme, new expensive aircraft and the demands of other routes. Local Travel Agents were not happy at the move, and were appealing to get the matter raised in the House of Commons. One Glasgow agent issued a statement saying; 'Airlines are licensed to meet a demand from the travelling public, if they fail to meet the requirements of the routes, the licenses should be withdrawn.'
A license was granted for the Gatwick-Newquay service in April. The ATLB said the service was 'essentially a holiday service.' and duly limited the flights to only operate on Saturdays and Sundays. There would be no more than fourteen journeys a week. The flights would take 1 1/4 hours aboard Ambassador aircraft. Departures would leave Gatwick at 1:30 pm returning from Newquay at 3:10 pm fares were £6 10s one way and £13 return. There would be connecting services to the Isles of Scilly with fares at £10 8s and £20 16s. Month on month figures at Liverpool showed that Dan-Air were 46.9% down in passenger numbers.
The ATLB's decision to allow Cambrian Airways to operate from Liverpool - Bristol -Cardiff - Channel Islands was challenged by Dan-Air who lodged a formal appeal. Dan-Air said they would be upgrading the service with the addition of small jets or faster turbo-prop aircraft on their Newcastle-Liverpool-Bristol-Cardiff-London service. Archie Louden of Dan-Air said; 'We have pioneered this route for many years, operating a loss for the last six years. Just when it seemed that there might be a small profit in it, another operator was being allowed to divert traffic away from us.'
It was reported that the ATLB were being deliberately slow in awarding foreign licenses to UK independent airlines who were keen to take over some of the failed British Eagle Airways' routes. Eagle had collapsed in November the previous year and new licenses were not given approval until May of this year. This would not give airlines the time to implement new services for the Summer season. In particular, Liverpool's foreign licenses were affected. This applied to Mediterranean services and cities like Frankfurt. The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce believed that the expansion of Liverpool Airport would be down to the success of Cambrian Airways.
The Edwards Committee had been established to look at 'British Air Travel In The Seventies' The report had been completed but was not published as late as May. The report was expected to come out in favour of the independent airlines, and in particular, the expansion of the British Air Services (BAS) Company which now controlled BKS and Cambrian Airways. The Edwards Report was expected to conclude that BAS would be responsible or the development of not only UK domestic services, and of inclusive tour services from the area it operated. It should also be free to apply to operated scheduled services to Continental destinations when they were warranted. Assuming that these recommendations were accepted by the Government, a continued, expanding role is assured for BAS.
It was announced in May that Dan-Air would be replacing the Dakotas on the Newcastle-Liverpool-Bristol-Cardiff-Plymouth-London service with modern 'executive style' aircraft. The two aircraft being trialled were the Beechcraft 99 and the British equivalent the Handley Page Jetstream. On May 27th the Beechcraft was at Liverpool Airport for its trial. The 15 seat Beechcraft could fly at 250 mph reducing considerably the flying times between destinations. The Jetstream would be evaluated in two weeks time. In the trial the Beechcraft took 15 minutes from take-off to landing between Bristol and Cardiff and 45 minutes from Cardiff to Liverpool, compared with 20 minutes and 70 minutes with the present DC3. Dan-Air's Archie Louden said; 'We have been operating this principal air-route since 1961 with varying degrees of success. The traffic potential is not significantly high to warrant comparatively large aircraft operating on a frequency we would like, in order to give a good service to the business commuter. We have reached the conclusion that the only real answer is to have a smaller, modern, fast aircraft operating the route on a relatively high frequency. It is planned to operate the flights twice daily in both directions Monday to Friday. Within a short time we hope to increase the frequency to three flights a day.' the new aircraft was likely to be in operation before the end of the year. It was also hoped that the BAC 1-11 would be operating the Liverpool - Amsterdam service.
The Gatwick-Newquay service commenced on 26th May using Ambassador aircraft. The aircraft flew 40 passengers on its inaugural flight, among them was 93 year old Mrs.Doris Tribe who was making her maiden flight. When asked what flying was like, replied 'Just like being on a large car.'
June 11th saw the UK built Jetstream arrive in Bristol for its evaluation on the domestic 'link-city' flights. The Jetstream could seat 18 passengers and was new on the UK market. On board was Managing Director Alan Snudden, the Dakota fleet manager Captain Pat Falconer and Lord Waterpark the managing director of C.S.E Aviation. The aircraft, piloted by Captain Hugh Field, the Jetstream chief pilot, flew the Bristol - Cardiff - Liverpool -Newcaslte route. The aircraft had a price tag of £245,000.
June 18th of this year saw a Comet depart from Gatwick to Bristol to herald a new concept in disposable in flight catering supplies. The product, known as 'Sky Diners' had been designed by E.S & A Robinson Ltd. The new catering equipment would consist of a a disposable 'air larder' first thought up by International Air Caterers at Gatwick. The weight problem affected all airlines and Dan-Air were the first airline to tackle the issue. The larder was made of a special board covered in foil for fire safety, into which will fit eighteen meal trays or twenty seven snack trays. The trays, also made from a special board are suitable decorated with the airline logo and wording. The 'Sky Diner' project was a solution to a costly problem. Prior to their introduction meals were served plastic and basic pottery. Cutlery was metal, all of this needed to be washed after each flight and replaced. The cost of washing was estimated to be a few pence. The weight of the kitchenware was also considerable. Replacing them with 'Sky Diners' would save the company £60,000 a year. This might not seem a particularly large sum, but that 1969 figure in today's money is £1,250,000. Over the years, these meals became more sophisticated. As you can see from the picture below, the trays had immovable compartments for each part of the meal. Over time these made way for lightweight resin and plastic meal trays. It was, however, revolutionary in 1969.
Forty four Comets were in service throughout the world, In June this year they were all grounded following the discovery of hairline cracks in some models. Dan-Air were speedy in inspecting their fleet. Three were cleared the very same day and the other four were cleared the following day. A further four Comets were ordered from other airlines and would undergo the same checks upon arrival. One company Comet circled Spanish mountains for nearly two hours following an instrument failure in the flight deck. The aircraft was 'flying blind' but eventually spotted another Dan-Air Comet that was able to guide the stricken jet home to Gatwick. Passengers were not instructed of the emergency until the aircraft prepared to land at Gatwick. Scheduled services from Liverpool continued to decrease in passenger numbers with a 26% drop in July.
At a hearing with the Air Transport Licencing Board (ATLB) Dan-Air appealed against a decision allowing Cambrian Airways to fly from Cardiff and Bristol to Manchester. Dan-Air presently operated the route with Liverpool replacing Manchester. Dan-Air had a flight that then went onto Amsterdam, Cambrian wished to operate Manchester-Rotterdam. Dan-Air said they were presently losing £20,000 a year on the service, but hoped to off-set that figure when a new aircraft was introduced onto the route. Ultimately, Dan-Air lost their appeal.
Newcastle City Council member Thomas Murphy urged that Dan-Air and BKS 'Play somewhere else' in response to the continuing training programme running at the city's airport. he local press called Mr.Murphy's comments 'ridiculous' stressing that training was 'absolutely essential, costing the airlines a small fortune. With the rapid conversion to jet equipment throughout the industry, every airport would need to have a similar kind of training system' Murphy had claimed that aircraft noise was a result of airlines 'playing'. The press went on to say that airlines and the airport had done their very best to avoid noise pollution by operating with restricted hours, minimum power circuits, noise abatement climbs - everything was being done to minimise inconvenience o the public. They asked people to consider, when flying on a Trident on their holiday that year from Newcaslte, that a similar kind of training would have been carried out somewhere else.
Luton Airport announced that they were reducing the permitted night flights. Flights would be reduced to 56 a week instead of the proposed 68. The figure was still an increase of 50% on the previous year. Dan-Air was the most affected airline and threatened to pull out of the airport altogether rather than slash its night flights by half in 1970. Birmingham Airport offered to allow Dan-Air to use their airport for any refused slots at Luton.
Air Spain, a charter airline operating Bristol Britannia aircraft was looking to expand. The airline's bankers had asked three airlines to assist them. In the end Dan-Air was given the task of introducing a new type into service. Senior company officials flew to Spain and later on to the USA, where they had extensive talks with Eastern Airlines and United Airlines. Eastern had two DC 8 jets for sale at $1,500,000 which was considered a bargain price. Whether the type was suitable for high density charter flights had to be worked out. In the end, the aircraft would be configured in a 189 seat layout. United offered the jets with a training package for crews at a much lower price, when Eastern bettered it, the deal was done. Dan-Air invited designers to come up with a new livery for the type, eventually selecting a red and yellow stripe that covered the entire aircraft. It was a reflection of the nation's flag. It certainly was a break from tradition and was met with much derision from the Spanish press, who presumably thought that it was vulgar. That may or may not have been the case, but it certainly ensured maximum exposure on TV and press. The overall running of the airline would continue until the company was in a position to manage its own affairs. It was a complement to Dan-Air that a rival airline was considered competent enough, and trustworthy enough to have access to rival airline's whole infrastructure.
Of the half a million passengers carried this year, at least 109 of them flew to Trinidad on the company's first transatlantic flight. That aircraft, naturally, was a Comet! The Berlin station would eventually see the company base several aircraft there for the next twenty three years. The protectionist 'Provision One' did not apply to Germany and major benefits were to be had by Dan-Air.
The Edwards Committee report was published this year. It was approved by the Department of Trade. Now airlines could now operate a Package Holiday for the same price as two single one way flights with BEA. The Board of The report also allowed Charterers not to increase their fares from the previous year even if the state airlines increased their own fares. This was a major breakthrough. The glaring problem of holiday duration was overlooked. Holidays that were of different duration did not come any cheaper. People were now wanting shorter holidays and holidays of odd duration. However the Board of Trade made a few recommendations that would change the air travel world forever. It recommended that the CAA be formed (Civil Aviation Authority) and that a "Second Force" airline be established to compete in UK scheduled air services. This would have little, if any impact on airlines such as Dan-Air, but it was the start of a new concept and would, ultimately allow freer competition. Lunn Poly continued to expand its partnership with Dan-Air. The 1969 programme featured charter flights from Manchester, Liverpool, Luton, Newcastle, Gatwick and Birmingham. All the Costas would be served as well as the Greek Islands, the Canaries, Malta, Romania, Russia, Istanbul, Italy, Tunisia and Yugoslavia.
In 1969, Davies & Newman agreed with BAA and the failed Gatwick Handling company's other creditors to continue trading under the same name in return for settling outstanding debts. Dan-Air's requirement for additional check-in desks at Gatwick resulted in discussions about the formation of a new joint handling company with fellow independent airline and airport resident Caledonian Airways, whose expansion had led to a requirement for more check-in desks at the airport as well. Although talks between both parties made good progress, the latter backed out of a deal following its successful bid to take over British United Airways (BUA) As Britain's biggest independent airline and Gatwick's largest resident airline, BUA already had a well-developed ground handling infrastructure at the airport. This enabled it to handle all of its own flights in-house and provide ground handling services to third parties. For Caledonian this meant that it no longer required the services of a third-party ground handler at Gatwick. As a consequence of Caledonian's change in circumstances, Davies & Newman needed to find a new partner who was willing to co-own the yet to be formed joint handling company. An expression of interest from Laker Airways founder and majority owner Freddie Laker, who wanted his airline to attain a greater degree of autonomy at its home airport, ended Davies & Newman's search for a partner to share control of a joint handling company. The two companies would not fully own Gatwick Handling until 1972.
Further trials of a Dakota replacement were carried out over the Autumn months with the nine seat Brittan Norman Islander ruled out as well as the eighteen seat De Havilland Twin Otter. A fourth type, the Nord 262 with 29 seats was evaluated in December. A series of flights covering the same distances as the twenty six year old Dakota were carried out in France with favourable results. The Dan-Air spokesman said; 'It is really the only aircraft that has been built to replace the DC3.' The aircraft looked likely to join the fleet in March 1970.
21st August saw the retirement of the Comet fleet manager Captain Clive Holder who had a flying career of more than forty years. At a ceremony to mark the occasion captain holder was given a silver rose bowl by company managing director Alan Snudden who said; 'Speaking as a comparative novice in this industry, Captain Holder's qualities had always impressed me. Under him our Comet operations have been immensely successful.' Snudden re-traced Captain Holden's career which ultimately saw him join Dan-Air in 1966. Operations manager Ken Bolsden complimented Captain Holder on his 'invaluable service' - On behalf of the staff, First Officer Andrew Montgomery presented the pilot with the silver salver, saying that the airline's junior pilots owed Captain Holder a great deal. Captain Holder had made his last flight from Athens to Gatwick a week prior to the presentation. He said he was overwhelmed by the gifts. He had first leaned to fly with the RAF VR in 1930 and seven years later he joined Imperial Airways as a trainee pilot earning £6 a week. During the war he was based at Bristol with Imperial Airways flying the De Havilland Flamingo to Accra. He flew Whitleys and Hudsons during the siege of Malta. In 1945 he was posted to Aldermaston Training Centre where he was instrument rating examiner. In 1951 he joined BOAC and became Comet fleet training manager, and later joined Dan-Air with a similar position.
Marathon Travel of London had chartered Dan-Air Comets to fly passengers to Cyprus where they would holiday before taking a cruise to Brindisi to be flown home to Gatwick. Sadly the company was suffering with financial problems and had fallen behind with payments to Dan-Air who refused to take the passengers home from Brindisi or to fly the next set of passengers to Cyprus. The UK Foreign office had to guarantee £1200 of the £2,000 required to get the passengers where they needed to be. The rest was met by the Tour Operator's parent company.
Tees Side would see 25,000 Dan-Air passengers in 1970 on a series of charter flights on behalf of Clarksons. The flights would all be operated by Comet aircraft. Flights would depart to Spain's Costa Dorada, Costa Brava and Costa Blanca, Majorca, Ibiza, Adriatic Riviera, and the Venetian Riviera.
The ATLB approved 22 license applications for charter flights out of Manchester in November. They would fly to Spain, Portugal. France, Italy, North Africa, Switzerland, Holland, Norway and Germany. Two destinations served by Dan-Air for the first time from Manchester would be Corfu and Trieste. All flights would be operated by jets.
For the 1969 season Lunn Poly chartered Dan-Air BAC 1-11 aircraft for their holiday flights to more than a dozen destinations. Quoting on advertisements that the finest of service, reliability of operation and catering on Dan-Air (One of Britain's foremost airlines) was second to none. They said that the flight on the Rolls Royce powered BAC 1-11 was noted for its smooth, silent and comfortable operation. the Lunn Poly deal was terrific news for Dan-Air for it meant that not only would Lunn Poly passengers use their aircraft, but those on Everyman, Wings and Mato Holidays. In addition to the 200,000 passengers on Lunn Poly, many other Tour Operators selected Dan-Air for the first time in its history more than half a million passengers were carried in a single year.
NEW ROUTES
- Gatwick - Newquay
NETWORK & PRESS 1969
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