In Gulf we observed the start of the BOAC/BEA merger, and some of its more ridiculous aspects. Be in the know.We use ads to keep our content free. A BEA Trident operated the airline's final flight from Dublin to Heathrow on 31 March 1974. The British chancellor at the time, Rab Butler, was also in favor of this idea, but the opposition shot it down.14 years later, the UK government had appointed Professor Sir Ronald Edwards as the chairman of a committee to explore the future of the country’s air transport industry. Based in London, UK.Sign up to our daily aviation news digest. Following the late-night arrival at Heathrow at 23:30 hrs of flight BE 943 ("Bealine 943"), BEA passed into history as of 00:00 hrs the following day.The Dragon Rapides BEA had inherited from Scottish Airways and other former independent airlines it had taken over in early-1947 initially operated the corporation's Scottish routes, including services to remote communities in the Highlands and Islands.From 1948, BEA Dragon Rapides were contracted to operate the In 1952, BEA began replacing Dragon Rapides with Pionairs across its Scottish network; however, the pre-war From 1962, BEA supplemented the Herons it used on its Scottish internal services with three new, 48-seater 1962 was also the year BEA introduced Viscounts on its Scottish network. Please Support us by turning off your adblocker. However, it soon retired the Standard VC10s that were operated by BOAC and also disused the BEA’s Vickers Vanguards.Deputy Editor - Sumit comes to Simple Flying with more than eight years’ experience as a professional journalist. These took over the routes to From October 1966, BEA operated only Viscounts and Herons on its Scottish network. Formed as the British European Airways division of Having established its main operating base at Northolt,For most of its existence, BEA was headquartered at BOAC formed a British European Airways division on 1 January 1946 in anticipation of that year's Civil Aviation Act. The board, which runs BOAC and BEA, both state‐owned, said it was going to phase out their names and replace them with the single name of British Airways. On that day, it inaugurated a weekly Dakota service from Northolt to On 1 August 1946, the Civil Aviation Act 1946 was given The first flight operated by the newly constituted British European Airways Corporation departed Northolt for Marseille, Rome and Athens on the day of its formation at 8:40 am. This included all services operated by these airlines on behalf of their Travel Sales assumed responsibility for all of BEA's sales-related activities.Sovereign Group Hotels assumed responsibility for the management of all Sovereign hotels, BEA's associated hotel chain.The first attempt at a merger of BEA and BOAC arose in 1953 out of inconclusive attempts between the two airlines to negotiate air rights through the British colony of However, it was only following the recommendations of the 1969 Edwards Report,One of the newly formed British Airways Board's first major decisions was to place a On 1 September 1972, BEA became the British European Airways Division of the newly formed British Airways Group.In its 1973–74 financial year, BEA's last, the airline carried 8.74 million passengers and – excluding losses on its Scottish and Channel Islands operations – recorded its highest-ever profit of £6.7 million.BEA ceased operations on 1 April 1974 when it merged with BOAC to form British Airways. Private individuals held the rest.
The outfit went on to operate flights during World War II. This led On 31 March 1955, BEA completed its first profitable financial year, recording an operating profit of £552,314 and a In July 1955, BEA became the launch customer for the Vanguard, Vickers' new high-capacity turboprop powered by four In mid-1955, BEA entered into a 10-year operating agreement with its associate In its 1955–56 financial year, BEA carried more than two million passengers for the first time at an all-time high average 1956 was also the year BEA began using Viscounts for nightfreight operations to increase cargo capacity as well as the aircraft's On 7 February 1958, BEA acquired a 33⅓% minority shareholding in The arrival at Heathrow on 30 July 1958 of a BEA Elizabethan from On 12 August 1959, BEA signed a £28 million contract for 24 On 7 November 1959, BEA took delivery of its first Comet 4B (G-APMB), nearly two months ahead of the contracted delivery on 1 January 1960. 1956 was also the year that saw Viscounts supplementing DC-3s/Pionairs on the corporation's Heathrow–Jersey route as well as a new summer service from Belfast to Jersey.BEA's acquisition of minority stakes in its independent associates Jersey Airlines and Cambrian Airways in 1956 and 1958 respectively resulted in the former's withdrawal from a number of mainly secondary routes serving the Channel islands, which were transferred to the latter.The launch of a new BEA summer weekend service from Aberdeen via Edinburgh to Jersey in 1957 was followed by the transfer of most of the corporation's London–Jersey and London–Guernsey flights from Heathrow to Gatwick when the latter reopened as London's second airport on 9 June 1958, in line with contemporary UK government policy to develop the airport.On 1 August 1960, a new paved runway opened at Guernsey, which enabled the introduction of bigger, heavier aircraft types on BEA's (and other airlines') services to and from the island.The withdrawal of Pionairs from BEA's Channel Islands services on 20 March 1961 resulted in the transfer of operations from Southampton to On 31 March 1962, BEA disposed of its minority holding in Jersey Airlines.In April 1963, most of the corporation's London – Channel Island flights transferred back to Heathrow as a result of the new competitive relationship between BEA and its former associate Jersey Airlines. This was followed by the On 19 May 1962, Pionair G-ALTT operated the type's final service on BEA's Scottish internal network between In its 1962-63 annual report, BEA estimated that introduction of both the Comet 4B and Vanguard had cost it more than £6 million over a two-year period. Having built strong relationships with Qatar Airways, United Airlines, Aeroflot, and more, Sumit excels in both aviation history and market analysis. On that day, the airline commenced jet operations from Heathrow to Athens, On 27 September 1960, BEA welcomed its 25-millionth passenger.Also in 1960, BEA took delivery of its final two Viscount 701sIn its 1960–61 financial year, BEA carried 3.99 million passengers at an average load factor of 65% and recorded a loss of £1.75 million.By the early 1960s, BEA carried just under four million passengers per year, more than any other airline in Europe (excluding On 1 March 1961, BEA began commercial Vanguard services following a delay to the aircraft's entry into service, as a result of major defects discovered in its On 1 April 1961, BEA moved some flights to Paris (Le Bourget) and other European destinations from Heathrow to Gatwick in accordance with the wishes of the British government to develop the latter airport.In 1962, BEA sold its 25% minority holding in Jersey Airlines.