A Tribute to Community Express (a true regional airline!)

All this talk of LBA-LCY being axed got me thinking about airlines that do or did operate a true regional service in competition with the railways.

Not sure how many of you will remember Community Express Airlines of Birmingham? They were around at their peak in 1996 before going under, I think that same year.

It was a very simple airline, operating Jetstream 31’s and this G-OBEA . Routes included BHX-LGW (later to become EMA-BHX-LGW vv), I think they did BFS-EMA or BFS to somewhere else at one point.

How they managed to survive so long is a mystery, as sometimes there were only enough passengers on the flights to count on one hand. Still, they offered a good service on-board, complete with a stewardess, meal and drinks (yes, all on the Jetstream 31!). I took a flight with them on the CE101 BHX-LGW route once and was very surprised to see the stewardess had to use the loo as a make-shift galley, as there obviously isn’t room for a real one on the Jetstream 31!

A lot of their passengers were using the flights to connect to other long haul flights from LGW. For some reason, the likes of BHX and EMA get left out of this trail of thought and most people assume we like driving long distances.

Maybe one day, some one will offer another “true regional service” to London as the train isn’t always the answer.

Anyone else with memories of Community Express, I’d love to hear them.

🙂