REMEMBER AIR UK?
I was just reminiscing this morning about my old company Air UK as I was reading an article about the success of VLM in Aircraft Illustrated.
Mid 1990s
A fleet consisting of 40 or so aircraft, ATR-72s, Fokker F27s, Fokker 50s, Fokker 100s, BAe146s, all being flown by over 400 highly motivated pilots!
2006
The Air UK name is just a distant memory and the remaining aircraft have been fully merged into KLM CityHopper with about 100 very demoralised pilots left!
So what happened?
Back to the mid 1990s
Stansted:-
Air UK was the major operator with its fleet flying to many UK and European destinations and a product, Sterling Service, that was very highly regarded. Airport growth was increasing significantly and passenger numbers were approaching the 5 million mark for the first time!
2006
The Stansted operation is now huge!!! A record 25 million passengers are forecast to pass through the airport this year. Many of the 160 or so routes are operated by airlines such as Ryanair, Easyjet and Air Berlin. Over 50 B737s / A319s etc are based at the airport. Passenger numbers have surpassed that of Manchester during the past few months and new routes to the USA have been launched.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stansted_Airport
Mid 1990s
London City:-
This up and coming airport was becoming a new “hub” for the company as several new routes were introduced. Its potential was very obvious to the company and much was invested into the airport. Routes were flown to the major cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
2006
Two huge milestones have just been reached. 2 million passengers now fly in and out of LCY on nearly 40 routes! VLM have just announced that they have reached 100 flights a day in and out of the airport. The operation is huge and attracts the “Creme De La Creme” of business travellers willing to pay for the convenience of this “City Centre” Airport! There are no Low Cost Carriers here!!!
http://www.londoncityairport.com/index.php?mode=news&action=showStory&sId=992
http://www.londoncityairport.com/index.php?mode=news&action=showStory&sId=991
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_City_Airport
Air UK – Other Operations
Mid 1990s
Air UK had an established network of routes which covered the Channel Islands, East Coast, and Amsterdam. Major bases included Jersey, Guernsey, Norwich, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
These routes were all very successful and the company was well known and had an excellent reputation.
2006
All of these airports have seen very significant growth and are well served by a mix of full service and low cost carriers.
So what of Air UK and their growth throughout the rest of the 1990s and beyond?
The name does not exist anymore and the whole UK operation is now long gone! The company was taken over by KLM towards the end of the 90s and the remains of this once proud and growing carrier haven now been fully integrated with KLM CityHopper based at Amsterdam. The only remaining flights within the UK are feeders into Amsterdam. It goes without saying that Stansted and London City alone would have made the company an absolute fortune had they “stuck with it”!
What might have been! – If only!!!
By: philgatwick05 - 17th November 2006 at 14:39
There was a programme on BBC4 last night about ‘Suckling Airways’ (remember them?), now Scotairways and quite a few Air UK aircraft could be seen in the background. Stansted in 1991 was more like a local airfield with a very long runway. Suckling were based at the now executive/business aircraft part of the airport now opposite the main terminal. It had a small brick control tower and a few outbuildings.
Wasn’t most of that filmed at Cambridge?
By: Dantheman77 - 17th November 2006 at 14:03
That would a novelty as genereally freighters are not normally converted to passenger service….it’s usually the other way round. Pretty sure both of their 767s were new builds.
___
Other AirUK route (rather KLMuk); Manchester-Milan around 1994 (tink it operated Nov 94-Mar95?) 12 weekly using FK100s.
I’m sure i remember seeing the Air UK Leisure 767 with a side cargo door, my memory must be playing tricks.
By: lba - 17th November 2006 at 10:51
There was a programme on BBC4 last night about ‘Suckling Airways’ (remember them?), now Scotairways and quite a few Air UK aircraft could be seen in the background. Stansted in 1991 was more like a local airfield with a very long runway. Suckling were based at the now executive/business aircraft part of the airport now opposite the main terminal. It had a small brick control tower and a few outbuildings.
By: David Kerr - 16th November 2006 at 23:16
And my mum did an Air UK Leisure Manchester to Orlando in a 767, which if remember correctly, was a converted freighter
That would a novelty as genereally freighters are not normally converted to passenger service….it’s usually the other way round. Pretty sure both of their 767s were new builds.
___
Other AirUK route (rather KLMuk); Manchester-Milan around 1994 (tink it operated Nov 94-Mar95?) 12 weekly using FK100s.
By: EGNM - 16th November 2006 at 22:54
Vaguely remember the old F27s at LBA, and the 146/F100s (poss from MAN) – The 146 looked great in KLM colours from what I remember.
G-BGYT was last seen in bits at the Manx Aviation museum in FlyKeen colours I believe where it probably still resides/rots!
By: bobleeds - 16th November 2006 at 19:25
Fond memories of them flying F27’s from LBA to Edinburgh, Stansted/Paris, Aldergrove etc, G-STAN, G-BNAL etc. and the BAC111 (G-AXMU in particular) from Glasgow to LBA/AMS . used to fly to Edinburgh frequently, great when F27 then demoted to Shorts 360 G-DASI which if I remember rightly which then was taken over by Gill Air who continued the service for some years. In those days British Midland concentrated on (a better and more frequent Diamond Service to LHR) and Capital were the new boys on the block!
By: Dantheman77 - 16th November 2006 at 19:04
Went on a Fokker 100 from Stansted to Salzburg with Air Uk, only to be told, that they would have to leave our luggage behind because the plane was getting to heavy, and it would join us in 3 days. (which is alot of good when your on a 5day ski-ing holiday)
And also did a Air UK Leisure 737-400 Gatwick to Faro, 6 hour delay on the way out due to technical fault,then the crew didnt have enough hours, so had to wait for replacements.
And my mum did an Air UK Leisure Manchester to Orlando in a 767, which if remember correctly, was a converted freighter
By: markwinterb - 16th November 2006 at 16:40
Oh the days of F27 Freindships, G-BDVS/T G-BHMW/X/Y/Z etc…EMB-100 G-BGYT (still around i think)…and of course the Heralds…..Remember most of them 1982 at LBA
By: Gooney Bird - 16th November 2006 at 15:59
I remember flying on an F100 from Stansted to Milan in the mid 1990’s. However I am not sure whether we would have gone into Linate or Malpensa. Would anybody be able to confirm which airport Air UK used on their Milan service?
By: paulc - 16th November 2006 at 15:25
Used to be a common sight at my local with HP Heralds / Emb110’s in the early days and with F27/F50/F100/Hs146 as time progressed. Managed to fly on a Herald to Jersey in 1982 (i think) – what a noisy aircraft that was!
By: Skymonster - 16th November 2006 at 14:40
I remember that, whilst working at British Midland, we used to call them Air Yuk! 🙂 Always the poor-man’s UK scheduled airline!
Andy
By: Manston Airport - 16th November 2006 at 12:40
I remember flying with them on my first Fokker 100 flight from JER to SOU.Such a great airline sad they went to KLM UK then to Cityhopper.On the Cityhopper F100 now you can see on it operated by KLM UK on it. If they could I would like it if they returned but some dreams never come true:)
James
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November 16, 2006 at 11:52 am