Originally Posted by
Herod
WHBM: I arrived back in the early 1990s on a humdrum Air UK 146 from Edinburgh.
Now that is slander!!. AirUK 146's were never humdrum. "Gentleman's horseless carriage" more like.
Indeed. Very impressively, one was the only aircraft I've been in that was struck by lightning, same route, EDI-STN one evening, which was regular for me then. Big flash but handled it perfectly, lights didn't even dip. Bit of a noise though. These were the days before London City ran to Edinburgh, which I transferred to - and before AirUK moved on to Buzz, then Go took over the route, and finally Easyjet.
AirUK had a holiday flight side, badged as AirUK Leisure, with 737-400s, including one or two based at Stansted. They must have had a separate AOC, because one low-season morning at Stansted one was standing in for a 146 to Edinburgh, and check-in were thus having to inform each passenger about the substitution. Elderly couple in front of me are told in best Essex girl accent "Edinburgh, yeah, it's a Leisure flight this morning, yeah?". Which of course was completely meaningless to them.