Originally Posted by
rog747
Charter flights to the Costa Brava to begin with during the early years mainly flew into PGP Perpignan and so coaches then took the holidaymakers over the Border to the Costa Brava.
Why>? I cannot recall - maybe something to do with airport tax or even Franco pops in my mind.
Barcelona was also then used more so, and thus PGP was dropped.
BEA Vanguards and British Eagle Britannia's flew lots of passengers from London Airport on the BCN route, then Gerona was added once it had opened.
Gerona was not yet open until later in the 60's
You pretty much have it. Gerona was only built once tourism started to get going there, at the Spanish beaches nearest to the border. Barcelona was a way beyond, the airport is the wrong side of the city, and there were no motorways. Also in Spain Iberia had the ground handling monopoly for a long time (applied to Gerona too), so was more expensive to use compared to Perpignan. Some even cheaper holidays flew from Southend to Ostend, thence coach down to Spain - there was a considerable coach supply business in Ostend.
I think the very first jet holiday charter was for Harry Chandler's Travel Club from Upminster, on a BUA One-Eleven from Gatwick to Corsica. April 1965 or thereabouts, on a brand-new aircraft. The One-Eleven deliveries had been delayed (inevitably), so likely the first departures of the jet season in the brochure had to be done on Viscounts.