Originally Posted by
Mooncrest
Many of us know that Northeast was a subsidiary of BEA via the British Air Services holding company. Did the two airlines operate on each other's services at any time ? The reason I ask is I recently saw some old film from Leeds Bradford Airport circa 1971. It features a Northeast Viscount starting and taxiing and throughout there are shots of a BEA Viscount - still in red square livery - parked on about stand 5. The only BEA-liveried Viscounts I remember at LBA were in the Speedjack colours during 1976, operating BA flights while the ex-Northeasts were being resprayed for about the fourth time!
Thankyou.
Didn't BEA operate a seasonal flight from Jersey to London Bradford Airport with a Viscount during the period you mentioned. If that's the case it might answer your question regarding the old footage you viewed.
Whilst we're on the subject of Northeast.
British United Airways used to operate a Southampton-Leeds/Bradford-Newcastle route in the late 1960s until 1971. It always surprised me at the time as to why Northeast didn't pick up the route. The route was axed prior to the formation of BCAL after the BUA/Caledonian merger. At the time Southampton Airport already had service with BEA to Jersey and Cambrian operated a Cardiff-Bristol-Southampton-Paris LBG route both using Viscount aircraft. On a personal note I would have liked to have seen Northeast at Southampton Airport.
I've always had a personal interest in the airline as my third ever flight was on a Northeast liveried Trident 1E with British Airways titles flying a return trip from London Heathrow to Palma in September 1974.