Originally Posted by GBALU53
If only we could turn the clock back and learn by some of the errors that have been made in aviation in the last thirty years the Vickers Viscount and big Brother the Vanguard and the BAC One Eleven may still have been the back bone of avition within the U.K.
I would tend to say that it was aircraft like the Viscount, Vanguard and One-Eleven (as good as they were) that were responsible for the poor performance and short longevity of many UK airlines in the post-WW2 years. They were too big, too expensive and too fuel-inefficient for the market. Of course, this isn't the full story, as other factors were at work as well, like regulated air fares, but very often there was over-confidence by management and far too much capacity represented by these otherwise fine aircraft.