IT routes dan air
the DA jet charter network boomed from the late 60's when more comets were bought and they op'd alot for Clarksons holidays from all over the UK but mainly MAN/NCL/GLA and LTN/LGW
the Canaries was always busy with comets as they had the range over the short 1-11's of Autair (who later became Court) although Laker sent theirs
to TCI and LPA always.
next came their own 1-11's 200/300's (ex AA and British Eagle)
in 1974 the ex JAL 727-146's arrived which Dan had extra exits put in for 146 pax.
the comets often flew out of Hurn for Palmair and correct me if i am wrong but the comet did some TA charters too?
1-11-500's were obtained after the court line collapse and then some came from german companies.
the 1-11's of both types did go to some farther flung places like Athens and Corfu, am not sure if they did Canaries but no doubt they did go there.
the 707-321's often went TA but also did palma and other IT spots and stuff like cruise ship flights and ad-hoc stuff when a Caledonian 707 went sick.
the 707-320c's were all freight and were leased out.
never appeared in full DA colours i think.
the 727-200's came next 189 seats (yuk) plus 737-200/300/400's
as mentioned previously even the little 146's always went to palma and ibiza on Saturday and Sunday nights.
basically if there was a beach or an island then Dan would go there!
someone mentioned British Eagle was the last main charter operator form LAP/LHR
*Heathrow* but not quite true...
BKS which became Northeast/BAS (then british airways/northeast) still operated their Britannia's then in 1969 the new trident 1e's 123 pax until at least 1976 (i worked for them) and we flew for Swans Tours of London (not swan hellenic)
we went with both trident aircraft (summer weekends only) to palma ibiza mahon gerona rimini pisa malaga alicante tunis venice (i think or it might have been treviso or trieste) milan turin munich and zurich in the winter too for ski flights,
although we did not go in to any Austrian airport for charters.
when a trident was w/o 1974 at Bilbao we subbed BA VC10's for our LHR charter work for us...
and when in 1972 Caledonian pranged a 1-11-500 into the lagoon at Corfu they sub'd a trident off us and i went to Dubrovnik with it, and hitched a ride
back a week later when the Wardair 727 op'd the same service.
also BMA did regular charters to Italy and Sardinia from LHR for Citalia holidays until not that long ago and also did palma's and alicante's with dc9's when i was working with them.
Last edited by rog747; 4th Mar 2012 at 18:20.