KLM & Air UK Relationship

[KeMac]

Could anyone tell me the exact relationship between KLM and Air UK please? Was it a joint venture to form KLM uk or did KLM buy Air UK as a wholly owned subidiary?
Many Thanks
Kemac

[Herod]

KLM held a (I think) 50% stake in AirUK, the rest being owned by British and Commonwealth. In 1998 (again I think) they bought the rest of the company, which was then re-named KLMuk. In 2000 buzz was formed as a part of KLMuk. There was a separation of the two fleets at the end of 2002. The "blue fleet" which was Fokker 50 and 100 carrying out the links from UK to Amsterdam became KLCuk while the "yellow fleet" of buzz stayed as the then only operational side of KLMuk. When Ryanair took over buzz the following year they actually took over KLMuk, which effectively ceased to exist. The aircraft operated for a few months as buzz (Stansted) until they were eventually sold/returned and the crews absorbed into Ryanair.

[KeMac]

Herod - Very helpful, thank you.
Kemac

[Groundloop]

Air UK was formed in 1980 when Air Anglia and British Island merged.

KLM bought 45% of Air UK in 1995 increasing to 100% in 1997. The following year the airline was rebranded KLM uk.

[WHBM]

Air UK was initially a mixture of secondary routes from its two constituents, British Island and Air Anglia. British Island was the dog-ends of minor routes (Jersey, Isle of Man, etc) from the old British United Airways which were hived off when mainstream BUA joined up with Caledonian to form British Caledonian. Air Anglia had been a start-up from Norwich which concentrated on the oil industry to Aberdeen, Amsterdam etc. The British & Commonwealth shareholding came from BUA, where B&C had been a major owner.

Over time Air UK developed an increasing number of routes from UK points to Amsterdam, which is how they became attractive to KLM. They were also the pioneer of major jet trunk routes from Stansted in the late 1980s, the part that was rebadged as Buzz and ultimately sold on to Ryanair, and they also built up a substantial holiday charter division, Air UK Leisure, which was sold off earlier in the break-up to Air 2000.

KLM only wanted the Amsterdam routes, and that is what they got. The transition from Air UK to KLM seemed to be gradual over several years, there were various name changes etc along the way.

[The SSK]

I thought there was more to Air UK than BIA and Air Anglia.

[Flap40]

There was. Air Wales was also included.

Just to add to the percentages, in 1987 KLM acquired 14.9% of Air UK.

This document makes interesting reading. It covers the complete takeover of AirUK by KLM.

ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m967_en.pdf

[Panop]

British Island was the dog-ends of minor routes (Jersey, Isle of Man, etc) from the old British United Airways which were hived off when mainstream BUA joined up with Caledonian to form British Caledonian.A tad unkind to describe the BIA operation as the 'dog-ends of minor routes'. To be more accurate BIA was the new name given to British United Island Airways after Caledonian Airways bought the mainline BUA operation from British & Commonwealth Shipping to form BCAL.

BUIA was a separate entity within the group and was formed by merging two other separate companies British United (CI) Airways and Britiish United (Manx) Airways each of which were formed from the amalgamation of other operations such as Morton Air Services, Jersey Airlines and the scheduled island services of Silver City Airways.

In 1979 BIA took over the scheduled services of British Air Ferries (itself a descendant of the old British United Air Ferries) and brought those routes to the Air UK fold together with the various routes that it had created and built up on its own over its independent years.

[om15]

The merger / take over of Air Anglia in 1979 was by BIA which comprised of BIA, Air Wales as mentioned,and also Air West, I worked for BIA at the time, but can't recall what types were operated by BIA other than the HP7, possibly the Emb Banderante, following the merger Engineering moved from Blackpool down to Norwich, the Heralds were operated for a couple of years, but were withdrawn from service quite quickly, and the F27 fleet expanded.
At the time there were many people within BIA with continuous service of many years but backgrounds from many forgotten airlines that had been swallowed up by take overs and mergers, Silver City, Manx Airlines, Morton Air Services, Jersey Airlines, Railway Air Services were names that I remember at the time

BR om15

[KeMac]

Many thanks for all the replies, very useful background. I seem to recall that at one time I think that Air UK flew to more destinations (other than KLM of course) out of Amsterdam than anyone else.
KeMac

[WHBM]

The merger / take over of Air Anglia in 1979 .......At the time there were many people within BIA with continuous service of many years ....... Railway Air Services
That must have been a long-serving staffer. Railway AS, started 1934, was wound up at the end of 1946 and merged into BEA, 33 years before the Air UK merger. Furthermore almost all of the employees of airlines immediate post-war were ex-RAF personnel (both flying and non) from WW2 rather than those new to the business.

I seem to recall the last ex-WW2 RAF active service aircrew at BA retired shortly after the merger in the mid-1970s.

[The SSK]

WHBM: I seem to recall the last ex-WW2 RAF active service aircrew at BA retired shortly after the merger in the mid-1970s.

My boss in BA, Bernard Monks, had flown as a - very young - navigator on Mosquito pathfinder missions at the tail-end of the war. He was still in place (Product Planning Manager, Western Routes) when I left in 1980, and for a few years after that, I believe.