British Airways 737-200

[wayoutwest]

hi all.i found an old book dating back to 1983 about aircraft movements at heathrow and gatwick and b/a had a few scheduled flights to spain and italy using 737s.i just wondered if the crews were based there or heathrow crews spent a week flying out of gatwick.

[chevvron]

Could've been the ex Dan Air crews after BA took them over on a vastly reduced salary.

[Lordflasheart]

I think BA shorthaul didn't start their 737 operations (-236) until the late 70s so I suggest that for some years they would have been on principally mainline scheduled service.

IIRC the Danair whatever you like to call it did not happen til the early 90s.

LFH

[Groundloop]

British Airtours were operating 737s out of LGW at that time - could those aircraft and crews be used on the odd scheduled flight?

[chevvron]

Thinking back in fact, I flew from Gatwick to Gibraltar (and return) in a BA 737 in May 1981 and it was a scheduled service, not IT.

[philbky]

The BA flights from Gatwick to Gibraltar were scheduled and were part of the long standing arrangement with Gibair which went back to BEA/Gibraltar Airways days.

[Quietplease]

Lots of 737-200 schedules out of LGW after the BCAL takeover with Gatwick based crews.

[Offchocks]

I remember in 1985 taking off behind a BA 737-200 at LGW and landing before it in PMI. The Captain came over slightly agitated asking what these "new" 300 series cruised at. ;)

[A30yoyo]

Not at all sure it's relevant but I think I flew Gatwick- 'Milan-Bergamo' on a BA 737 in the early 1990s, a route I believe they inherited from Dan-Air...can't remember if it was a 737-200 or a CFM powered model

[philbky]

Amazing, the OP asks a question relating to 1983. One answer mentions that it could be ex Dan Air crews after the BA takeover. BA took over Dan Air on 8 November 1992. Another states lots of 737 schedules out of Gatwick after the BCAL takeover. That takeover took place in December 1987, BCAL ceased as a legal entity on 14 April 1988. Now someone else is talking about the 1990s.:ugh:

As we used to be told at school when doing exams over 50 years ago "before answering READ AND UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION"

I added info to chevron's post and, having looked at my log books from 1982 and 1983 can confirm that on the six visits I made to Gatwick during those two years, British Airways, as opposed to British Airtours, 737s were present, between two and four per visit.

I can't comment on how the aircraft and crews were organised. It may be that both Airtours and Airways had common crews at the time. Certainly at that period the vestiges of the 1970s policy of relieving pressure on Heathrow by forcing foreign carriers to use Gatwick were still in being. In an effort to mollify Iberia and the Spanish Government, some BA services to Spain were also moved and it would be these flights the 737s would be used for.

[A30yoyo]

No he doesn't...it says 'going back to 1983' and it's not at all clear what the OP is after, hence I added my misty memory about the curiosity that is 'Milan -Bergamo' post 1992, it seems :-)

[Flightwatch]

I was posted to LGW with my first command on the 737-200 the first summer after the BCal take-over. No logbooks here but think it was '87. All 737 flying was done by BA crews for both the scheduled mainline flights and the Caledonian charters. We had name badges with BA or Caledonian and would swop them as appropriate (I still have mine!). All 1-11s had moved to BHX by then so the sole short-haul aircraft was the 732 and both this and the TriStar did the Caledonian European charters. There were a few (4?) ex British Airtours 732s repainted into Caledonian colours with the high density seating with the rest in BA colours and scheduled seating. We even had two contract flown Guiness Peat 732s to enlarge the fleet and DDV, a 732 which could only be flown by suitably trained crews due to cockpit differences which flew to, I think, FNC. The next winter the GPA aircraft were put on the UK register and flown by BA crews but had a white livery with British Airways on the side.

[OutofSync]

Flew on a BA mainline schedule service B732 from LGW to LIS in July 1981. I remember the date as it was the day after Charles and Diana's wedding. I believe BA had transferred a number of scheduled services to the Iberian Penisula from LHR to LGW for a period in the early 80's.

[HZ123]

I even had the pleasure of there and back to the Gambia ! Some trip !

[bluepilot]

I think GB airways flew the GIB services as a BA franchise on the 732 ??

[CSman]

Took my first command on the 737-200 at Gatwick, base training started on 11/01/1983 line training started 17/01/83 In the first two weeks had a good mixture of schedule and IT,ranging from Agadir to Stockholm,and numerous points in between Spent the next three years operating from Manc Birmingham and Gatwick Spent so much time in my car between the three bases that I changed to the 747 ,10 happy years on the100/200/400

[wayoutwest]

hi csman.i am a bit of a scheduling freak and like to work out were aircraft and crews work and slip in the timetables.and you mention stockholm and it was this working into gatwick that spiked my interest as a 737 arrives from stkhlm late morning and returns to stkhm mid afternoon so as there was,nt an earlier departure to stkhlm so that this a/c came from lhr and returned to lhr i just wondered if the crew slipped and how did the crew return to lhw.its just my little interest. wow

[CSman]

The info that you requested,from my logbook,the flight operated Gatwick -Copenhagen Stockholm .Night stopped and returned the same routeing Aircraft was a Gatwick based aircraft flown by a Gatwick based crew

[wayoutwest]

many thanks csman,

[Quietplease]

OK, I dug out my logbooks and from 89 to 92 Gatwick based crews on BA 737-200 operated to the following destinations in no particular order:-
EDDF LPPT LPFR LSGG EHAM EKCH LEMD LIMJ ESSA LEBL LXGB LIML LEMG EGJJ LIRN LIME LEPA and maybe some more I've missed and forgotten with advancing senility.

[Diyceejay]

Trying to find what nav kit was installed in the 236 on delivery but dearth of cockpit pictures of BA's 737's whilst actually with BA. Am I right in thinking they were all delivered with a Global Systems GNS-1000, a Sperry 177 and Lear Siegler PDCS? Does anybody have any cockpit pictures of the 236 while with BA or any information on the GNS-1000?

[Dora-9]

When Ansett started receiving their B737-277A's in 1981 we were told that they were identical to BA's "737X's". All the Ansett aircraft were fitted as described above, except that they were wired for dual GNS-1000's (normal fit out was only one). They also had Collins FD-110 ADI and HSI's.

[WHBM]

Just to save the confusion above (from some years ago it seems) the first of the BA 737-236 fleet came in February 1980, and were pretty much all complete within 12 months. The Airtours batch, a separate order and group of registrations, were delivered in parallel, the first coming just one month after the first mainline one. There was quite an element of back/forth between the fleets, especially in winter when the Airtours utilisation was down. The second group of BA aircraft all came in winter 84-85; they were some of the last original 737s built. The mainline fleet were used by and large to replace Tridents at Heathrow, although a few operated from Gatwick as well. They were slowly sold off early this century after 20 years or more of service, when the A319s arrived.

BA were no stranger to the 737, as during the (seemingly recurrent) Trident issues in the late 1970s they leased in quite a number medium term, from Transavia and even Britannia Airways, and also into the early 1980s did several back and forth with the new Air Europe.