Spanish charter airlines

[DanAir89]

Covid and lockdown has brought some interesting threads from a happier time when Orion had a300’s, IEA were around and Aviogenex were still flying!

in 1987, flight international ran a feature “Spanish charters go up market” focusing on how air europa, Hispania etc were changing The Spanish market. Previously it had been dominated by Iberia and Aviaco who by all accounts were ropey at best but UK tour operators had contract Spanish carriers for a certain proportion of their flying I think.

did anyone have any experience these airlines at their worst / best and in particular obscure ones such as universair and nortjet.

My first flight was on a transeuropa caravelle but can’t remember anything about it.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Did you have the Spandex experience ? Coronados smoking away, and that was just the passengers inside ;-)

I flew on the DC-9 and DC-8 aircraft, but both flights were flights for Iberia due to AOG somewhere. I also remember seeing the DC-10 at LHR doing a flight for Viasa sometime in the late70's/early 80's.

[DanAir89]

[QUOTE=SpringHeeledJack;10750819]Did you have the Spandex experience ? Coronados smoking away, and that was just the passengers inside ;-)

Ha ha. My dad’s friends flew to TFS from
Ncl on an Aviaco DC9 and the flight report was that the crew spent the whole flight behind the curtain smoking!

[BSD]

Never flew on any of them, but how's this:

Not long before Spantax failed, I was on the ground at Las Palmas, about to board when an "Airfield Emergency" was called. A Spantax Coronado was about land with its left main gear retracted. The aeroplane duly appeared and landed on 21L The landing was textbook. Wing held off for as long as possible, then carefully put down. Minimal damage I believe and as we taxied out for departure, you could see the aeroplane was slap bang on the centreline, about 10-15 degrees off the runway heading. Calmly and professionally handled, left me with a high impression of their operation.
I believe the aeroplane was repaired and went back into service, probably only a few weeks before they stopped flying.

[Mooncrest]

I've never flown on any of them but I do remember. The earlier ones such as Air Spain and Transeuropa didn't use Leeds Bradford but, after the runway extension opened in 1984, they began to appear. Aviaco, Iberia, Futura, Universair, Oasis, Hispania, Viva, Spanair, Spantax, Iberworld, Volar, LTE Espana. And Air Europa, which is still with us! In the UK at least, such airlines were more often seen at the smaller airports operating flights for Thomson Holidays, Intasun and so on where the likes of Britannia, Air Europe and Monarch didn't have a base.

[treadigraph]

Never flew with Spantax but I did fly from Zurich to Heathrow on a Swissair Coronado - I recall "Coronado" on the fin and telling mum "we're going on Concorde!". The Coronado probably eventually passed to Spantax and my reading skills improved a little...

They certainly were dirty birds weren't they?

[SpringHeeledJack]

They certainly were dirty birds weren't they?

Dirty and quick ;-)

[flash8]

Dirty and quick ;-)
Seemingly according to Wikipedia only 37 built...
That is why I guess I have only vaguely heard of them!

[DanAir89]

Seemingly according to Wikipedia only 37 built...
That is why I guess I have only vaguely heard of them!


there’s still one at Palma I believe. There are Attempts to restore it to its Spantax glory days I think (albeit non-flying)

[eckhard]

Never flew on any of them, but how's this:

Not long before Spantax failed, I was on the ground at Las Palmas, about to board when an "Airfield Emergency" was called. A Spantax Coronado was about land with its left main gear retracted. The aeroplane duly appeared and landed on 21L The landing was textbook. Wing held off for as long as possible, then carefully put down. Minimal damage I believe and as we taxied out for departure, you could see the aeroplane was slap bang on the centreline, about 10-15 degrees off the runway heading. Calmly and professionally handled, left me with a high impression of their operation.
I believe the aeroplane was repaired and went back into service, probably only a few weeks before they stopped flying.

Great story! I seem to remember that Spantax tried to roster the same crew together for as many flights as possible. Kind of a “military” way of doing things. Can anyone confirm?
Not to say that that had any bearing on the outcome of this incident.

[treadigraph]

Seemingly according to Wikipedia only 37 built...
That is why I guess I have only vaguely heard of them!

About 100 when combined with it's older slightly smaller sibling, the 880.

I believe it remains the fastest production subsonic airliner.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Seemingly according to Wikipedia only 37 built...
That is why I guess I have only vaguely heard of them!

NASA still had a CV-990 flying up until the last few years.

And here's one getting going (as I know that most of us have nothing better to do at the moment :-) )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isP1LVVZ6nU

[Gillbrown]

I used to think Aviogenex sounded so continental and romantic

[The laconic atco]

​​​​​​I was a tower controller at Boh during the summer of 1973 when Spantax operated a weekly service. To describe a landing on 6000 feet of runway as interesting would be a considerable understatement. They invariably burst s tyre which required Jack's to be obtained from BAC over the other side of the airport and a new wheel lowered from it's storage in the wing.

[dixi188]

I remember a CV990 tyre burst at BOH. I was in 102 hangar and the bang rattled the doors. I don't think that happened very often.
I also remember twice seeing the Spantax flight take off from runway 17 with strong southerly winds. Only 4800ft long.

[Akrotiri bad boy]

Spending my formative years under the approach to Manchester Ringway's 24 I clearly remember Spantax Coronados, or should that be unclearly? Air Spain DC8's, Aviaco Caravelles. I think both Spantax and Aviaco went on to fly DC9's. Iberia didn't really make an appearance and there were only rumours of Trans Europa visitors in the dead of night. From the other end of the Med I remember JAT 707's, 727's and DC9's; Inex Adria DC9's and Aviogenex TU134's. The Tupolev's were really easy to spot on the approach with their anhedral mainplanes. :8

[Man Flex]

Flew many times with Aviaco on the DC9 and DC8. Always in the rear as my father liked to smoke. Could hardly see three rows in front of you!

Also flew with Aviogenex on the 727 (I think).

My earliest memory though was with good old Dan Air. The Comet - 4C How's that for noise?

[Jackjones1]

My first experience was also a Dan Air Comet from Venice to Gatwick in 1969 & of course still have memories of that flight!

[kcockayne]

I remember a CV990 tyre burst at BOH. I was in 102 hangar and the bang rattled the doors. I don't think that happened very often.
I also remember twice seeing the Spantax flight take off from runway 17 with strong southerly winds. Only 4800ft long.
I, too, witnessed the CV990 taking off on 17 (what seemed like 3 or 4 times) in the 70s - it must have been between '73 & '76 - from the College of ATC. Very impressive : & noisy & smoky ! The College was at the end of 17 - just about opposite to where the 990 lifted off !

[Flightrider]

The interesting Spantax approaches continued even when they started to re-equip from the CV990s. Those who witnessed one Spantax 737-200 approach into a wet UK regional airport on a very murky Saturday afternoon won't easily forget it, and that must be some three decades ago.

The most unbelievable thing after ATC had hit the airfield crash alarm as it had touched down with barely 2,500ft of runway remaining and disappeared out of sight into a cloud of spray with a juddering racket of reverse thrust (as only a 737-200 could) was the exchange with the tower (in direct course for which the aircraft had been flying - probably 30deg off the runway heading - when it broke out of the cloudbase less than a minute earlier). It went along the lines of:
TWR: [hesitantly] "Spantax 746, are you still with us?"
[short pause]
BX746: "Affirmative Spantax 746 - do we have slot time for Palma?"

I've never seen anything like it ever since, thankfully. I know judging yesterday's actions by the standards of today can lead to all sorts of trouble, but a QAR download would even now make a superb CRM training example of when to chuck away an approach. They didn't, and that they got away with it was far more by luck (and Boeing 737 performance) than design. Horrendous. By comparison, Hispania and LAC were a class act. We'll maybe not go into details of the Oasis/Aerocancun MD83 night visual approach onto the same runway a few years later though.

[lederhosen]

I flew on Spantax and Swissair Coronados. The excitement about flying on the fastest jet was a little muted by not being able to see much out of the window due to the huge protuberances on top of the wing. Still taxying down to 24R in Palma seeing the old girl parked up past the military hangar always brings back memories.

[Wycombe]

Not a Spanish airline (I never flew on any of them, it was always Britannia, Dan-Air or British Airtours for me in the 70's and 80's), but one of my recollections of a flight to a Spanish location (LGW-ACE) was with Peach Air on an L1011.

We were due to fly (and did indeed do the return) on one of their leased Air Atlanta examples, but there was a late airframe change at LGW onto their standby aircraft, G-CEAP.

I used to fly in L1011's quite a bit in those days, more usually the military ones, but this one appeared more held together with gaffer tape than any aircraft I have ever flown in before or since. The wing upper surfaces were also covered in bird sh1t, which suggested to me it had been parked for a while. Despite appearances, and a few obvious unserviceabilities (I remember the forward hold wouldn't shut and had to be hand-cranked closed) it got us there safely.

On the return, in order for the Air Atlanta machine to make it to LGW non-stop, we had to depart from Rwy21 at ACE (it was a still, warm evening as I remember) and not towards the high ground (volcanoes) to the north of the airfield.

[Cuillin Hills]

We'll maybe not go into details of the Oasis/Aerocancun MD83 night visual approach onto the same runway a few years later though.


........ a bit like the Aviaco DC9 that requested a visual approach, at night, to runway 05 at Glasgow in the early ‘80s. ATC intervened and instructed him to go-around when they saw him line up on the lights for the Erskine Bridge (just north of Glasgow Airport). He was way off of the centreline and mixing it with high ground.

[Mooncrest]

I didn't witness the infamous Spantax episode that Flightrider is referring to. I did see an extremely late rotation off RW32 at LBA by an Aviogenex 732. I didn't think it was going to get airborne; thankfully, it did but it seemed like it only cleared the 32 localiser by a matter of feet!

In fact, I don't remember any noteworthy incidents with any Spanish charter airlines apart from a Jordanian-registered A320 attempting to mimic a TriStar incident from several years before. Can't really blame the Spaniards for that one - wet lease and all that. R/T standards could be wanting though and clearance readbacks sometimes took a few attempts.

Apart from Air Europa, the Spanish charter airlines never seemed to last very long.

[lederhosen]

There were not a lot of flying jobs outside of Iberia in that era. The old joke was 'why is an Iberia cockpit like the holy trinity?' easy 'because the son always sits on the right of the father!' The ATC folk may remember in the early eighties that there was a shortage in various spanish units as a lot of people (presumably ex military) got jobs in new local airlines.

[rog747]

At the height of the package holiday boom in the early 1970's Jets were all the rage for the Tour Companies to promote in their glossy summer brochures -

Trabajos Aereos del Sahara SA (TASSA) were long gone by this time but TASSA had developed their most important market with around 70 percent of all charters were to the UK.

By the 1970's the Spanish had Spantax at the forefront who then had mainly CV990's replacing their DC Props
Spantax had a bad crash at TCI with Germans on board, plus a series of other CV990 accidents/incidents

Air Spain DC-8's replacing their Brits
Transeuropa Caravelle replacing their DC-7's
TAE Caravelle 1-11 and DC-8's replacing their DC-7's
Aviaco Caravelle and DC-8's

Italy has SAM Caravelle replacing their DC-6's

Travel Club Upminster chartered Air France Caravelles for Perpignan, Nice and Corsica

Yugoslavia
Inex Adria DC-9 (Bad Yugotours crash with Germans on board over Zagreb)
Aviogenex TU-134A (Bad Yugotours crash with Brits on board at Krk airport)
JAT Charter 707 727 DC-9 (Air Yugoslavia)
Panadria DC-9

Holidays to Greece which was an exotic new destination were flown only on UK charter aircraft as there was only Olympic Airways then which flew to LHR.
Cyprus Airways and BEA mostly flew the holidaymakers to Nicosia as charter airlines were pretty much banned although IIRC BCAL did some VC-10 and 707 charters for Horizon.

Tunis and Djerba were mainly flown by UK charter airlines but I seem to recall some flown by Tunis Air Caravelles

Romania to Consanta, and Bulgaria to Bourgas and Varna holidays (Balkan and Sunquest Tours) saw them use mainly Russian stuff IL-18 IL-62 and TU-154's of Tarom and Bulgarian charters but Tarom & LAR Romanian Airlines used the 1-11 400 too.

Cosmos Holidays in their 1971 summer brochure had a big double page spread banner ''look what we've bought for you'' showing an artists impression of a Monarch Boeing 720B
Enterprise Holidays similarly had a BEA Airtours 707 spread
Clarksons proudly proclaimed ''All Jet holidays''

[BSD]

Two more from the dark depths of memory;

Wasn't there a mid-air collsion between a Spantax Coronado and a DC-9 over France in the early 70s? The root cause was an ATC strike with one aeroplane entering the hold at high level. Can't recall where the subsequnet inquiry found, but the Coronado was recovered into Cognac with a lump of wing outboard of an outboard engine missing. Alas, the DC-9 was lost trgically, but the Coronado's recovery was one heck of an effort.

As for not those airlines not lasting long, in the mid-eighties, Britannia leased a couple of DC-8-61s from a Spanish charter outfit. Islas Canarias might have been the name. Great bunch, always seemed to meet them in hotels down route, very friendly folk. At Gerona late one night, whilst doing the walkaround, as I stood under the tail of our aeroplane on the ramp, I watched one of them land off the ILS onto runway 20. We had tankered fuel in (expensive gas there at the time) and I assume they had too. They must have been heavy. Slight tailwind, gathering mist with a visibility reducing and moist, damp evening air, I watched it touch down. Now, runway 20 is downhill (.8% IIRC) not terribly long and I knew the brakes weren't great. I I knew they were facing a difficult challenge. Howling reversers brought in fast and hard. To this day. I can still see the DC-8 shuddering to halt, going all the way to the end of the runway, having missed the mid-point turn off and, best of all: the engines banging away like mad, shooting great gouts of flame out of the intakes as the reverse thrust was held in until almost at a standstill and the outboards as the engines were re-ingesting the exhaust thrown forward by the reverse. Compressor stalls? Surges,? couldn't tell you, but against the evening gloom an incredible sight. Islas Canarias? I think they packed in after that summer.

You can see this virus lockdown is providing too much internet time!

Take care everyone.

[treadigraph]

Spantax/Iberia mid-air...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Nantes_mid-air_collision

[Airbanda]

I didn't witness the infamous Spantax episode that Flightrider is referring to. I did see an extremely late rotation off RW32 at LBA by an Aviogenex 732. I didn't think it was going to get airborne; thankfully, it did but it seemed like it only cleared the 32 localiser by a matter of feet!

I have a similar recollection, pre extension, involving an Aviaco DC9 at LBA. It had diverted in from BHX on one of those days when LBA was above the fog blanketing much of UK. Pax were bussed up from Elmdon in fairly short order and with I think only 56 on board EC-CTS was cleared direct to Tenerife (or maybe Las Palmas).

I'd swear he was past the 10/28 intersection and must have had that red/white fence bordering Victoria Avenue filling his windscreen when he finally rotated and went up like a homesick angel.....

[Liffy 1M]

As for not those airlines not lasting long, in the mid-eighties, Britannia leased a couple of DC-8-61s from a Spanish charter outfit. Islas Canarias might have been the name. Great bunch, always seemed to meet them in hotels down route, very friendly folk. At Gerona late one night, whilst doing the walkaround, as I stood under the tail of our aeroplane on the ramp, I watched one of them land off the ILS onto runway 20. We had tankered fuel in (expensive gas there at the time) and I assume they had too. They must have been heavy. Slight tailwind, gathering mist with a visibility reducing and moist, damp evening air, I watched it touch down. Now, runway 20 is downhill (.8% IIRC) not terribly long and I knew the brakes weren't great. I I knew they were facing a difficult challenge. Howling reversers brought in fast and hard. To this day. I can still see the DC-8 shuddering to halt, going all the way to the end of the runway, having missed the mid-point turn off and, best of all: the engines banging away like mad, shooting great gouts of flame out of the intakes as the reverse thrust was held in until almost at a standstill and the outboards as the engines were re-ingesting the exhaust thrown forward by the reverse. Compressor stalls? Surges,? couldn't tell you, but against the evening gloom an incredible sight. Islas Canarias? I think they packed in after that summer.

One of these DC-8-61s? The company later added a couple of MD-80s which wore Canafrica titles.
https://live.staticflickr.com/1831/43914750832_656e6456a3_b.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/2640/3804366954_0e3cbd6d43_b.jpg

[BSD]

Them's the ones!

[Musket90]

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_8463_03722086c6a4acba580531794e1db45cc9b1245d.jpg
Gatwick Aviaco Caravelle
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_8507_c3549380e9bfdc0e3b64dc1d1cd7da0317264363.jpg
Gatwick Aviaco Dc9-30

[cjhants]

May 1972 my second ever holiday flight from Luton with Air Spain on a DC8. Got on board and only about a third full. Flight deck then announced we were going to Gerona via Manchester where we were to pick up the remaining passengers. I thought it was great at the time to get an extra flight. Seemed like a great adventure at the time.
Seem to remember a red and yellow livery.

[The AvgasDinosaur]

Anyone remember T.A.E. (Trabajos Aeros E.....)
I think they started with a C-54 then went to 2 or more DC-7C and finally DC-8 s.
Photos much appreciated.
David

[lederhosen]

Aviogenex (a yugoslav airline as rog747 pointed out) remains in my memory for a trip from Manchester to Dubrovnik via Gatwick. We pushed back and trundled down in the direction of the threshold of 08. At some point a small van with luggage catches us up. The aircraft comes to a stop and sound of number three shutting down and rear hold opening. Swift reloading of our bags which had been wrongly offloaded in Gatwick and we were on our way again. In many years of flying the line I cannot remember anything similar. The 727 we were on had previously belonged to Tito and was one of a matched pair that always flew in tandem. Apparently Tito never decided until the last minute which one he was going on so anyone trying to shoot him down would not know either. The landing in Dubrovnik was somewhat enlivened by the look on the face of the stewardess as we touched down as she was still pushing a trolley up the aisle.

[Midland 331]

The interesting Spantax approaches continued even when they started to re-equip from the CV990s. Those who witnessed one Spantax 737-200 approach into a wet UK regional airport on a very murky Saturday afternoon won't easily forget it, and that must be some three decades ago.

The most unbelievable thing after ATC had hit the airfield crash alarm as it had touched down with barely 2,500ft of runway remaining and disappeared out of sight into a cloud of spray with a juddering racket of reverse thrust (as only a 737-200 could) was the exchange with the tower (in direct course for which the aircraft had been flying - probably 30deg off the runway heading - when it broke out of the cloudbase less than a minute earlier). It went along the lines of:
TWR: [hesitantly] "Spantax 746, are you still with us?"
[short pause]
BX746: "Affirmative Spantax 746 - do we have slot time for Palma?"

I've never seen anything like it ever since, thankfully. I know judging yesterday's actions by the standards of today can lead to all sorts of trouble, but a QAR download would even now make a superb CRM training example of when to chuck away an approach. They didn't, and that they got away with it was far more by luck (and Boeing 737 performance) than design. Horrendous. By comparison, Hispania and LAC were a class act. We'll maybe not go into details of the Oasis/Aerocancun MD83 night visual approach onto the same runway a few years later though.

How very strange - some of us stayed late post-shift at Teesside one night in 1984 to watch a Spantax 990 arrive. It landed long and barely managed to stop in time.

[Mooncrest]

Aviogenex (a yugoslav airline as rog747 pointed out) remains in my memory for a trip from Manchester to Dubrovnik via Gatwick. We pushed back and trundled down in the direction of the threshold of 08. At some point a small van with luggage catches us up. The aircraft comes to a stop and sound of number three shutting down and rear hold opening. Swift reloading of our bags which had been wrongly offloaded in Gatwick and we were on our way again. In many years of flying the line I cannot remember anything similar. The 727 we were on had previously belonged to Tito and was one of a matched pair that always flew in tandem. Apparently Tito never decided until the last minute which one he was going on so anyone trying to shoot him down would not know either. The landing in Dubrovnik was somewhat enlivened by the look on the face of the stewardess as we touched down as she was still pushing a trolley up the aisle.

YU-AKD and AKH were those two aircraft. Aviogenex got their hands on them in 1983. YU-AKM, an ex-Alitalia 727, joined them in about 1986 or 87. I lost track of their 727s after that.

Back to the Spanish and Aviaco, being an Iberia subsidiary, frequently had the parent company operate the busiest charter routes on its behalf with its larger aircraft. Consequently, Iberia A300s and 727s bearing Aviaco flight numbers and R/T callsigns could be seen at UK airports and perhaps across Europe as well. An Iberia A300 used to operate an Aviaco Palma - Leeds Bradford rotation every Sunday during summer 1986. One Sunday, the flight was operated by an Aviaco DC8-61, still wearing Saudia colours.

[jensdad]

We'll maybe not go into details of the Oasis/Aerocancun MD83 night visual approach onto the same runway a few years later though.
Could this be the same incident at GLA that Cuillin Hills is talking about? Go on, you know you want to tell us :)

[Flightrider]

The MD83 incident was with Otley Chevin on approach to 14 at Leeds. The lights looked like car headlights at full beam on the hillside road, until the lights suddenly roared properly into view as the MD83 climbed rapidly on finals to clear the chevin then dropped like a lift in freefall to re-gain the approach profile.

Now if we're into late rotations, I do recall an Aviaco DC9-33 headed for Tenerife nearly bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase "I've got the localiser" as it departed. That said, and for the sake of balance, some of the British Island Airways One-Eleven 500 departures weren't an awful lot better back in those days.

[Musket90]

In May 1975 Aviaco DC9 inbound to Belfast Aldergrove landed at Langford Lodge in error.

[jensdad]

That said, and for the sake of balance, some of the British Island Airways One-Eleven 500 departures weren't an awful lot better back in those days.
I remember driving past the end of runway 25 at Newcastle one Saturday night, probably in the 90's, when a Sabre 727 made an extremely low pass over the road. I didn't see it rotate but it looked like it must have been very very late getting up.

[rog747]

May 1972 my second ever holiday flight from Luton with Air Spain on a DC8. Got on board and only about a third full. Flight deck then announced we were going to Gerona via Manchester where we were to pick up the remaining passengers. I thought it was great at the time to get an extra flight. Seemed like a great adventure at the time.
Seem to remember a red and yellow livery.

I was with Air Spain at that time lol My first job had just started, what a summer - VistaJet Holidays was our UK charterer.

Yes horrendous flights that always by the end of the weekend were running 12-24 hours late. Either Tech or ATC or both!

Typical Saturday saw - one DC-8

ALC-LTN 11.00
12.00 LTN-QGN
QGN-LTN 17.00
18.00 LTN-ALC
ALC-LTN 00.40
Sunday 01.40 LTN-MAN-BCN-MAN-LTN
09.30 LTN-ALC

Often or not, the delays got so bad we hit the Sunday Papers lol

[rog747]

Anyone remember T.A.E. (Trabajos Aeros E.....)
I think they started with a C-54 then went to 2 or more DC-7C and finally DC-8 s.
Photos much appreciated.
David

Yup, I mentioned TAE above in my OP, they started off with DC Props (like all Spanish charter airlines did, TASSA Spantax and Transeuropa) and went on to jets.
A sole new BAC 1-11, Caravelles with PW engines, and a selection of ''Holiday Liners'' DC-8's series 20 30 and 50.

Aviaco had used Iberia Connies for IT's before getting their jets - One almost coming to grief at night in low-viz at LGW similar to Ariana, but the AO was coming in on 07 over Russ Hill.
I think they got away with twigs and some wood in the flaps and gear.
I think AO lost a Connie in the drink somewhere too.

[Mr Mac]

All this talk of "interesting" take off,s and indeed landings as well as actual crashes, just high lights how unsafe air travel still was then in relation to the number of flights undertaken. I remember all of the carriers mentioned and especially the Corando and DC8 operated by the Spanish carriers. I also have a look with nostalgia at the old one parked up next to the air force hanger at Palma when I am in there. It would be good to see it restored, even if just a paint job, but they did pour out some smoke. I flew on Swiss Air DC8 and Cornado and once on Iberia, but never on a Spanish registered one as far as I can remember other than the one Iberia flight. They were noisy and pumped a lot of smoke out but I do have a soft spot for them. My last flight in a DC8 was back in in 1989 when I hired two DC8 61 Freighters to move materials from Houston to Stanstead, and flew back in the cockpit on the jump seat, as I was in Houston at the time, and was due to head home anyway. You could do that back then with little documentation, and even went through crew channel at immigration. Happy memories.
Kind regards
Mr Mac

[DanAir89]

The landing in Dubrovnik was somewhat enlivened by the look on the face of the stewardess as we touched down as she was still pushing a trolley up the aisle.

Used to think stories like these were urban myths until we left Dubrovnik (by coincidence) with the safely demonstration in full swing and watched the crew scramble for their seats!

[ATNotts]

Anyone remember T.A.E. (Trabajos Aeros E.....)
I think they started with a C-54 then went to 2 or more DC-7C and finally DC-8 s.
Photos much appreciated.
David

TAE had just the one BAC1-11-400, EC-BQF, that among other things plied the route between PMI-BHX at weekends for one summer season can't remember the tour operator though. Where else did it operate?

[Fly.Buy]

In the late 70's as a young teenager, I flew from Ringway to Palma Majorca on a Spantax DC-8 series 60. Always remember the generous spacing between the seats as if it was set up for long range flights, surprising really for a package holiday charter airline. I always liked the DC-8 and thought it was sleeker and much better looking aircraft than the Boeing 707. From memory CPAir DC-8's were one of the other regular operators into Manchester together with a KLM DC8 combi on Saturday mornings. I appreciate that this thread is about Spanish charters but must say what a smart and attractive colour scheme CPAir had! The return leg from Palma was by luck on a Spantax Convair Coronado, in fact two flew out that night to Manchester, the other covered a Britannia airways flight as the company were on strike. What I remember about the CV990 flight was the noticeable roar and noise as it belted down the runway. The whole aircraft rattled and shook like I have never experienced before. I knew even then I was fortunate to have a ride on this beast as I had never seen such a type in my years of plane spotting. Later on in life I read that the chief pilot of Spantax described the Coronado as "The Maserrati of the Skies'.

[Musket90]

Another Spanish airline I remember from the 90's was Centennial who operated MD80's into Gatwick, I think from Palma. They didn't last long.

[Alsacienne]

The Comet - 4C How's that for noise?

I'll raise you ... the BAC I-11 ... could drown out my teacher's voice for several minutes on the first turn out of Ringway heading east! (And a real beauty to look at, squinting out of the window with head on one side!)

[Sotonsean]

I know that many of these airline's have already been mentioned but here's a list of the Spanish airline's that previously flew regular charter flights between the United Kingdom and Spanish destinations from 1960's onwards. I'm including IBERIA as they flew regular charters on behalf of several British tour operators.

Some of the listed airlines rebranded such as IBERWORLD into ORBEST. AVIACO was a wholly owned subsidiary of IBERIA.

AIR EUROPA..Founded in 1986, still in operation
​​​​​​AIR SPAIN.. Founded in 1965, ceased operations in 1975
AVIACO.. Founded in 1948, ceased operations in 1999
BCM AIRLINES..Founded in ?, ceased operations in ?
CENTENNIAL AIRLINES..Founded in 1993, ceased operations in 1996
FUTURA INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS.. Founded in 1989, ceased operations in 2008
GIRJET.. Founded in 2003, ceased operations in 2008
HISPANIA AIRWAYS.. Founded in 1982, ceased operations in 1989
HOLA AIRLINES.. Founded in 2002, ceased operations in 2010
IBERIA..Founded in 1927, still in operation
IBERWORLD.. Founded in 1998, ceased operations in 2009
LINEAS AEREAS CANARIAS.. Founded in 1985, ceased operations in 1990
LTE INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS.. Founded in 1987, ceased operations in 2008
MINT AIRWAYS.. Founded in 2009, ceased operations in 2012
NORT JET.. Founded in 1989, ceased operations in 1992
OASIS AIRLINES.. Founded in 1986, ceased operations in 1995
ORBEST ORIZONIA AIRLINES.. Founded in 2009, ceased operations in 2013
SPANAIR.. Founded in 1986, ceased operations in 2012
SPANTAX.. Founded in 1959, ceased operations in 1988
TAE-TRABAJOS AEREOS Y ENLACES.. Founded in 1966, ceased operations in 1981
THOMAS COOK AIRLINES BALEARICS.. Founded in 2017, still in operation for CONDOR
TRANSEUROPA.. Founded in 1965, ceased operations in 1982
UNIVERSEAIR.. Founded in 1987, ceased operations in 1991
VIVA AIR.. Founded in 1988, ceased operations in 1999

I might have missed one or two, feel free to add if that's the case.

[jensdad]

Used to think stories like these were urban myths until we left Dubrovnik (by coincidence) with the safely demonstration in full swing and watched the crew scramble for their seats!
When I flew from Stansted to Istanbul in 2011 cabin crew were still doing the safety briefing when we were rotating!

[Sotonsean]

SPANTAX has been discussed by many especially regarding their CV990's but no photos uploaded.

I thought that I would honour SPANTAX with a selection of photos of their aircraft.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x681/spantax_douglas_dc_7c_volpati_1_7d37b88fee4ce82c917c8cf0e5f2 94154e0e1478.jpg


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1200x820/spantax_convair_990a_30a_5__bfa8598e653fd05cfe2301c43e3dbc77 224a9c74.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x681/spantax_cv_990_at_basle_june_1976_4bb92655ccaf9c8056b77eb10c b72ed89b41af99.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x683/18922682899_75020e15fa_b_18198003d7aa2ea2c0caa7f6d4e03f8f61d b7063.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1023x661/spantax_mcdonnell_douglas_dc_10_ec_deg_1e734665ec8fa68d7f8a7 246bafc77fa763a7fa4.jpg

SPANTAX revised their livery in 1981 to a more modern style.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x692/11910714016_50fc90e3f3_b_ae2d599bb1b238cdfb723a762d62bd57d67 6dc06.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x661/spantax_mcdonnell_douglas_dc_9_32_c9366793a59bb6ed74b41d47de 2b2ba02339f1de.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1440x957/ec_dug_1039be7d5c08c46ef8825e9d0cdcb58b88a52243.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/500x338/12139620583_452c212eae_3970a16352d21ecbbbba93dd46799ffa6aea6 61e.jpg

[SpringHeeledJack]

Brilliant photos! I much prefer the old livery to the new, but then again I'm a fan of all the older liveries being displayed in retro planes these last few years.

The Coronado just has that look that makes it look dangerous (in a good way) and capable. Where were the above photos taken ? I thought northern Germany, but perhaps Scandinavia ?

[treadigraph]

Looks like a 749 Connie behind the DC-6...?

[lederhosen]

Looks like a 749 Connie behind the DC-6...?
In full spotter mode I would suggest the DC6 is actually a DC7C. In the dim and distant past I can remember leaving my passport in the seat pocket of one at Barcelona. The aircraft went tech and we all had to get off. I was already in the bus when I realised my mistake, but managed somehow to get it back. The 737 and the DC8 are pretty obviously in Palma. The DC9 third from bottom looks like Berlin Tegel. The only one that looks Scandinavian is the one with the pair of Coronados and may be Stockholm. But having 2 there at the same time seems a bit unlikely.

[treadigraph]

Spot on Lederhosen, I was distracted by the shapely fuselage behind!

[Musket90]

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1048x786/p4180528_9c971d25c0f199c0eea95e1865b8d208befcdd30.jpg
EC-CCF Gatwick June 1979

[Fly.Buy]

I'll raise you ... the BAC I-11 ... could drown out my teacher's voice for several minutes on the first turn out of Ringway heading east! (And a real beauty to look at, squinting out of the window with head on one side!)

The BAC 1-11 aircraft were definitely the noisiest, hence the necessity of hush kits which were later added.

[Spooky 2]

The Captain on that CV880 was Danny Burke. Captain Danny had a storied history of ferrying various aircraft from all over the world. As a matter of fact he had recently typed in the AB340-500 which he flew regularly out of KLAS. The sad news is Captain Danny passed away earlier this winter. Great guy!

[lederhosen]

Is that the private A340 that has been known to fly non stop from there to TLV?

[Musket90]

Apologies not the best quality photo on a murky day at Gatwick late 70's.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1798x1348/p4190542_a6ecb3a8588cadfd0f546ee3278a26e633711b3d.jpg
TAE DC8-33 EC-CDC

[Spooky 2]

Is that the private A340 that has been known to fly non stop from there to TLV?

That is correct. Also a TLV to HNL non stop awhile back.

[compton3bravo]

In 1964 Fred Pontin of Pontin Holidays opened Cala Masqueda holiday camp on the north east coast of Majorca and I remember standing on one of the fingers on a Saturday in the late 1960s at Gatwick watching Spantax DC-7Cs arriving/departing to Palma taking holidaymakers many on their first trip abroad. C-990s started to take over the operation a little later on.
Saw a TASSA Dc-7C at Castle Donnington (EMA) on a Sunday in August 1968 while on a pit stop travelling from Bedford to York on the M1.
Only Spanish charter airline I have flown on was an Aviaco flight to Palma in 1963 from Manchester but it was operated by an Iberia Super Connie so don't know if that counts but the airline ticket does say Aviaco on it. That was with Wallace Arnold Tours to Can Pastilla. I think it was £30 full board for two weeks with own shower and toilet. Great memories.

[G-ARZG]

I know that many of these airline's have already been mentioned but here's a list of the Spanish airline's that previously flew regular charter flights between the United Kingdom and Spanish destinations from 1960's onwards. I'm including IBERIA as they flew regular charters on behalf of several British tour operators.

Some of the listed airlines rebranded such as IBERWORLD into ORBEST. AVIACO was a wholly owned subsidiary of IBERIA.

AIR EUROPA..Founded in 1986, still in operation
​​​​​​AIR SPAIN.. Founded in 1965, ceased operations in 1975
AVIACO.. Founded in 1948, ceased operations in 1999
BCM AIRLINES..Founded in ?, ceased operations in ?
CENTENNIAL AIRLINES..Founded in 1993, ceased operations in 1996
FUTURA INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS.. Founded in 1989, ceased operations in 2008
GIRJET.. Founded in 2003, ceased operations in 2008
HISPANIA AIRWAYS.. Founded in 1982, ceased operations in 1989
HOLA AIRLINES.. Founded in 2002, ceased operations in 2010
IBERIA..Founded in 1927, still in operation
IBERWORLD.. Founded in 1998, ceased operations in 2009
LINEAS AEREAS CANARIAS.. Founded in 1985, ceased operations in 1990
LTE INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS.. Founded in 1987, ceased operations in 2008
MINT AIRWAYS.. Founded in 2009, ceased operations in 2012
NORT JET.. Founded in 1989, ceased operations in 1992
OASIS AIRLINES.. Founded in 1986, ceased operations in 1995
ORBEST ORIZONIA AIRLINES.. Founded in 2009, ceased operations in 2013
SPANAIR.. Founded in 1986, ceased operations in 2012
SPANTAX.. Founded in 1959, ceased operations in 1988
TAE-TRABAJOS AEREOS Y ENLACES.. Founded in 1966, ceased operations in 1981
THOMAS COOK AIRLINES BALEARICS.. Founded in 2017, still in operation for CONDOR
TRANSEUROPA.. Founded in 1965, ceased operations in 1982
UNIVERSEAIR.. Founded in 1987, ceased operations in 1991
VIVA AIR.. Founded in 1988, ceased operations in 1999

I might have missed one or two, feel free to add if that's the case.

AE Bal
Air Plus Comet

[Sotonsean]

AE Bal
Air Plus Comet

BUT did Air Plus Comet and AE Bal actually operate full dedicated "charter" flights from Spain to UK destinations or even other European destinations?

My list wasn't a full list of all of the former Spanish airline's, it was a list of all of the former Spanish airline's that operated dedicated "charter" flights.

​​​​​​If it was meant to be a list of ALL of the former Spanish airline's it would have been far more extensive and it would have included AE Bal and Air Plus Comet.

As far as I'm aware, neither of those two airline's operated their own dedicated charter flights from Spain to the UK hence "why they we're not included" in my list. After all the title of the thread is SPANISH CHARTER AIRLINE'S.

[willy wombat]

In the early 70s I went with a mate on a three day winter break (probably with Vistajet) to Palma flying from Glasgow on an Air Spain DC8 series 20. The cost was a heady £13 each! The trip was fairly uneventful except for an aborted take off at Palma on the return leg. The reason was not explained but after 3 hours we reboarded the same aircraft and arrived back in Glasgow successfully.

[G-ARZG]

BUT did Air Plus Comet and AE Bal actually operate full dedicated "charter" flights from Spain to UK destinations or even other European destinations?

My list wasn't a full list of all of the former Spanish airline's, it was a list of all of the former Spanish airline's that operated dedicated "charter" flights.

​​​​​​If it was meant to be a list of ALL of the former Spanish airline's it would have been far more extensive and it would have included AE Bal and Air Plus Comet.

As far as I'm aware, neither of those two airline's operated their own dedicated charter flights from Spain to the UK hence "why they we're not included" in my list. After all the title of the thread is SPANISH CHARTER AIRLINE'S.

I saw Air Plus Comet plenty of times in LGW 2005/2006, but...whatever

[Sotonsean]

I saw Air Plus Comet plenty of times in LGW 2005/2006, but...whatever

The airline was established on 23 December 1996 as Air Plus Comet and started operations on the 01 March 1997 based at Madrid Barejas Airport. It mainly operated long haul charters from Madrid and Palma de Mallorca to destinations in the Americas and the Caribbean. The airline also operated ad-hoc charters on behalf of other airlines and in particular Air Europa.

It relaunched as a full service carrier under the name Air Comet in January 2007 and took over some of the defunct Air Madrid's Latin American routes. Air Comet was wholly owned by Groupo Marsons.

Groupo Marsons we're also the owners of Aerolineas Argentinas the national flag carrier of Argentina. In 2002 Aerolineas Argentinas offered a feeder flight three times weekly each from Madrid Barejas Airport to London Gatwick Airport and Paris CDG Airport to connect with their flights to Buenos Aires initially using aircraft from Air Plus Comet.

Aerolineas Argentinas eventually based two MD88 aircraft at Madrid Barejas Airport to cover these feeder flights. The two MD88's based at Madrid Barejas Airport were LN-VGA and LN-VGB. These feeder flights ceased in 2006 with the two MD88''s returning to Argentina.
​
​​​​At the airline's peak Air Comet operated 12 aircraft including Airbus A310-300 and Airbus A330-300.

On the 11 February 2009 Air Comet was suspended from IATA, the airline ran into severe financial problems after being sued by the German bank HSH Nordbank and ceased operations altogether due to bankruptcy on the 21 December 2009. At the time of the airline's collapse it's fleet consisted of four Airbus A330's.