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Airlines operating one type

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Airlines operating one type

Old 5th May 2018, 21:09
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Airlines operating one type

"After the Boeing-707 ceased operation with Qantas in March 1979, and up until 1985, Qantas was an airline operating just one type of aircraft, the Boeing-747"

I found this very interesting, can't think of another (major) National carrier that has operated just one type for so long, or am I mistaken?

Not talking about those LoCo's with 737's here
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Old 6th May 2018, 00:44
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TEAL was a single-type airline for the first 14 years of its existance and it went through three generations of airliners during those 14 years: S.30 Empire Boats, then S.25 Sandringhams, then S.45A Solents.

And during the early part of the 1960s they became a single type airline again with only Lockheed L.188 Electras for about four years.
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Old 6th May 2018, 06:42
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Ah yes - I can remember the inherent flexibility of Quantas all 747 fleet - one Saturday night traveling trans -Tasman - 15 pax (including kids......... )

One hell of party tho'......
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Old 6th May 2018, 07:10
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major charter carriers

Britannia airways had just 737-200's for many years from about 1970/71 until the 767 came 1984

air2000 757's for many years from 1987 (a lone 733 for one year only joined the fleet 88/89)

and Virgin Atlantic had from 1984 -1993 solely PW JT9 powered 747-200 and -100 classics (finally 8 in total by 1990) the new 747-400 followed in 1994

but A340's began being delivered late 1993
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Old 6th May 2018, 11:04
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LTU was a pure L1011 operator (-100 and -500) from 1979 (departure of its last Caravelle) until 1984 (arrival of its first 757)
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Old 6th May 2018, 11:07
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Britannia airways had just 737-200's for many years from about 1970/71 until the 767 came 1984
Actually 1973 until 84 after the 707s went.

Today of course there is Ryanair (until the MAX arrives) but this is probably the wrong thread for that.
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Old 6th May 2018, 11:30
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Tower Air had only one type: B-747-100/200.
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Old 6th May 2018, 17:03
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Am I right in saying that JAL were purely a 747 operator for many years? I know they were definitely the biggest operator of the 'lump' at one stage. Don't have any at all nowadays of course
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Old 6th May 2018, 17:22
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You might be. I’m not sure. They did have DC8s & then DC10s at the same time as the 747s ; but there might have been a gap between the 8s going out of service & the 10s coming in. I look forward to finding out !
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Old 6th May 2018, 17:28
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Hmm, I think the 8's and 10's might have been concurrent. I was more thinking about after the 10's were phased out and before the 777s etc came in? Someone on these esteemed pages will know the answer, I am sure
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Old 6th May 2018, 18:57
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Don't know when the 767s were delivered to Jal - they did have them as have been in one.
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Old 6th May 2018, 21:35
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In terms of national carriers, weren't MEA using only 707s / 720s for a while? Will check the books tomorrow.

Also Austrian Airlines; after retiring the Caravelles they flew only DC-9s for quite a while until the A310 arrived.

Lots of secondary / charter carriers only operated one type at a time but one that comes to mind is Transavia who have only ever operated variants of the 737. In that regard they even beat Southwest who dabbled with 727s.

Last edited by El Bunto; 6th May 2018 at 21:47.
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Old 7th May 2018, 01:30
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Interesting that nobody has mentioned Southwest...well, they did have that one 727 for a bit...

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Old 7th May 2018, 06:41
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Originally Posted by Cubs2jets
Interesting that nobody has mentioned Southwest...well
They probably just read what the OP said.

Originally Posted by flash8
Not talking about those LoCo's with 737's here
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Old 7th May 2018, 07:02
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Originally Posted by El Bunto
In terms of national carriers, weren't MEA using only 707s / 720s for a while? Will check the books tomorrow.

Also Austrian Airlines; after retiring the Caravelles they flew only DC-9s for quite a while until the A310 arrived.

Lots of secondary / charter carriers only operated one type at a time but one that comes to mind is Transavia who have only ever operated variants of the 737. In that regard they even beat Southwest who dabbled with 727s.
Didn’t Transavia start with DC6s? Regardless, they were a Caravelle operator for many years - before they got the 737.
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Old 7th May 2018, 07:21
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Transavia may have been a pure 737 operator for a period, but certainly in the 70's and 80's also dabbled in 707's. I seem to recall an A300B as well during that time. BA leased 737's from them prior to getting their own -200's so they were familiar sights at LHR T1 for a while.
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Old 7th May 2018, 08:10
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Transavia certainly had a A300 and an A310 for a short while, plus a few 757s a bit later on.
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Old 7th May 2018, 08:38
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Looking for a bit of thread drift what airlines had the most types at one time?
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Old 7th May 2018, 09:43
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I was obviously having a brain-lapse re: Transavia!

National carriers: Aviogenex started in 1969 with Tu-134s and didn't receive 727s until the late 70s. Then sometime in the 90s they whittled down to a single 737 and I think that was their entire fleet until they were wound-up.
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Old 7th May 2018, 15:46
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Looking for a bit of thread drift what airlines had the most types at one time?
1974, BA, probably 707, 747, VC-10 from BOAC, Trident, Vanguard, Viscount, Herald, Heron, 1-11's on the BEA side, and the Tristar coming in, perhaps more (10 types so far).

I'm sure though plenty of others operated more. It's a difficult question
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