Boeing 737-200 'Holiday Jets'
BA 737’s from NCL. Airport Timetables UK which was the definitive source at the time definitely showed Friday to Gerona, Saturday Palma and Sunday Ibiza. Perhaps they didn’t operate but the above suggest they did.
Must be true! I'd only got the 1982-85 and 1988-onwards books with gaps for 86 and 87 and this mayfly is from 1987. That's quite a Sunday - CalAir DC10, Air Atlantis, Adria, Aviogenex, Universair .... how times have changed.
Somehow the 727 and 737 threads seem to have been mixed up here !
Sometimes all on the same series as loads rose and fell through the summer. Tarom seemed to enquire how many were booked and only send out an aircraft that was appropriate. Well into the 1980s you might even get an IL-18 turboprop for the first/last runs of the year.
Tarom Tupolev 154, Ilyushin II-62, BAC 1-11, Boeing 707 to Bucharest and Constanta.
Chief Bottle Washer
What a pain!
I think I’ve transferred all relevant posts back and recreated the 727 thread, but if any posts here need shifting then please let me know and I’ll get it done next time I check in.
Apologies for the blunder: I’ll have the relevant Mod given night shift for the remainder of the month, pus a new pair of spectacles
(He is recovering from a serious eye infection, and made a genuine mistake reading the thread titles
)
I think I’ve transferred all relevant posts back and recreated the 727 thread, but if any posts here need shifting then please let me know and I’ll get it done next time I check in.
Apologies for the blunder: I’ll have the relevant Mod given night shift for the remainder of the month, pus a new pair of spectacles
(He is recovering from a serious eye infection, and made a genuine mistake reading the thread titles
)
Thread Starter
Thankyou, Senior Pilot.
Braathens and Mey Air were both early 732 customers. Were their aircraft the Advanced variant or the initial version ?
Braathens and Mey Air were both early 732 customers. Were their aircraft the Advanced variant or the initial version ?
Last edited by Mooncrest; 28th May 2021 at 12:28.
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Can anyone enlighten me on the 737-200 that was leased from Britannia to Copa, that went down in the Amazon in the early 90's? It was featured on a BBC documentary at the time which I have on video tape, but was never able to identify the 737-200 involved?
ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-204 Advanced HP-1205CMP Tucutí (aviation-safety.net)
Control differences between Copa's established 737 fleet and the new acquisition were one of the issues identified.
Balkan and Sunquest Holidays were the Majors back then for the Black Sea resorts and IL-18's of both Bulair and Tarom were first used on those charters from the 1960's.
Tarom's charter arm LAR also used the BAC 1-11 400.
The other British Tour Operators used mainly Dan Air Comets.
Tarom's charter arm LAR also used the BAC 1-11 400.
The other British Tour Operators used mainly Dan Air Comets.
Braathens, and Britannia, both had at first from 1968 all early models and were not the ADV.
ADV models came along from Q2 1971 I think from c/n 400>
Mod kits and better engines, -9A or -15 were available for existing operators of the -200 to allow for performance improvements.
For the new model ADV other engines were optional JT8D-15 or from 1974 the -17
BY's new ADV models started from 1973 with G-BAD G-BAZ and G-BEC all with -15's, being the engine of choice for most charter airlines.
Mey Air ceased by 1974 - their 2 were ADV with -9A engines from Q4 1971
When I was in Edinburgh in the 1970s the university (and to a lesser extent the city) had a special relationship with Norway, and there were over 100 students from there.
Every start and end of term, Braathens did charters from Oslo to Edinburgh for them. At first it was one of their DC-6Bs, which had to do two round trips, and spent the best part of a day doing so. Eventually it was changed over to a 737, which just did one trip, sufficiently fast that it could be squeezed in between an early morning Norwegian domestic return pair and a late-lunchtime IT flight to Spain, the latter seeming to be pushed back a couple of hours. A very good example of the increase in efficiency the likes of a 737 brought along.
Every start and end of term, Braathens did charters from Oslo to Edinburgh for them. At first it was one of their DC-6Bs, which had to do two round trips, and spent the best part of a day doing so. Eventually it was changed over to a 737, which just did one trip, sufficiently fast that it could be squeezed in between an early morning Norwegian domestic return pair and a late-lunchtime IT flight to Spain, the latter seeming to be pushed back a couple of hours. A very good example of the increase in efficiency the likes of a 737 brought along.
from the 727 thread, remember going to the airport early Friday morning to see the TUR 727 and RAM 732 in 1990.
Last edited by Senior Pilot; 29th May 2021 at 21:23. Reason: Fix quote
[QUOTE=GBYAJ;11053565]
The Following Summer 1988 posed huge changes at Cal Air (which was started in 1982 as BCAL Charter, jointly owned 50-50 by BCAL and Rank) as British Caledonian was bought by and merged into British Airways and Cal Air International was of no interest to British Airways who had their own Charter airline British Airtours
The Rank Organisation decided to buy the other 50% share making it their wholly owned Airline subsidiary.
This created a problem as the name 'Cal Air International' along with the Lion rampant logo on the tail, and its Air Hostesses wearing Tartan uniforms, was too close in image and style to the new British Airways Charter Airline Caledonian Airways (1988) which was now the new face of British Airtours
It was decided that the company would change its name and logo yet again. Various names were considered, however, it was set to become Novair International Airways
The livery was adapted to take in the new name and a huge blue shooting star was emblazoned on the tail fin. Call sign was STARJET
Novair went on to add 3 new Boeing 737-400 to its fleet of 3 DC-10's.
The airline was always fighting for Charter contracts, and was up against ever decreasing passenger numbers, in addition to which the Rank organisation was losing interest in its Travel/Aviation subsidiaries.
Unable to find a suitable buyer, Novair ceased operations on 31 March 1990 and was soon wound up.
The DC-10's going to FedEx and the 737's to British Midland.
The following year saw the failures of both Air Europe and BIA and ailing Dan Air was also soon bought and merged into British Airways.
Ironically BIA in 1989 were in serious negotiations to sell to ILG (Air Europe) but the deal fell through.
The 1990's depression, The Gulf War, and ever rising Jet Fuel prices all were major factors.
The UK Charter Airline industry had really started to change with only the Major players that would eventually be left in the field.
Today however, we see only only one of those left in the UK - TUI Airways - morphed from Britannia, Orion, Air 2000 and Leisure International.
XL Airways nee Sabre Airways, having already fallen in 2008, with Monarch to go under in 2017.
Both failures at the time much larger than the Court Line collapse in 1974.
Caledonian, Flying Colours, Airworld, Airtours International, IEA, Conair and Scanair having all morphed into Thomas Cook would spectacularly fail in 2019.
But, Condor, still a strong German brand managed yet again to survive, and Sunclass Airlines emerges from Thomas Scandinavia re-discovering its former Scanair roots and Viking identity.
The Rank Organisation decided to buy the other 50% share making it their wholly owned Airline subsidiary.
This created a problem as the name 'Cal Air International' along with the Lion rampant logo on the tail, and its Air Hostesses wearing Tartan uniforms, was too close in image and style to the new British Airways Charter Airline Caledonian Airways (1988) which was now the new face of British Airtours
It was decided that the company would change its name and logo yet again. Various names were considered, however, it was set to become Novair International Airways
The livery was adapted to take in the new name and a huge blue shooting star was emblazoned on the tail fin. Call sign was STARJET
Novair went on to add 3 new Boeing 737-400 to its fleet of 3 DC-10's.
The airline was always fighting for Charter contracts, and was up against ever decreasing passenger numbers, in addition to which the Rank organisation was losing interest in its Travel/Aviation subsidiaries.
Unable to find a suitable buyer, Novair ceased operations on 31 March 1990 and was soon wound up.
The DC-10's going to FedEx and the 737's to British Midland.
The following year saw the failures of both Air Europe and BIA and ailing Dan Air was also soon bought and merged into British Airways.
Ironically BIA in 1989 were in serious negotiations to sell to ILG (Air Europe) but the deal fell through.
The 1990's depression, The Gulf War, and ever rising Jet Fuel prices all were major factors.
The UK Charter Airline industry had really started to change with only the Major players that would eventually be left in the field.
Today however, we see only only one of those left in the UK - TUI Airways - morphed from Britannia, Orion, Air 2000 and Leisure International.
XL Airways nee Sabre Airways, having already fallen in 2008, with Monarch to go under in 2017.
Both failures at the time much larger than the Court Line collapse in 1974.
Caledonian, Flying Colours, Airworld, Airtours International, IEA, Conair and Scanair having all morphed into Thomas Cook would spectacularly fail in 2019.
But, Condor, still a strong German brand managed yet again to survive, and Sunclass Airlines emerges from Thomas Scandinavia re-discovering its former Scanair roots and Viking identity.
Last edited by rog747; 29th May 2021 at 14:58.
The aircraft that COPA crashed was leased from, not sold by, Britannia. I remember the event all too well. The company FSO went out to Panama to join the investigation, and came back with grim tales of arriving at the wreck in the jungle with the crew still in situ.
Thread Starter
I wondered about the Norwegian 732s as both airlines appeared at Leeds Bradford every now and then, before the runway extension was built. I don't know the destinations of either Braathens or Mey Air from LBA but I would guess not too far away for Braathens if they were flying early-build aircraft. Aer Lingus' early 737s were OK as they were only making the short flight to Dublin.
Thread Starter
The range of the 737-200 astounds me, even now. I remember Dan Air and Britannia, among others, used to send theirs from the UK to the more distant Greek Islands. Some family members flew from Manchester to Kos with Britannia in '86 - their ride was G-BADR, an early Advanced model for the airline with the relatively low-thrust engines.
The range of the 737-200 astounds me, even now. I remember Dan Air and Britannia, among others, used to send theirs from the UK to the more distant Greek Islands. Some family members flew from Manchester to Kos with Britannia in '86 - their ride was G-BADR, an early Advanced model for the airline with the relatively low-thrust engines.
and Britannia's first group of ADV models delivered from 1973 (G-BAD G-BAZ and G-BEC series) had also -15 engines (some or all though may have had -9A's at first?)
Britannia did many upgrades to the 732 fleet.
Mey Air had -9A's. (more powerful)
What was astounding how both Laker and Cambrian managed a BAC 1-11 300/400 from LPL or MAN to LPA/TCI RHO and HER often non-stop both ways.