https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6b23ae2484.jpg
One E 140 seat plan


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1aabd28c71.jpg


Me! - The little boy far left under the nose at SEN - Sunday afternoon viewings for new holidaymakers


SotonSean
Actually it was Dan Air who purchased two former American Airlines BAC 1-11-400's early in 1969 to add to their existing fleet for new IT work.
This was soon after British Eagle went bust to quickly fill the gap for Lunn Poly Everyman Holidays S1969 flights -
The Dan Air base was set up surprisingly at LTN (Lunn Poly's flights on Eagle were all from LHR)
Dan's got 2 more 1-11's from Eagle a year later, plus G-AZED (rebuilt, ex D-ANDY w/off in an RTO at GRO 1970)

Channels' 1-11's were all new orders from BAC - Their first 1-11 was 89 seat G-AVGP.
They ordered 3 of a 99 seat version of the -400 that had an extra pair of overwing exits to allow that. (G-AVGP then went to Autair)
Only 2 of the 3 got delivered (one of which went directly on a lease to BUA for all summer 1969) and the 3rd went to Bavaria Flug and was never used by Channel.

Channel did order all 5 Trident One E-140's which were 139 seat versions.
G-AVYA - YE but they only took a pair in the end.
BKS and Air Ceylon took the 3 others.
Northeast (BKS) took Channels' pair via BEA after their demise.

Channel Airways and their in-house tour operator Mediterranean Holidays were famous for allowing prospective holidaymakers to view their jets on display both at SEN and STN airports usually on wet Sunday afternoons to tempt them into booking their next Hols.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3599d5260e.jpg
---

Come on board!
It must be noted that most of these IT flights were moved to Stansted due to the noise complaints and short runway at SEN


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c7391a90ce.jpg


7 abreast seats front cabin Channel AW trident one E 140

Nice to see the Channel Airways info, I remember the Tridents parked outside the Channel hangar (now used by Inflite) and the ex Olympic Comets.
Here are a couple from the Transmeridian ramp.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f0231bd90.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....014003d7a.jpeg

A few images from my archives. As others have said, Stansted was always worth a look in when passing through the area, though I don't recall seeing many aircraft actually moving when I dropped in.

Great thread. I recall dropping into Stansted several times in the late '70s on LAAS organised coach trips to the Mildenhall Air Fete - yep, certainly remember Maersk 720s and Sterling 727s! Also those Turkish AF Viscounts shoehorned into a hangar on a visit sometime in the early 80s. A couple of THY 707s in '75 TC-JAM was one I think...

I got admin to kindly change the title of the thread from "Stansted Scandinavian Invasion" to "Stansted Airport History and Nostalgia" to better reflect the history of the airport in a similar way to the popular Luton Airport History and Nostalgia thread.

I appreciate everyone's contributions and I have no doubt that this will continue to be an excellent thread for those who have fond memories of London Stansted Airport.

So, why did the Scandinavians descend en-mass every weekend from the 1970's in to STN (then LTN) ??? What was the attraction....

Obviously this was before the advent of low cost carriers and the Scandinavians enjoyed the shopping in London and the United Kingdom compared to the very high prices in their own countries.

I think that the flights catered to Scandinavian tourism to England along with the shopping. The flights were sold as packages with hotels included similar to those going to Mediterranean or Canary Islands on IT's. Some of the tour company's had their own airline's such as Spies Rejser who were also the owners of the Danish airline Conair. In fact it was also the owners name. I can't remember all of the Scandinavian operators names but here are a few.

Atlas Resor from Sweden
Saga Tours from Norway
Spies Rejser from Denmark
Tjaereborgs Rejser from Denmark

From the mid 1960's up until to the late 1990's sea travel was also a popular means of transportation for Scandinavians to reach the United Kingdom and there were many options by several ferry company's including the following routes. Although not all of them operated at the same time.

Felixstowe... Gothenburg... Tor Line
Harwich... Esbjerg... DFDS
Harwich... Gothenburg... DFDS
Harwich... Kristiansand... Fred Olsen
Harwich... Oslo... Fred Olsen
​​​​​Hull... Gothenburg... Ellerman Wilson Line/Svea Line
Immingham... Gothenburg... Tor Line
Newcastle... Bergen... Bergen Line
Newcastle... Esbjerg... DFDS
Newcastle... Gothenburg... DFDS/Tor Line
Newcastle... Kristiansand... Bergen Line/DFDS
Newcastle... Oslo... Bergen Line
Newcastle... Stavanger... Bergen Line
Tilbury... Gothenburg... Swedish Lloyd

None of the above routes exist today except for a few routes such as Immingham to Brevik, Esbjerg and Gothenburg and Tilbury to Gothenburg all operated by DFDS and all of which are freight only. There are no longer any passenger ferry routes between the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. The last such route was between Esbjerg and Harwich by DFDS which ceased in September 2014.

In 1976/1977 the British ferry operator Townsend Thoresen operated a few winter only shopping trips a week from Leith (Edinburgh) to Kristiansand in Norway purely for Norwegians visiting the UK. They were actually advertised as shopping trips.

So going by all the Scandinavian flights plus the variety of ferry operators and routes you can see how popular the United Kingdom was to Scandinavians during that period.

Scandinavians now generally fly to the United Kingdom by British Airways, Norwegian, Ryanair and SAS Scandinavian.

Great Stuff -
Sterling Airways owned Tjareborg
Scanair (and Transair Sweden) was Vingressor
Conair was Spies

Rog

Thanks for that, I thought that Sterling Airlines was connected to Tjaereborg. (Tjaereborg was founded in 1962 and was based in and named after the village of the same name near to Esbjerg in Denmark)

Vingressor still exists today but operates as Ving and is owned by the Nordic Leisure Group which also owns Globetrotter, Spies, Tjaereborg and the airline Sunclass Airlines. The parent company is the Norwegian Strawberry Group.

Scanair was formed in June 1961 and was partially owned by SAS Scandinavian Airline System.

On the 01 January 1994, Conair owned by the Danish Spies Group and Scanair owned by the Scandinavian Leisure Group were merged into one airline. The new airline was named Premair A/S.

​​​​​​The Danish Spies Holdings still existed after it's airline merged with Scanair operating as they did before as Spies Holidays.

In 1994 not long after the merger of Conair and Scanair, Scandinavian Leisure Group was purchased by the British tour operator Airtours.

In 1996 Airtours Group purchased the Danish Spies Holdings.

In 2002 the Airtours Group rebranded under the new company wide banner of My Travel Group.

In 2002 the Airtours Group rebranded their Scandinavian operations as My Travel Scandinavia A/S. My Travel Scandinavia A/S included several Scandinavian operators such as Tjaereborg, Spies, Sunquest, Ving and the airline Premair.

On the 12 February 2007, My Travel Group announced that they had agreed terms to merge with Thomas Cook. After the merger the new company was known as the Thomas Cook Group.

In 2008 Premair was renamed to Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia.

In September 2019 Thomas Cook Group went bankrupt.

In November 2019 Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia was purchased by the Norwegian investor Petter Stordalen and his company the Strawberry Group and rebranded as Sunclass Airlines.

Sunclass Airlines still uses the original DK code and Viking call sign, so one way or another Scanair lives on albeit as Sunclass Airlines.

I have to admit that I absolutely love subjects such as this 😉

Sotonsean:
You omitted the Immingham - Amsterdam - Gothenburg triangular ferry service (in both directions) offered by Tor Line in the 60s. I don't know when it finished but it was very useful for those in RAFG whose home was north of the English Midlands

Great pictures from when spotting was wonderful.
I lived in Stortford from 69 to 72 and my few memories of Stansted from that time include:
Flying to Edinburgh on an Air UK F27 and leaving the car in the car park for a week for 90p.
Taking SWMBO and sprogs to the cafe for Sunday afternoon tea and watching BOAC doing circuits and bumps.
Visiting the tower with a residents group and asking to see the radar. "What radar?"
Being woken early hours of the morning by a very low flying jet. Local rumour mill said it was a Nigerian 707 overloaded with whisky which blew down the perimeter fence and was unable to make the noise abatement turn to avoid Bishops Stortford.
Anyway I hope the above comments are of some interest and feel free to correct my memories if they have become distorted over the years.

I purposely left out the connection by Tor Line to Amsterdam as I was listing the Scandinavian connections.

But as you bring the subject up here's a brief summary of the Swedish shipping company Tor Line history of Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom service.

Tor Line started passenger operations in 1966 with the TOR HOLLANDIA (1966) between Gothenburg and Immingham.

Tor Line added Amsterdam on a triangular connection to it's Gothenburg to Immingham route in 1967 after the delivery of their second vessel the TOR ANGLIA which was a sister ship to the TOR HOLLANDIA.

Tor Line replaced the TOR HOLLANDIA in 1975 with the much larger TOR BRITANNIA on the Immingham-Amsterdam-Gothenburg route.

Tor Line replaced the TOR ANGLIA in 1976 with the much larger TOR SCANDINAVIA on the Immingham-Amsterdam-Gothenburg.

Tor Line replaced the UK port 1977 from Immingham to Felixstowe and continued the triangular link to Gothenburg via Amsterdam.

Tor Line was bought by the Danish shipping company DFDS in 1982 and operated as DFDS Tor Line. Felixstowe-Amsterdam-Gothenburg was replaced by Felixstowe-Gothenburg and started a direct Gothenburg-Amsterdam

In 1983 the UK terminal moved from Felixstowe to Harwich where DFDS also operated at the time to Bremerhaven, Esbjerg and Hamburg (the Bremerhaven and Hamburg having been previously been operated by Prinz Ferries which DFDS had acquired in 1981)

In 1985 the Tor Line name was dropped in preference of DFDS Seaways.

In 1991 DFDS Seaways was rebranded Scandinavian Seaways. TOR BRITANNIA was renamed PRINCE OF SCANDINAVIA, the following year TOR SCANDINAVIA was renamed PRINCESS OF SCANDINAVIA.

On the 04 January 1999 PRINCESS OF SCANDINAVIA arrived at Gothenburg marking the final Swedish link from Harwich to Gothenburg.

From the 05 January 1999 the Swedish route to the UK was Gothenburg-Kristiansand-Newcastle. The route continued with PRINCESS OF SCANDINAVIA.

In 2001 Scandinavian Seaways name reverted back to DFDS after reorganisation of the company.

On 31 October 2006 final sailing between Gothenburg-Kristiansand-Newcastle. Thus ending over 160 years of traffic with passenger ferries between Gothenburg and England was terminated.
​​​​
​​​​​​binbrook.....as you are very aware the ferry company's used to give preferential rates to service personnel traveling back and forth to their bases in Germany and in particular the links from German and Dutch ports were very popular with Army and RAF Personel.

My uncle was in the RAF and in the early to mid 1970's he was based at RAF Guttersloh. He tended to be transported by the MOD service operated by Britannia Airways from Luton Airport.

Hopefully everyone enjoys reading my posts regarding aviation but my real forte is shipping.

Sorry to go off thread.

Regarding the airport parking. I believe that Stansted offered the cheapest parking at any UK airport at the time. Now day's your more than likely pay twice as much for a weeks parking than it does for a return Ryanair flight.

Just before Christmas I was looking at a day trip from Stansted to Copenhagen, price of return flight £15.00, price of parking £52.00, add in the cost of fuel from Southampton and the driving time I decided to use some BA miles and fly from LHR instead.

When Ryanair offered their £1.00 flights in the late 1990's to mid 2000's I took the opportunity on many occasions. In one week alone on one occasion I took the £1 offer and flew from Stansted to three different destinations in a week all for a pound return.

Sotonsean

Although heading totally off piste really enjoyed your potted history of Tor Line, brought back memories of my early days in the freight forwarding industry (now re-branded logistics, even though most of the companies with "logistics" emblazoned on their trucks and mast heads haven't a clue what logistics is - what they do is still good of freight forwarding or road haulage!!) and chasing shipping details for groupage shipments to Scandinavia.

I'm pleased that you enjoyed my "potted" history of Tor Line and that it brought back memories for you.

I actually thought that the mods might have deleted it based on the fact that it's not aviation related. At the time of writing it I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do but I enjoyed writing it and I'm pleased that you enjoyed reading it.

I could write similar stories about many other shipping company's from the past, but this is not the place.

Although aviation is a huge passion of mine, the shipping industry is probably more of a passion of mine having been involved in it for the last 37 years.

In future though I will stick to aviation on pprune and in particular on the Stansted Airport History and Nostalgia thread considering that I am the person who started it😉

Regarding Tor line, don't forget the terrible BBC series "Triangle" that was filmed on that triangular route.

Not too terrible. I seem to remember a quite famous actress sunbathing topless on the foc'sle or whatever. Poor girl, she looked frozen.

As tacky as that show was, when I was a lad watching that series I always wanted to travel on the Tor Line sister's, and I was so excited at the age of 17 when I took my first voyage on the Tor Britannia from Harwich to Gothenburg in 1983. I loved those two ships from the day they entered service and they are still in service today operating for the Italian ferry operator Moby Lines from Genoa and Livorno to Sardinia. They are my all time favourite long distance ferries 😉

That was the actress Kate O'Mara who played the part of the ship's Purser. By all accounts according to a story recollected by herself it was filmed on a windy cold day and she said it was freezing 😂.

In the late eighties I had a female Purser on-board who looked and sounded just like Kate O'Mara, it was a ferry as well and we were traveling down to Spain and she was on deck in rather inclement weather in her bikini, I can remember saying to her at the time, "who do you think you are bleeding Kate O'Mara", she did laugh and I'm still in touch with her and she's often brought up the story ☺️

Anyway let's get back on track and continue the discussion of Stansted Airport History and Nostalgia.

One for 1972 was a CL44 River Plate airlines with cattle unloaded in the shooting in butts? If that is the correct name of it?