Boeing 737-200 'Holiday Jets'
In the 1970s and '80s, which European airlines flew these to the Mediterranean and other holiday areas ? I can think of (in no particular order):
Britannia Airways Dan Air Monarch Airlines Maersk Orion Airways Aer Lingus Braathens Air Europe Condor Spantax Hispania British Airtours Hapag Lloyd Transavia Trans European Airways Aviogenex TAP Air Portugal Air Atlantis Luxair Mey Air Air Malta Air UK Leisure Any more ? |
Originally Posted by Mooncrest
(Post 11049634)
In the 1970s and '80s, which European airlines flew these to the Mediterranean and other holiday areas ? I can think of (in no particular order):
Britannia Airways Dan Air Monarch Airlines Maersk Orion Airways Aer Lingus Braathens Air Europe Condor Spantax Hispania British Airtours Hapag Lloyd Transavia Trans European Airways Aviogenex TAP Air Portugal Air Atlantis Luxair Mey Air Air Malta Air UK Leisure Any more ? Airways International Cymru IEA amber airways paramount (following take over of amber) |
Thankyou BYAJ. I'd forgotten about Cymru and Amberair. I knew IEA had a small fleet of -200s but not sure if they were around in the 1980s.
|
That's a fairly comprehensive list of European 737 operators in to which I'd add BA, Olympic, Lufthansa, Air France and Sabena, though whether they fully fit your holiday criteria I'm not sure!
|
Maybe not Sabena but certainly Sobelair, their charter associate. Should also mention Caledonian, British Airtours' successor. I don't know if Air France and Lufthansa ever involved themselves with this sort of business, likely leaving it to the likes of Air Charter, Euralair and Condor.
I did fly on an Olympic 732 to Heraklion in 1990...but only from Athens. I don't know if this fleet ventured beyond the south east Mediterranean. |
You could add Pan Am and Air Berlin, both of whom operated from Berlin. I certainly saw Pan Am 737s at Palma, operating charters at weekends. French operator Euralair acquired several early 737-200s and I imagine flew holiday charters.
|
Sabre Airways & Busy Bee?
|
Orion's 737s were _300s not 200s
|
Orion's 737s were _300s not 200s |
Yes you are right sorry. Was thinking when Britannia took over the Brownies they came with just 300s I seem to remember ?
|
Which Britannia got rid of smartish
|
Originally Posted by thegypsy
(Post 11049739)
Yes you are right sorry. Was thinking when Britannia took over the Brownies they came with just 300s I seem to remember ?
|
Thankyou for your continuing contributions all. It seems like anyone who had a 732 was fair game for this market, unless they specifically chose to exclude themselves. Pan Am at Palma alongside Dan Air and Spantax isn't easy to picture.
|
Originally Posted by Mooncrest
(Post 11049775)
Thankyou for your continuing contributions all. It seems like anyone who had a 732 was fair game for this market, unless they specifically chose to exclude themselves. Pan Am at Palma alongside Dan Air and Spantax isn't easy to picture.
Regarding the charter "offshoots" of mainstream scheduled carriers, these often used mainline aircraft and crews, the charter arm being more for marketing. I certainly went on "Austrian Air Transport" on a 'student charter' (a whole separate topic of the era in itself), Gatwick to Vienna, and everything was just a straightforward Austrian Airlines DC9, operating in marginal time. BEA/British Airtours was a bit of an exception to this, although off-season a lot of their capacity went the other way and could be seen at Heathrow on schedules. |
I trust Boeing was very grateful to Britannia for many years for leading the way with the 732, although it was another ten years before another British charter airline - Air Europe - was to order the type. Dan Air, Monarch and British Airtours were still flying Comets, 1-11s, Boeing 720s and 707s and Orion was still a couple more years away.
Speaking of airline charter arms, I flew to and from Ljubljana in 1986 with Air Yugoslavia. We were on a 727 both ways and, apart from the 'JR' prefix and the 'Yugair' RT callsign, it was JAT Yugoslav Airlines. Obviously, some airlines decided to put a little more distance between themselves and their charter cousins, e.g. Lufthansa with Condor and Sabena with Sobelair. |
Peach Air ?
|
Just thought of another, Ambassador Airways who had two which transferred to Sabre after their demise.
|
Aviogenex?
|
The topic was B737/200s not A300 or B737/300s which Britannia inherited from the Brownies after the take over. (Yes take over not merger) despite the outrageous merging of seniority .
|
The original list seemed to cover most. Surprising there are so few really. Some of the later ones that i mentioned only had 1 732. Tried hard think of others but 737-300’s and Md83’s were popular by 85 onwards.
Similar experience with JAT, only ref to Air Yugoslavia was at Dbv airport. Even the crew said it was a “YAT flight” in between cigs……. Air Belgium - 1 732, 1 733 IIRC! |
Air Belgium, of course. OO-PLH, sometimes wore her own livery, sometimes that of America West. Sometimes she even flew for Air Belgium rather than subbing for somebody else.
I think Sabre and Peach Air were both post-1990. I'm not sure about Ambassador but I think G-BFVA and VB were common factors here! Might have been BECG and CH. All Britannia cast-offs anyways. What an incredibly successful aeroplane it was. Interesting that Britannia didn't go for the -300 (and -500) until much later, the Orion aircraft notwithstanding. |
Braathens was another pioneer with the 737, which was used on a mixture of Norwegian trunk domestics and runs to the Mediterranean, taking over from a DC-6B fleet. I think at one stage they had the highest hourly utilisation of any 737 operator.
|
Lauda Air operated briefly one 737-200, leased from Transavia. OE-ILE.
|
Europe Air Services
Eurolair TAT Air Mediteraine AOM GB Airways Air Belgium Air Liberte ICS/Air Inter |
European Aviation operated a -200 on behalf of Bournemouth based Palmair
The Braathens -200's mentioned by WHBM and those of Busy Bee mentioned by adjm, were both regulars at STN in the late 70's on the Sunday morning/evening Scandi charters |
Did the British Airways 200s make it to the Med resorts.
There was also about three or four French 200s F-GCSL being one that changed company's for various reasons. One being Euralair. And more company's in Spain. |
Originally Posted by N707ZS
(Post 11050138)
Did the British Airways 200s make it to the Med resorts.
There was also about three or four French 200s F-GCSL being one that changed company's for various reasons. One being Euralair. And more company's in Spain. |
Originally Posted by GBYAJ
(Post 11050284)
yes for a number of years the BA737 that night stopped in NCL went to PMI, IBZ and GRO over the weekend.
In recent times BA Cityflyer have got into a similar market with their Embraers; returning from Palma a few years ago to London City it was quite a surprise to find no less than four of the BA E190s lined up together on the remote stands there, holiday charters to Glasgow/Edinburgh etc. |
I remember BA 757's at weekends in summer at NCL used to do charters to Spain overnight, but i don't remember any BA 737-200's doing the same. DAN had one 737-200 based at NCL flying charters for many years on behalf of Intasun ,until 1990 when two DAN 737-400's took over.
|
Originally Posted by GBLDE
(Post 11050365)
I remember BA 757's at weekends in summer at NCL used to do charters to Spain overnight, but i don't remember any BA 737-200's doing the same. DAN had one 737-200 based at NCL flying charters for many years on behalf of Intasun ,until 1990 when two DAN 737-400's took over.
the BA 737’s did do this 86, 87 at least and then perhaps not after the recession of 88 when loads of lights were cut back. Not sure when they started. The 757 didn’t night stop until the end of the 80’s. |
I recall the BA 757s doing a lot of overnight charters (mostly for Intasun) as the British Midland DC9 did at Teesside and the Dan-Air 146s also did at Newcastle. However I can't remember any BA 737-200 overnight charter operations at Newcastle or anywhere else.
The ex-Britannia Ambassador / Sabre / Peach duo were G-BAZH and G-BFVB which were both later re-registered as they moved through life. Amber Air / Paramount had ex-Britannia G-BOSA (which was G-BAZI with Airways Cymru in a previous life) and G-BKMS which was an Orion aircraft. |
I recall multiple Pan Am 737s at Palma from Berlin on a Saturday as well. The internal German flights reduced notably at weekends and having the aircraft to hand at Berlin slotted in nicely. For some reason the German market never went for the UK tradition of fully overnight flights (depart 11pm, Med destination in the small hours, back at 6am), and so they did mass departures on the nose of 6am when their airports opened (of course, by the time the UK 8am departures were coached to the beach, all the sunbeds were gone ... https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/smile.gif ).. I think it's almost impossible to add any more 737-200's to the list outside of main airline aircraft doing charters at the weekend or ad-hoc. Did anyone mention Aer Lingus's 732's doing charters to the near Med or religious pilgramage sites ? |
Originally Posted by Flightrider
(Post 11050398)
I recall the BA 757s doing a lot of overnight charters (mostly for Intasun)
|
I believe Air Europe also had a brief aircraft sharing arrangement with Air Florida. I've a vague recollection of being mildly surprised at seeing a B737-200 in Air Florida colours at Gatwick in the early 1980s.
|
Originally Posted by spekesoftly
(Post 11050648)
I believe Air Europe also had a brief aircraft sharing arrangement with Air Florida. I've a vague recollection of being mildly surprised at seeing a B737-200 in Air Florida colours at Gatwick in the early 1980s.
Even Court Line did it in the early 1970s with their One-Eleven 500s, sending a couple over to Caribbean operator LIAT, which they had a part ownership of, in the winter. |
Looking at logbook , BA mainline did 732 charters from Berlin TXL to Med destinations over w/es when IGS business routes less busy . BA Airtours could be backed up at w/es with extra 732s popped over from LHR to LGW [ Friday night special , pop one over at end of a tour , MT back ].
Whilst Airtours LGW posted , we had BHX or Leeds tours , occaisionally MAN [ mainly covered by MAN based crews ] . Night charters from shuttle destinations went from T3s to 75s. 732s not normally on Shuttle dest. night stops , as bigger capacities needed . Some early BA 75s got sold on to Air Europe [ with some crews volunteered for some months ], and leased back when charters less busy . Into '90s we had some 75 tours ex LGW. don't think they were charters . Caledonian [ YDA Yellow Dog Airways , and succesor to BA airtours ] had up to 6 75s in their own colours . rgds condor . |
SpringheeledJack. Yes, I mentioned the Aer Lingus 737s in my opening post. I gather they also used to send their 707s and 747s to the Mediterranean when they weren't crossing the Atlantic or flying for another airline, as they often were. I don't know if their 1-11s got a slice of the Mediterranean market; Autair, BUA-Caledonian, Airways Cymru and others did.
Which reminds me, although the 732 was clearly the king of the Med thirty-plus years ago, let us not forget the other aeroplanes that were heavily involved too. The Viscount and Britannia, the DC6, the 707/720 and 727, the BAC1-11, the DC8, DC9 and DC10 and the TU134 and TU154. Lockheed TriStar. Then came the later marks of the 737, the 757 and 767 and Airbuses of many kinds. And the MD80 series. |
Comet and Caravelle as well.
|
Originally Posted by spekesoftly
(Post 11050648)
I believe Air Europe also had a brief aircraft sharing arrangement with Air Florida. I've a vague recollection of being mildly surprised at seeing a B737-200 in Air Florida colours at Gatwick in the early 1980s.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....343eb4a354.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2fc16d7a4.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ea44d142dc.jpg
|
Originally Posted by brakedwell
(Post 11050940)
In 1981 we had one Air Florida B737 on loan from Air Florida flown by AE crews, which was N54AF.
Still around by the way, on a plinth as a centrepiece for a shopping centre attraction in Indonesia Albaik - Google Maps |
All times are GMT. The time now is 10:18. |
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.