What year did Air Anglia establish a base at Leeds Bradford ?
 

I know AQ took over the LBA-AMS route from BA in 1976 and used an LBA night-stopping F27. I believe the company had already flown between LBA and Jersey a few years before but I think a non-based aircraft did the honours.

Thankyou.

My failing memory says that Air Anglia were always handled by Servisair and even when it became Air UK and the services expanded to include Dublin and Belfast handling continued with Servisair.....then again I could be wrong!!
H49

My 1979 timetable shows AQ had a nightstop F27 aircraft doing morning and evening Amsterdam, and midday Paris, but would a base be opened for one nightstopper ? They also did Norwich-Leeds-Edinburgh both ways morning and evening, passing there, but just as an intermediate stop; this would of course give a means to get a nightstop crew to/fro.

Jersey (and Guernsey) was shared between BA and Dan-Air, the latter using the HS748 at weekends off the Cardiff-Leeds-Glasgow service.

Air Anglia LBA base
 

Air Anglia did have a base at LBA either 77 or 78 Capt Will Scarlett was the Base Captain.Dan Air provided the engineering services.Regards (ex Dan Air748 flight crew LBA based)

Thanks all. I think it was 1976, coinciding with the start of the Amsterdam flights. One based F27 plus others passing through between Edinburgh/Aberdeen and Norwich.

I don't actually remember either AQ or BA flying to Jersey from LBA although both obviously did happen. It was always a Dan Air gig in my early years, then British Midland.

I was based there from late '80, and IIRC we had 2 Friendships based at that time.

Sounds about right. One for the Amsterdam and Paris routes, the other for the recently (in 1980) acquired Belfast and Dublin routes.

I guess it depends how you define 'base'! AQ did have a crew base but their engineering was sub-contracted to Dan-Air and Servisair looked after all the handling matters! There was no administration other than a Base Captain [Will Scarlett] there were no other managers.

That too is my definition of base. Night-stopping aircraft and local pilots and cabin crew. Did Air Anglia once have their own engineers at LBA ? It was definitely a Dan Air then FLS gig post-1980 when the Air UK days arrived.

I have no recollection of an AQ engineering base. I do recollect PA31s coming in from Norwich with parts and possibly sometimes an engineer. I think Dan looked after everything , possibly until the demise of the lattert. Of course they were also the days when much of the work was done out in the open air......imagine that at LBA!!

I spent a lot of the early summer of 76 on the spotter's terrace at LBA after finishing my O levels. There was a based F-27 doing the morning and evening AMS rotations. Between those it was often employed on crew training. Sometimes bashing the circuit and doing engine failure drills. Other times procedural ILS approaches.

The NWI>LBA>EDI>ABZ 'bus stop' services passed through in both directions morning and evening with, at least in the summer, the morning northbound/evening southbound adding Stavanger to the chain.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....95787d16c3.png

Was that F-27 possibly G-BFDS/PH-ARO ? Seem to remember it knocking about a lot in those days.

I joined Air Anglia a year later. My logbook records that I completed Base Training exercises at LBA in F27-200 G-BAKL on 17/5/1977 and passed my Final Base Check there in F27 G-BDVT on 19/5/1977. In Command was Captain Bill Else.

Those were the days, eh Nightstop? I didn't join till Dec '78, at Aberdeen. A very short stint there, and another at HUY, saw me at LBA in Dec '80. I was technically based there until the 146 was pulled out; IIRC about August '91.