PPRuNe Forums - Freddie Laker RIP

It is reported that Sir Freddie Laker has died in Miami USA aged 83.
http://eur.news1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.c.../996741882.jpg
Often the subject on this thread and held in high regard by many.

Yahoo.news:
Low-cost flight pioneer Sir Freddie Laker has died at the age of 83.

In the 1970s, Laker Airways' cut-price Skytrain service from Britain to the US opened new vistas for millions of tourists who had previously regarded air travel as a preserve of the rich.

Skytrain, which opened in 1977 offering a one-way fare of $100 between London and New York, sparked a price war as major airlines rushed to follow its lead, many of them going into the red as a result.

In the five years before its eventual collapse, Laker Airways carried over three million passengers on its fleet of 20 aircraft and rose from 29th place to fifth place in the Atlantic air travel rankings.

Mr Laker's success and fighting spirit of free enterprise - he advertised the venture himself on television and posters - won him the admiration of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

But in February 1982, supported only by its bankers, Sir Freddie's Laker Airways finally folded after it became burdened with millions of dollars in debt.

RIP