Caledonian Airways

For the 1980s charter airline of the same name, see Caledonian Airways (1988).

Caledonian Airways
IATA ICAO Call sign
CA CA CALEDONIAN
FoundedApril 1961 (1961-04)
Commenced operations29 November 1961 (1961-11-29)
Ceased operations30 November 1970 (1970-11-30)
(merged with British United Airways to form British Caledonian)
Hubs
Parent companyCaledonian Airways Ltd
Headquarters
Key people
  • Adam Thomson
  • John de la Haye
  • Frank A Hope
Caledonian Douglas DC-7C wearing the original colour scheme at Manchester in July 1964 when operating an inclusive tour service to Barcelona.
Caledonian Bristol 175 Britannia 314 G-ATMA in the later scheme at Manchester in August 1966

Caledonian Airways was a wholly private, independent[nb 1] charter airline in the United Kingdom formed in April 1961. It began with a single 104-seat Douglas DC-7C leased from the Belgian flag carrier Sabena.[1][2][3][4] Caledonian grew rapidly over the coming years to become the leading transatlantic "affinity group" charter operator by the end of the decade. During that period, passenger numbers grew from just 8,000 in 1961 to 800,000 in 1970.[5][6] The latter represented 22.7% of all British non-scheduled passengers.[7] It also became Britain's most consistently profitable and financially most secure independent airline of its era, never failing to make a profit in all its ten years of existence.[8][9] By the end of 1970, Caledonian operated an all-jet fleet consisting of eleven aircraft and provided employment for over 1,000 workers. At that time, its principal activities included group charters between North America, Europe and the Far East using Boeing 707s, and general charter and inclusive tour (IT) activities in Europe utilising One-Elevens.[10]

In 1970 Caledonian bought British United Airways (BUA), the largest contemporary independent airline and leading private sector scheduled carrier in the United Kingdom,[11] and rebranded as British Caledonian.


Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Aeroplane (Commercial Aviation Affairs: Caledonian Equipment), Vol. 101, No. 2613, p. 636, Temple Press, London, 16 November 1961
  2. ^ "World Airline Survey". Flight International. 12 April 1962. p. 546.
  3. ^ "The Caledonian punchbag". Flight International. 21 March 1987. p. 33.
  4. ^ Flying to the sun – A history of Britain's holiday airlines: 10. Transatlantic service – Caledonian Airways, Woodley, C., The History Press, Stroud, 2016, p. 147
  5. ^ "Competition Commission, British Airways Plc and British Caledonian Group plc – A report on the proposed merger, Chapter 4: British Caledonian Group plc, History and development, p.32" (PDF). Archived from the original on 9 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ Fly me, I'm Freddie!, p. 134
  7. ^ "Air Transport, BCAL Atlantic growth". Flight International. 20 September 1973. p. 467.
  8. ^ Fly me, I'm Freddie!, p. 131
  9. ^ "Air Transport, BCAL Atlantic growth". Flight International. 20 September 1973. p. 466.
  10. ^ "World Airline Survey". Flight International. 26 March 1970. p. 476.
  11. ^ High Risk: The Politics of the Air, pp. 256/7