| |||||||
| Founded | 1956 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | 1971 | ||||||
| Hubs | Lympne Airport Gatwick Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 8 aircraft (5 Hawker Siddeley 748 Series 1, 3 Douglas DC-3 (as of March 1970)) | ||||||
| Destinations | United Kingdom Europe | ||||||
| Headquarters | Lympne | ||||||
| Key people | Eric Rylands, Gordon Sykes, J.M. Warrell, R. Chadwick, J.L. Clarke, J. McTaggart, D. Clark, Capt. R.H. Tapley | ||||||
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Skyways Coach-Air Limited was the world's first low-cost airline.
Skyways launched the first commercial coach-air operation in late-September 1955, involving a coach trip from Central London to Lympne, a cross-Channel Lympne—Beauvais air sector and another coach journey from Beauvais to the centre of Paris.[1]
Skyways Coach-Air, which had remained a separate entity following the sale of sister airline Skyways Ltd to Euravia, got into financial difficulties in 1970.[2][3][4] This resulted in a management buyout and the following year's formation of a new company trading as Skyways International to succeed the defunct Skyways Coach-Air.[5] Skyways International was taken over by Dan-Air in 1972.[6]
- ^ Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SKYWAYS), pp. 56, 58/9, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, Christmas 2010
- ^ World Airline Survey ..., Flight International, 11 April 1963, p. 524
- ^ World Airline Survey ..., Flight International, 11 April 1963, p. 539
- ^ World Airlines 1970 ..., Flight International, 28 March 1970, p. 500
- ^ World Airlines, Flight International, 6 May 1971, p. 631
- ^ The Spirit of Dan-Air, Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993, pp. 77-79, 102