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Air Anglia was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporations
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
regional airline formed at
Norwich Airport Norwich Airport is an international airport in Hellesdon, Norfolk, England, north of Norwich. In 2017, Norwich Airport was the 28th busiest airport in the UK and busiest in the East Anglia region. Norwich Airport has a CAA Public Use Ae ...
in 1970. Created as a result of a merger of three smaller operators, the new entity became an important regional scheduled carrier during the 1970s, serving the Eastern half of Britain."The forgotten schedules?"
''Flight International'', 8 March 1973, p. 331
In 1980 Air Anglia merged with three regional rivals to form
Air UK AirUK was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporations regional British airline formed in 1980 as a result of a merger involving four rival UK-based regional airlines. British and Commonwealth (B&C)-owned ...
.


History

Air Anglia was the result of a three-way merger in 1970 between Anglian Air Charter, Norfolk Airways and Rig Air, three local
air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...
operators based in the East of England. The new airline established its
corporate headquarters Corporate headquarters is the part of a corporate structure that deals with important tasks such as strategic planning, corporate communications, taxes, law, books of record, marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. Corpo ...
as well as its main operating and engineering base at the recently established airport at Norwich in East Anglia. At the time of formation
Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva a ...
became its
controlling shareholder A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...
. Air Anglia established itself as an important regional scheduled operator, as well as one of the main
fixed wing A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...
operators supporting the British oil and gas industry in the North Sea during the 1970s. In 1980 Air Anglia merged with
British Island Airways British Island Airways (BIA) was the legal successor to British United Island Airways (BUIA).
(BIA),
Air Wales Air Wales was an airline based at Cardiff International Airport in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan. It operated scheduled regional services within the United Kingdom, as well as to Ireland, Belgium and France. On 23 April 2006, Air Wales ceased ...
and Air Westward to form Air UK, at the time the UK's biggest regional airline and its third-largest scheduled operator.


Commercial developments

Air Anglia commenced operations with a small fleet of Douglas DC-3 "Dakota"
piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tig ...
-engined airliners (see heading image) as well as a number of smaller, "executive" type of aircraft inherited from its predecessors. With these aircraft it mainly operated oil and gas industry support flights from Norwich and
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
as well as Humberside Airport. In 1971 it started internal services from Norwich to Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen; and an international service to Dublin. In 1974 Air Anglia added a pair of Fokker F-27 Friendship turboprops to its fleet. The introduction of these turboprops into the airline's fleet coincided with the launch of the company's first year-round scheduled services from its Norwich base to Aberdeen via Humberside and
Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...
as well as from Norwich to Amsterdam. The scheduled services between Norwich, Humberside, Teesside and Aberdeen allowed Air Anglia to commercially exploit the regular positioning flights it had been operating between these points since its inception. Oil and gas industry related
business travel Business travel is travel undertaken for work or business purposes, as opposed to other types of travel, such as for leisure purposes or regularly commuting between one's home and workplace. According to a survey, 88% small business owners e ...
lers constituted a high proportion of this traffic. The launch of Air Anglia's first international scheduled service to Amsterdam also led to the conclusion of a joint
marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...
agreement with Dutch flag carrier
KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
, at the time the biggest resident operator and dominant scheduled airline at Amsterdam's
Schiphol Airport Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...
. Under this agreement KLM agreed to host Air Anglia's new Norwich—Amsterdam scheduled service, as well as any subsequently launched scheduled services linking regional UK airports not served by the KLM group with Amsterdam Schiphol, in its reservations computer. This gave travel agents worldwide instant access to Air Anglia's connecting flights to/from Amsterdam via KLM's Global Distribution System, thereby enabling Air Anglia to improve its passenger loads on these services as well as helping KLM to boost its long-haul loads by delivering it additional transfer traffic from the UK regions to its Schiphol base. In addition to these year-round scheduled services, Air Anglia also operated seasonal, summer only scheduled services from Norwich, Humberside and Aberdeen to Jersey. Air Anglia's seasonal Aberdeen—Jersey scheduled service was the longest non-stop scheduled operation using a turboprop aircraft in the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
at the time; the F27's scheduled flight time on that route was 2 hours and 45 minutes. The addition of further Fokker "Friendship" turboprops to the airline's fleet over the coming years led to the introduction of year-round scheduled services from
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, Edinburgh, Humberside and Leeds/Bradford to Amsterdam, as well as from Edinburgh via Leeds to
Paris Orly Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly a ...
and from Aberdeen to Stavanger and
Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula ...
. During the second half of the 1970s Air Anglia also added a pair of Piper PA-31 "Navajo Chieftain" executive aircraft to its fleet. One of these aircraft was used to launch a new, year round "cross-country" scheduled service linking the airline's Norwich base with Newquay in
South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...
via
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
in the
English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Mercia, Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in ...
and Swansea in Wales. In 1979 Air Anglia launched a year-round scheduled service linking
Gatwick Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after He ...
with Leeds and extended its domestic year-round scheduled services to
Stansted London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acr ...
as well. 1979 also saw the introduction of the first
jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, jet ...
into Air Anglia's fleet, when the airline inaugurated daily, year-round scheduled jet operations between Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Amsterdam as well as between Aberdeen,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
and Paris, and Edinburgh, Leeds and Paris with a pair of brand-new Fokker F28 Fellowship 4000 series aircraft."Britain's first F.28 in service"
''Flight International'', 26 August 1978, p. 603
At the time of Air Anglia's merger with BIA, Air Wales and Air Westward to form Air UK in January 1980 its core fleet consisted of two Fokker F28 "Fellowship" jets and ten Fokker F27 "Friendship" turboprops. This core fleet was supplemented with additional turboprop capacity temporarily leased in from other operators such as
British Midland British Midland Airways Limited (trading at various times throughout its history as British Midland, bmi British Midland, bmi or British Midland International) was an airline with its head office in Donington Hall in Castle Donington, close to ...
during the annual summer peak travelling season, as well as during periods when its own fleet was undergoing maintenance. Air Anglia hoped that the merger with BIA as well as Air Wales and Air Westward to form Air UK would help improve the merged entity's competitive position vis-à-vis its rivals by giving it a bigger network covering all parts of the UK, which would result from combining Air Anglia's year-round scheduled services linking important oil and gas industry centres in the Eastern half of Britain with BIA's scheduled operations across the Western half of the British Isles. This, in turn, would result in a significant marketing advantage over its rivals. Air Anglia also hoped that this would ultimately translate into a better financial performance as well by enabling the new airline to take advantage of the resulting greater
economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables a ...
, which would permit it to spread its fixed costs over a greater level of activity. In addition, Air Anglia's amalgamation with BIA, a wholly owned subsidiary of
British and Commonwealth British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
(B&C), presented an opportunity for Norwich Union to sell its shareholding in Air Anglia to B&C.


Incidents and accidents

There were no recorded accidents or incidents during Air Anglia's ten-year existence from 1970 until 1980.


Fleet

Air Anglia operated the following aircraft types at one point or another during its ten-year existence: *
Armstrong Whitworth Argosy The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was a three-engine biplane airliner designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It was the company's first airliner. The Argosy was developed during the early-to-mid ...
on season hire from Airbridge Carriers. *
Britten-Norman BN-2A Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial airc ...
*
Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.
*
Cessna 404 The Cessna Model 404 Titan is an American twin-engined, light aircraft built by Cessna Aircraft. It was that company's largest twin piston-engined aircraft at the time of its development in the 1970s. Its US military designation is C-28, and ...
* Douglas DC-3 *
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max ...
* Fokker F27 Friendship 100/200 series * Fokker F28 Fellowship 1000/4000 series *
Handley Page Herald Handley may refer to: Places In the United Kingdom *Handley, Cheshire, a village *Handley, a hamlet in the parish of Stretton, Derbyshire *Middle Handley, a hamlet in the parish of Unstone, Derbyshire *Nether Handley, a hamlet in the parish of Un ...
* Piper PA-23 Aztec *
Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...
* Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche.


See also

*
List of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom This is a list of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom. See also * List of airlines of the United Kingdom * List of airports in the United Kingdom and the British Crown Dependencies References * * {{List of defunct airlines ...


Notes and citations

;Notes ;Citations


References

* (''World Airline Directory'', 1970-1980) *


External links

{{Airlines of the United Kingdom Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom 1970 establishments in England 1980 disestablishments in England Airlines established in 1970 Airlines disestablished in 1980