Caledonian Airways was a British
charter airline
Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a airline ticket, ticket through a traditional airline).
Regulation
Charter – also called air taxi or ad h ...
established in 1988 by rebranding
British Airtours
British Airtours (stylised as British aırtours) was a British charter airline with flight operations out of London Gatwick and Manchester Airports.
Established as BEA Airtours in 1969, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways (B ...
when that company's parent
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
took over
British Caledonian
British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...
. It merged in 2000 with
Flying Colours Airlines
Flying Colours was a UK charter airline that operated for 4 years between 1996 and 2000.
History
The airline began operations in the summer of 1997 with a fleet of Boeing 757-200, Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft.
Flying Colours had several oper ...
to form
JMC Air
JMC Airlines Limited (also known as JMC Air, JMC Airlines or simply JMC and stylised as jmc) was a UK charter airline formed by the merger of Caledonian Airways and Flying Colours Airlines, following the purchase of Thomas Cook & Son by the Car ...
.
History
![Lockheed L-1011-100 Caledonian RWY 19](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Lockheed_L-1011-100_Caledonian_RWY_19.06.93_edited-3.jpg)
Caledonian Airways was formed in 1988 when
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
acquired
British Caledonian
British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...
. The British Airways air charter subsidiary
British Airtours
British Airtours (stylised as British aırtours) was a British charter airline with flight operations out of London Gatwick and Manchester Airports.
Established as BEA Airtours in 1969, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways (B ...
was rebranded as Caledonian Airways.
In 1995
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
sold Caledonian Airways to UK tour operator Inspirations, part of the Carlson Group. Between 1997 and 1998 Caledonian Airways operated four aircraft under the name
Peach Air
Peach Air was a United Kingdom charter airline that operated for two years between 1997 and 1998.
History
Peach Air was formed in 1996. It was part of Caledonian Airways (1988), created to operate for the tour operator Goldcrest.
In 1999, T ...
.
Inspirations became part of the
Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was an English businessman. He is best known for founding the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was also one of the initial developers of the "package tour" including travel, accommodation ...
in 2000. Caledonian Airways was merged with
Flying Colours Airlines
Flying Colours was a UK charter airline that operated for 4 years between 1996 and 2000.
History
The airline began operations in the summer of 1997 with a fleet of Boeing 757-200, Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft.
Flying Colours had several oper ...
to form
JMC Air
JMC Airlines Limited (also known as JMC Air, JMC Airlines or simply JMC and stylised as jmc) was a UK charter airline formed by the merger of Caledonian Airways and Flying Colours Airlines, following the purchase of Thomas Cook & Son by the Car ...
. Who then renamed to
Thomas Cook Airlines
Thomas Cook Airlines Limited was a British charter and scheduled airline headquartered in Manchester, England. It was founded in 2007 from the merger of Thomas Cook Group and MyTravel Group, and was part of the Thomas Cook Group Airlines. It ...
, being part of the newly formed
Thomas Cook AG
Thomas Cook AG was an Anglo-German, global travel group. The group had its headquarters in Rochdale, and sold products such as package holidays and flights through its 3 in-house airlines. On 19 June 2007, the group merged with MyTravel Group p ...
.
Fleet
Caledonian Airways operated 27 aircraft during its 12 years in operation including three
McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas.
The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...
s, seven
Lockheed L-1011
The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comme ...
s, seven
Boeing 757
The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978.
The prototype completed its mai ...
s, one
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022.
After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
and eight
Airbus A320s.
References
External links
Airlines established in 1988
Airlines disestablished in 2000
British Airways
Companies based in Crawley
Defunct charter airlines of the United Kingdom
1988 establishments in England
2000 disestablishments in England
British companies established in 1988
British companies disestablished in 2000
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