Gill Airways was a

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

with its head office in New Aviation House on the grounds of

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Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

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History

Founded in 1969 by Michael Gill, the airline originally operated as Gill Aviation, mainly providing cargo and mail flights for various companies including the

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, ...

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. Following the acquisition of passenger aircraft in June 1989, the airline changed its name to Gill Air. The arrival of

Fokker 100 The Fokker 100 is a regional jet produced by Fokker in the Netherlands. The Fokker 100 is based on the Fokker F28 with a fuselage stretched by to seat up to 109 passengers, up from 85. It is powered by two newer Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans, an ...

aircraft in 1995 resulted in the airline entering into a codeshare agreement with Air France between Newcastle upon Tyne and Paris-

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

airport. The title of Gill Airways was adopted in 1995, to reflect the growing importance of passenger operations to the airline.

Administration and closure

After emerging from administration in 2000, the airline seemed to have a promising future ahead of it. However, following the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, the principal financier, the Bank of Scotland, withdrew funding. The final day of operations was 20 September 2001, with the airline placed into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

and the loss of 240 jobs.

Revival and rebranding

On 1 September 2009, an application for a Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence was made by Gill Airways Ltd, of Birmingham. However, in early 2010, the company rebranded as Cello Aviation, which later ceased trading.

Fleet

Gill Airways used to have the following types of aircraft: *

ATR 42 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now Airbus) and ...

* ATR 72 * BAe 146 *

* Shorts 330 * Shorts 360

Aircraft on display

* A Gill Airways Shorts 330 G-OGIL preserved in its original colours can be found at the North East Aircraft Museum, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear.

References

External links

Gill Airways
(Archive) * {{Airlines of the United Kingdom Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 1995 Airlines disestablished in 2001