British United Island Airways (BUIA) was formed in November 1968 as part of a

reorganisation A corporate action is an event initiated by a public company that brings or could bring an actual change to the securities—equity or debt—issued by the company. Corporate actions are typically agreed upon by a company's board of directors ...

of the BUA group of companies.''BUA Group's Structure'', World News ..., Flight International, 17 October 1968, p. 596
/ref> It was a regional sister

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

British United Airways British United Airways (BUA) was a private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline formed as a result of the merger of Airwork Services and Hunting-Clan Air Transport in July 1960, making it the largest whol ...

(BUA),

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

's largest wholly private, independentindependent from

government-owned corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

s airline of the 1960s. It operated a network of regional, short-haul scheduled routes linking a variety of destinations within

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, including year-round services from both

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

to BUA's

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 H ...

base. BUIA's origins could be traced to the BUA group's acquisition of Jersey Airlines and

Silver City Airways Silver City Airways was an airline, based in the United Kingdom, that operated mainly in Europe, between 1946 and 1962. Unlike many airlines at the time, it was independent of government-owned corporations; its parent company was Zinc Corpora ...

in 1962. BUA's management amalgamated the Channel Islands scheduled passenger and freight services of these airlines (named the ''Duchess Services'' by Jersey Airlines) and Silver City's northern division to create a single airline, BUA (C.I.). BUIA's creation followed the BUA group's 1968 reorganisation. It involved merging the operations of Channels Islands-based BUA (C.I.),

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

based British United (Manx) Airways and

Morton Air Services Morton Air Services was one of the earliest post- World War II private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airlines formed in 1945. It mainly operated regional short-haul scheduled services within the British Isles an ...

.''New BUA Airline'', Air Transport ..., Flight International, 17 October 1968, p. 598
/ref>
/ref>
/ref> When British & Commonwealth (B&C), the BUA group's majority shareholder, decided to sell BUA to

Caledonian Airways Caledonian Airways was a wholly private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British charter airline formed in April 1961. It began with a single 104-seat Douglas DC-7C leased from the Belgian flag carrier Sabena.''Fly ...

in November 1970, BUIA was not part of this deal. Prior to BUA's sale to Caledonian, BUIA changed its name to British Island Airways (BIA).

History

BUIA commenced operations on 1 November 1968 as a wholly owned subsidiary of BUA (Holdings) Ltd, taking over BUA's regional domestic and international routes, the majority of which served the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man on a seasonal basis. BUIA's main operating bases were at Gatwick,

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Blackpool (Squires Gate),

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

and the

. Services from Gatwick and Southampton to the Channel islands and from Blackpool to the Isle of Man and

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

operated year-round. All other services were seasonal summer only services.

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

and

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 ...

were among the international destinations served. BUIA competed with

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...

(BEA) on scheduled routes linking

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

with the two main Channel Islands of

and

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

. While BUIA's flights used Gatwick as their London terminal, BEA served these routes from

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

. In addition to scheduled and non-scheduled passenger services, BUIA also operated all-cargo services — both scheduled and non-scheduled.

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

was one of the international scheduled freight destinations. BUIA gradually retired older piston

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ai ...

s and mainline

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

s it inherited from BUA at the time of its creation. By 1968, BUIA had operated its last

DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

passenger flight. Eventually, all passenger flights were operated with Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops, while a small number of DC-3s was retained for freight services and as backup aircraft. B&C's disenchantment with BUA's financial performance resulted in the sale of BUA to the Scottish

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 ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

Caledonian Airways on 30 November 1970. This sale specifically excluded BUIA. It therefore became a wholly owned subsidiary of B&C, which had taken direct control following its divestment of BUA. In July 1970 BUIA changed its name to British Island Airways (BIA) and adopted a new

livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

Fleet

At the time of its inception, BUIA operated the following aircraft types: * de Havilland DH 114 Heron *

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper versi ...

C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

* Handley Page HPR 7 Dart Herald *

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Vi ...

Fleet in 1969

In April 1969 BUIA's fleet comprised 14 aircraft (7 turboprops + 7 piston airliners). BUIA employed 600 people at this time.''World Airline Survey ...'', Flight International, 10 April 1969, p. 564
/ref>

Accidents and incidents

There are no recorded accidents or incidents involving BUIA aircraft.

Notes

;Notes ;Citations

References

* * * (various backdated issues relating to BUA and BUIA, 1960-1970)