London European Airways was a British airline based at Luton Airport that operated services from the United Kingdom to Amsterdam and Brussels in the late 1980s. It was taken over by Ryanair and operated as Ryanair Europe.

History

The company was formed in 1984 and applied to operate a business class service between

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

using a

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 ...

. Following the approval from the Department of Transport (DoT) to operate the route the twice-daily service started on 25 February 1985. The approval was challenged by Luton-based airline Euroflite, the DoT then changed the approval to allow both operators on the Luton-Amsterdam route. The airline was forced by this action to purchase Euroflite for £300,000. On 17 February 1986, the airline suspended services following financial problems and the temporary removal of the operating licence. In November 1986 a £630,000 financial rescue package was proposed by Cathal Ryan and other directors of the Irish-airline Ryanair, they would then own 85% of the company. The proposal was accepted by the shareholders, the new owners decided that LEA and Ryanair would remain separate companies although Ryanair flights from Ireland would inter-line with the LEA services from Luton. The airline was re-launched in April 1987 using a leased twin-engined BAC One-Eleven 500 jet airliner, with services to Amsterdam and Brussels starting on 22 May 1987. In January 1988, the airline was renamed Ryanair Europe. In January 1989, the airline ended its scheduled service to Brussels and started to concentrate on being a charter airline for Ryanair. By 1991, the airline had reverted to the London European name and was operating five BAC One-Elevens. With the parent Ryanair making losses and move by them to fly from Stansted London European Airways ceased to operate.

Destinations

*Luton - Amsterdam *Luton - Brussels *Luton - Rotterdam

Fleet

* BAC One-Eleven 400 * BAC One-Eleven 500 *

Short 330 The Short 330 (also SD3-30) is a small turboprop transport aircraft produced by Short Brothers. It seats up to 30 people and was relatively inexpensive and had low maintenance costs at the time of its introduction in 1976. The 330 was based on ...

* Vickers Viscount 800

References

{{Ryanair Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 1984 Airlines disestablished in 1991 Defunct European low-cost airlines Ryanair

History

Destinations

Fleet

See also

References