Grounded: British Island Airways
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.พ. 2021
- This episode of grounded looks at the second incarnation of British Island Airways, a UK based charter operator spun off from Air UK and named after it's own predecessor. Operating a fleet of BAC-One-Eleven and McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft, BIA were a well managed airline, growing steadily through the 1980s until it all came crashing down in early 1990.
**PRODUCTION NOTES FOR THIS EPISODE**
*This episode took a lot longer to make than planned, I had to trim a few bits for timing purposes however to keep it at a sensible length. I also had to re-record some sections of audio at the eleventh hour, hopefully you won't notice the splices :)
* There are some jokes or other attempts at humour, hopefully they hit their mark.
* Regarding the BA takeover of BCAL, I say 1987 in this, based on a direct lift from the BIA director's report (which was published in '88). All I know is that I wish they were still Caledonian Girls...
* That really is a photo of me in the co-pilot seat of a 757, G-CPEV, when I as cabin crew did an aircraft familiarisation visit to explore the aircraft and get a proper feel for it. While I was having private flying lessons at the time, I am not a pilot :(
* The "I wonder what happened to them?" regarding Air 2000 is of course, tongue in cheek as I would work for them following their rebranding as First Choice Airways in 2006 during a break from Excel / XL Airways.
* No offence meant to anyone at Dan-Air, I was and still am a fan and am merely repeating that somewhat unfair nickname within the context of the day.
* Expo Airways was a short-lived virtual airline subsidiary of my own Fusion Airlines back in Flight Simulator 2004 (FS9) days.
**Airlines Referenced in This Episode that are covered by other Grounded Episodes**
Air UK
Air UK (AirUK) were formed through the merger of 4 other airlines to become the UK's largest regional airline and 3rd largest airline behind British Airways and British Caledonian. Operating from 1980 until 1997 when they rebranded as KLM UK they were broken up into KLM Cityhopper and Buzz.
• Grounded: Air UK
Air Florida
Originally billed as "The" deregulation success story Air Florida grew from a tiny intrastate carrier to an international & long-haul airline. Sadly remembered for their bright colour scheme being plainly visible in the wreckage of a tragic accident...
• Grounded: Air Florida
Orion Airways
Orion Airways was known for their retro looking livery but they did have a great reputation, a UK holiday airline which was the unfortunate victim of takeovers and eventually merged into Britannia Airways before the decade was out.
• Grounded: Orion Airways
British Jet
British Jet was a short lived charter airline based in Malta and operated flights to various UK airports.
• Grounded: BritishJET
Air Scandic
Air Scandic was a small independent charter airline known for its MS Paint approach to aircraft livery designs...
• Grounded: Air Scandic
Airways International Cymru
A Welsh based charter airline, Airways International Cymru operated a small fleet of BAC 1-11s and 737s during the mid-1980s. Following their collapse they were reborn as Amber Air which itself was acquired by Paramount Airways after just a few months in the air.
• Grounded: Airways Inte...
Paramount Airways
Paramount Airways were the first British operator of the McDonnell-Douglas MD-83, even operating the type from the UK to India. The airline collapsed in 1989 after a fraud investigation into the chairman revealed a huge theft of funds...
• Grounded: Paramount Ai...
Also, I reference my final days as cabin crew as my airline collapsed. I did a special episode on the 10 year anniversary, XL Airways: The Final Hours which was a play by play of my last day as air crew :(
• Video
I really hope you enjoyed this episode, I wanted it to follow right on behind the Air UK episode but took a lot longer than intended to produce after hitting several
problems on the way. I am very happy with the end result, hopefully you are too :)
I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) I mention several other airlines in this episode and am already working on almost all of them, it just takes time :)
I have a website!
www.expo-aviation.com/
Or join me on Facebook!
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I'm also on Twitter!
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#BritishIslandAirways #BIA #AirUK
I remember flying a BIA 1-11/500 between Pisa and Gatwick in the summer of 1989. By that time the 1-11 was almost a dinosaur, and clearly showed their age, with a well worn interior and also very weak cabin lighting; however I remember being very surprised at how quiet and rattle-free the take off was in comparison to the usual 737-200. Service was of course excellent, providing us with a good and substantial meal. I was also welcomed to the cockpit for a good 45minutes for a look and chat with the very kind and friendly pilots. I remember the lead stewardess was a French lady with short, curly hair... Sweet memories.
That sounds like a great flight and a very happy memory, thanks for sharing :)
Loved the 1-11's. I travelled from Glasgow to Gatwick many times in the B-CAL ones, one time even getting a 'seat up front' when the F/O wanted to have his meal, in my seat. I got some nice photos of the Lake District from 37,500 feet.
Very cool, I never got to ride on a 1-11 but sure loved standing near the runway when they took off and the earth moved :)
I flew with bia Glasgow to Isle of Man in early 70!s when I was a kid great memories
I worked for BIA from 79 to late 81 . 1981 they went from 1800 employees to 900 after two redundancies . Yes 1981 the British economy was in a terrible state and that affected BIA !! I left BIA with lots of good memories ,enjoyed my time there !! There were some great flight deck crew and cabin crew . I left the UK after that for a new life in Australia .
It is a real shame how things ended for BIA, they really did seem like a great outfit and it really would have been interesting to see how they would have done through the 1990s with the big post recession boom. I hope that things worked out much better for you in Australia :)
Sweet, a new Grounded video! Sleep can wait, i need to know how this airline i've never heard of got grounded!
Thanks! I hope you enjoyed it :)
Another brilliant video on an airline I flew from Gatwick to Malta in the late 80’s. They were a good airline. I flew on the Mad Dogs aircraft. Looking forward to seeing Dan Air, Caledonian and Cal Air International videos in the future. Keep up the great work. It’s very much appreciated! 🤗✈️🤗
Thank you, I'm really glad that you are enjoying the series :) It goes without saying, those three are very much "on my list" ;)
Very interesting i have a model of a series 400 BIA BAC1-11....collectors piece now!!!! Thanks for up loading.
Awesome, I might have to find one for my collection :)
Another great video !!
Thanks Ewan, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
24:32 Indeed, EXPO Airways would be most welcomed...👍😉🇬🇧 Loving this series and channel, keep them coming.
Thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying them :) Expo Airways was one of my Flight Sim airlines but a couple of years ago myself and a few other folks were crunching the numbers and looking at how viable it would have been to do for real, probably for the best that we walked away :/
Hi Phil, so glad I found your channel, I've worked in aviation and leisure for 3 decades now so I'm finding these videos both a blast from the past and fascinating at the same time. I haven't had chance to look through your list of videos yet, but I wonder if you've done one on Paramount? I don't know much about them, but I remember one of my old pals at easyJet worked for them so I'd definitely be interested in learning more... especially since you mentioned "infamous" Paramount in this video. Anyway, great vids, and can't wait to see more 😁
Hi, Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate that :) I haven't done Paramount yet, however it is near the top of my list - I'm currently working on a US airline then the "run" in to Paramount which will be two episodes down the line :) They had a somewhat colourful history, though it has been hard to dig up a lot of info on them :)
@@ExpoAviation cool. Looking forward to it, meanwhile I'll keep making my way through all the others 😁
Hi Phil, great accurate films with some interesting pictures of rare leases and hybrid liveries. Any chance of covering BAF/British World at some stage?
Hi, I'm glad you enjoyed this one thanks :) Yes will be covering BAF & British World in the near future, I'm currently building a research pack on them :)
will you be doing a video on Mediterranean Express ?
I've got some notes ready on them, it will be a very short episode though ;)
Keep it up Expo I'm loving the content 👍
There 2 bots in the comment section btw sharing a same thing it annoying
Thank you, I'm glad to hear it :) Yeah, I thought the filters would have kicked in but I guess not, consider them dealt with ;)
@@ExpoAviation 👍 your welcome
Great choice Phil, every day is a school day.
I did not know that there were two airlines with the BIA name - I do now:)
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Well given how the corporate structure was, the original BIA still existed as a dormant company within Air UK until the spin off, makes for an interesting grey area ;)
Very good! I agree - that logo is abomination. Two colors that are almost opposite on the color wheel. They should have hired a graphic designers and not an intern.
IMC and or Wooster has models of both the BAC and the MD-83. I am lucky to have both. It seems like only the DC-10 had any, all be it small, luck cracking the UK market.
I've not got either :( Once my office is sorted I will be on the lookout though as I'll be decorating it with aircraft models and railway parts. The DC-10 did pretty well over here considering the size of our airlines, Laker had a fair few (the grounding of the DC10 fleet crippled the airline and was a big part of the airlines demise), BCAL had some too which passed over to British Airways, BA then palmed some off to their rebranded charter airline, Caledonian which then became JMC. Monarch also had one, albeit not from new and was a regular sight at Manchester, still is too after they scrapped it the front portion of the aircraft is on display at the runway viewing park ;) Airtours / MyTravel was a big operator of the type too with a few passing over to their Scandinavian arm and back each winter.
As for that logo, the less said the better ;)
@@ExpoAviation Interesting. I am unaware if any DC-8 were ever registered in the UK? If there were, it had to be less than 10?
@@AviationCommercials Not many operators of the type in the UK, in fact just the one, IAS Cargo Airlines, later merged to form British Cargo Airlines operated 7 DC-8 freighters, not all were on the UK register however just G-BDHA (1975-79), G-BDDE (75-79), G-BIAS (78-79), G-BKSY (1978), G-BFHW (78-80). The other two were 9J-ABR and N53KM which saw service with IAS but didn't make it through the meger.
Do monarch airlines use to love that airline
Monarch are/were my favourite airline, that painful episode is in the works - I'm just waiting for any more dirt to come out on the clowns at Greybull who ran it into the ground.
Oh yeh their was loads of reasons monarch went bust I’m my thoughts it seemed possible that they could’ve been saved but I miss Thomas cook more because they were the original holiday company and it was history
Oh yeah monarch. They did run it into the ground! Greybull just didnt care!
I cleaned the air U.K. Fokker friendship at Edinburgh airport in the mid 1980.s and other airlines and aircraft
Cool :)
Can you do one on EuroDirect?
Yes, I have them on my ever-growing list :)
I worked for bia for a short time in 1988-89. Nice people
Cool :)
Awful airline to work for with inside of aircraft painted with a paint brush and some vile pilots ! not a fun experience
Ouch, that's not something that came up during research :/
@@ExpoAviation I worked out of Luton and the flights never ran on time , the catering was atrocious and people were awful to me. After I left they collapsed a couple of months later
@@ExpoAviation C'est la vie.... I am just glad I left when I did