Air Europe Ex
 Short 360-200 | |
| Founded | 1982 (as Connectair) |
|---|---|
Commenced operations | 1984 (as Connectair) |
Ceased operations | 1991 (as Air Europe Express) |
| Hubs | London Gatwick airport |
| Parent company | Air Europe |
| Headquarters | Crawley (West Sussex) |
| Key people | Bradley Burgess Managing Director |
Air Europe Express is a regional airline based in United Kingdom. It started as Connectair but in 1989 became part of International Leisure Group until its demise.
History
[edit]
The airline's origins dated back to Connectair Ltd., founded in September 1982 by Robert Wright, a former British Airways pilot. To finance the initiative he sold the his house and spent 1983 and 1984 seeking investors.[1]
Connectair began flying on February 22, 1984, initially on ad-hoc and night contract work, utilising a single Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante. A thrice-weekly scheduled link between London-Gatwick and Antwerp was inaugurated on May 30, 1984, under British Caledonian Commuter banner. Licences were also held for Manchester-Brussels and Birmingham-Rotterdam routes. The first of leased Shorts 330s opened a second route between Manchester, Rotterdam and Antwerp on April 1, 1986. Upgrading to Shorts 360s began early in 1987 and Düsseldorf was added to the modest regional network.[2][3] Following British Airways' takeover of British Caledonian in December 1987, Connectair operated its flights under the UK flag carrier's BA designator without adopting the British Airways livery for an interim period.
Connectair was bought out by the International Leisure Group, the parent company of Air Europe[4], in July 1988 and renamed Air Europe Express from 1 February 1989.[5] ILG's decision to purchase Connectair was part of Air Europe's corporate strategy to establish itself as a major short-haul scheduled operator in Gatwick. This airport had become very busy during the late 1980s. This meant that the much-coveted early-morning peak time slots, which Air Europe needed to be able to operate at times that were attractive to business travellers as well as competitive with its rivals' departure and arrival times, were in increasingly short supply. Connectair held a fairly large number of conveniently timed slots. ILG's acquisition therefore represented a golden opportunity to substantially increase the number of airport slots. The scheduled services initially linked Gatwick with Antwerp and Rotterdam.[6]. Larger Shorts 360s gradually replaced the Shorts 330s.[6]
Air Europe branched out into domestic services also with the takeover of Guernsey Airlines in April 1989[7][8]. On 29 October 1989, both had been fully integrated under the Air Europe Express name, flying scheduled routes from London-Gatwick to Antwerp, Rotterdam and Guernsey, and between Manchester and the Channel Islands using Shorts aircraft[9]. Air Europe Express flew under the same AE airline designator as its bigger parent airline.[10][11]
Following the replacement of the Shorts 360 turboprops with Air Europe's larger and faster Fokker 100 jets on the Gatwick-Düsseldorf route, the regional subsidiary launched a new thrice-daily Gatwick-Birmingham schedule with its Shorts 360s. During the year ending August 1990, the air carrier operation carried more than a quarter of a million passengers across its route network for the first time.
The regional airline was forced to halt its operations on 8 March 1991 as a result of its parent company's decision to put all the group's companies into administrative receivership on that day, even though Air Europe Express itself had remained profitable throughout that period.[12]
Following the receivership of ILG, the Air Europe Express operation was bought from the receivers by the original management of Connectair, headed by director Brad Burgess, who restarted operations as Euroworld Airways in late March 1991.[13]
Fleet
[edit]Connectair fleet consisted of the following aircraft as name change to Air Europe Express[14]:
- 1 x Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante
- 1 x Shorts 330
- 1 x Shorts 360
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Wickstead, M.J. (2014). Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Staplefield (West Sussex - U.K.): Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-85130-456-4.
- ^ Wickstead, M.J. (2014). Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Staplefield (West Sussex - U.K.): Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-85130-456-4.
- ^ Mark Pilling, "Smooth operator", Commuter World, December 1987-January 1988, pages 37-38
- ^ It was nice to fly with friends! The story of Air Europe., Simons, G.A., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1999, p. 123
- ^ Wickstead, M.J. (2014). Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Staplefield (West Sussex - U.K.): Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-85130-456-4.
- ^ a b It was nice to fly with friends! The story of Air Europe., Simons, G.A., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1999, p. 122
- ^ British commuters grow - British Air Ferries/Guernsey Airlines, Flight International, 20 August 1983, p. 498
- ^ G.G. Endres, "Channel Islands Commuters", Air Pictorial, December 1985, pages 460-463
- ^ It was nice to fly with friends! The story of Air Europe., Simons, G.A., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1999, pp. 123/4
- ^ J. Cook & T. Hamill, "World Airline Directory", Flight International, 14-20 March 1990, page 55
- ^ Wickstead, M.J. (2014). Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Staplefield (West Sussex - U.K.): Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-85130-456-4.
- ^ Wickstead, M.J. (2014). Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Staplefield (West Sussex - U.K.): Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-85130-456-4.
- ^ Wickstead, M.J. (2014). Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Staplefield (West Sussex - U.K.): Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. pp. 3180–181. ISBN 978-0-85130-456-4.
- ^ G.G. Endres, World Airline Fleets 1987/1988, page 89, Browcom Publishing Ltd., Feltham (Middlesex - U.K.), ISBN 0 946141 30 4