Channel Airways was a private airline formed in the United Kingdom in 1946 as East Anglian Flying Services.
The newly formed airline initially operated aerial joy rides with a single, three-seater aircraft from an airstrip on the Kent coast. Scheduled services began in 1948, following the move to Southend (Rochford) Airport earlier that year, while inclusive tour (IT) charter flights had started in June 1947. Rapid business growth saw seven additional aircraft join the fledgling airline's fleet by the end of that year.Airline Profile: Number Thirty-One in the Series – Channel Airways, Flight International, 17 August 1967, p. 255Aeroplane – Airline of the month: Channel Airways, Vol. 112, No. 2867, pp. 5–6, Temple Press, London, 29 September 1966
The introduction of exchange controls in the early 1950s resulted in a major contraction of the travel market, in turn compelling East Anglian to cease all operations other than pleasure flying. Following a recovery in demand, aircraft and employees that had been surplus to requirements during the slump were respectively brought back into service and re-hired. By that time, the airline had also opened a second base at Ipswich Airport and obtained its first long-term scheduled service licence. That decade also saw East Anglian updating its fleet with post-war aircraft designs.Aeroplane – Airline of the month: Channel Airways, Vol. 112, No. 2867, pp. 5–7, Temple Press, London, 29 September 1966
Fleet modernisation continued in the early 1960s with the addition of de Havilland Dove, Vickers Viking, DC-3 and Bristol Wayfarer equipment. In October 1962, the air carrier was renamed Channel Airways.Aeroplane – World Transport Affairs: Three U.K. independents change their names, Vol. 105, No. 2676, p. 14, Temple Press, London, 31 January 1963 The following year saw the acquisition of Channel's first turbine-powered aircraft.Aeroplane – Airline of the month: Channel Airways, Vol. 112, No. 2867, p. 6, Temple Press, London, 29 September 1966
Channel entered the jet age in June 1967 with the arrival of its first BAC One-Eleven 400 at Southend.Air Transport ..., Flight International, 22 June 1967, p. 1010 In May 1968, Channel Airways became the first independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline in the United Kingdom to operate the Hawker Siddeley Trident.Tridents for Channel, Flight International, 12 October 1967, p. 594Airliner Classics (Hawker Siddeley's Trident – New Deliveries), Key Publishing, Stamford, UK, November 2010, p. 18Flight International, 22 February 1968, p. 251 Channel's new jets were contracted to major tour operators in the UK and West Germany from bases at Southend, London Stansted, other British airports and Berlin Tegel in what used to be West Berlin prior to German reunification.Tridents on the move, Flight International, 18 November 1971, p. 797 During that time, Channel moved its main operating and engineering base as well as its head office from Southend to Stansted to enable regular jet operations to more distant destinations with a full commercial payload from the latter's longer runway.Aeroplane, Late News – Channel to move, Vol. 115, No. 2942, p. 38, Temple Press, London, 6 March 1968Channel to Stansted, Air Transport ..., Flight International, 28 November 1968, p. 894Channel cut-back, Air Transport ..., Flight International, 3 February 1972, p. 170
A bus stop scheduled service linking the airline's Southend base with Aberdeen via six intermediate points briefly operated in the late-1960s with modified Viscounts.Next Bus to Aberdeen ..., Air Transport ..., Flight International, 19 October 1967, p. 641Aeroplane – Commercial continued: Channel's 'bus stop' experiment, Vol. 114, No. 2922, p. 16, Temple Press, London, 18 October 1967Next Bus to Aberdeen ..., Air Transport ..., Flight International, 19 October 1967, p. 642The bus stops, Air Transport, Flight International, 4 December 1969, p. 863
The addition of five Comet 4Bs in 1970 marked a major expansion of Channel's jet operation, making it a leading contemporary UK charter airline, with IT operations accounting for more than half of its business.British Airlines Survey ..., Flight International, 16 October 1969, p. 610Comet Customer, Air Transport, Flight International, 4 September 1969, p. 346World Airlines, Flight International, 6 May 1971, p. 624
Low utilisation of the Trident fleet resulted in the type's disposal in December 1971, followed by closure of the Stansted engineering base and return of the head office to Southend.Tridents on the move, Air Transport ..., Flight International, 9 December 1971, p. 924Receiver for Channel, Air Transport ..., Flight International, 10 February 1972, p. 208 The company's deteriorating trading position and diminishing prospects led to growing financial difficulties. This forced Channel Airways to cease operations in late February 1972.Channel stops jets, Air Transport, Flight International, 24 February 1972, p. 283Channel routes taken over, Flight International, 9 March 1972, p. 348
History
Formative era Channel Airways was one of the earliest, post-World War II British independent airlines. Former Royal Air Force squadron leader Reginald "Jack" Jones founded an air company in June 1946 as an aerial joy ride business, which was incorporated as East Anglian Flying Services on 16 August 1946.photo caption "Air Transport" Flight International, 12 August 1971, p. 247 The new airline was majority-owned by Jones and his family, who held more than 80% of its shares.
Commercial operations commenced on 16 August 1946 with a single, early-1930s vintage, three-seat Puss Moth, offering joy rides at 10s (50p as of early-2012) a time from a landing strip near the Kent seaside town of Herne Bay.Aeroplane – Airline of the month: Channel Airways, Vol. 112, No. 2867, p. 5, Temple Press, London, 29 September 1966 Soon after, this aircraft also operated air taxi flights to destinations all over the UK.Scholefield, R.A., Manchester Airport, Sutton Publishing, 1998, p.56
On 5 January 1947, East Anglian moved its base across the Thames estuary to Southend Municipal Airport near Southend-on-Sea in Essex, only four days after its re-opening as a civil airport. The move to Southend Airport led to the conclusion of an "associate" agreement with British European Airways (BEA) enabling the introduction of a regular Southend–Rochester feeder service in June 1948, East Anglian's first scheduled route as well as the first scheduled service from Southend.Classic Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... CHANNEL AIRWAYS: Going scheduled), p. 65, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, March 2012
Nineteen forty-eight was the year East Anglian operated its first IT charter flight from Southend to Ostend in conjunction with two British travel agents, the exact month June. By winter 1948, a huge expansion of the fledgling airline's pleasure flying and charter business resulted in acquisition of seven additional aircraft. These included five de Havilland Dragon Rapides, a Miles Aerovan and an Airspeed Courier. One of East Anglian's engagements at the time included a one-off round-trip to Cyprus carrying a party of schoolboys, which was operated by a Miles Aerovan lacking radio equipment and an autopilot.
Following a successful first year on the Southend–Ostend charter run, East Anglian obtained a scheduled service licence for the route, as well as a Southend–Jersey scheduled licence.
The 1950s Government restrictions on overseas travel and the introduction of exchange controls in 1951 caused a severe contraction of the travel market, resulting in the collapse of numerous small independent airlines in the UK. The industry's grave situation necessitated drastic cutbacks at East Anglian to ensure its survival. All commercial activities other than pleasure flying ceased and only two full-time employees remained on the company's payroll – Jones himself and an office boy. While Jones drove his passengers to and from Southend Airport, the boy was left in charge of a kiosk on Southend's seafront selling tickets.Classic Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... CHANNEL AIRWAYS: Going scheduled), p. 66, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, March 2012
Following a gradual pickup in demand, East Anglian brought back into service aircraft that had been laid up during the slump, re-hired laid-off employees and, in 1953, obtained a lease on the grass airfield at Ipswich Airport as a secondary base for its charter operations and a future feeder point on its scheduled network. During that period, East Anglian concluded a new "associate" agreement with BEA, which led to the award of its first long-term scheduled licencevalid for seven years on the Southend–Ostend route from August 1952. Additional scheduled services were launched from Southend and Portsmouth to Paris as well as from Portsmouth to Jersey while some Southend–Jersey services featured additional stops in Rochester, Shoreham and Guernsey. A Southend–Rotterdam link followed in October 1956.Aeroplane – Airline of the month: Channel Airways, Vol. 112, No. 2867, pp. 5, 7, Temple Press, London, 29 September 1966
During the 1950s, East Anglian also began the process of augmenting and eventually replacing pre-war aircraft designs such as the Dragon Rapide with more modern equipment, starting with the acquisition of three de Havilland Doves from West African Airways Corporation in 1954. By the end of 1957, a year that saw nearly 30,000 passengers fly with East Anglian, two Bristol 170s had joined the fleet. These aircraft were the airline's first bulk carriers.
Nineteen fifty-seven was also the year former World War II pilot, Jackie Moggridge, joined East Anglian Flying Services as its first female pilot. She would become a captain on the DC-3 and Dove fleets. In 1958, the first two Vikings joined the airline's fleet. During the early-1960s, East Anglian added several Douglas DC-3s as well as a single Douglas DC-4, quickening the pace of its fleet modernisation programme.
The 1960s
On 29 October 1962, East Anglian Flying Services officially changed its name to Channel Airways Ltd. This name had first appeared on the company's aircraft as long ago as 1952, but the previous name was retained as the officially registered one until the somewhat similarly sounding Channel Air Bridge name became defunct to avoid any confusion.Tradair's troubles, Air Commerce ..., Flight International, 8 November 1962, p. 733World Airline Survey – The UK Carriers ..., Flight International, 12 April 1962, p. 547 By that time, Channel Airways operated frequent scheduled passenger and freight services from Southend, Ipswich and Rochester to the Channel Islands, Rotterdam, Ostend and Paris as well as from Portsmouth to the Channel Islands.
The airline also held licences to operate vehicle ferry services from Bristol to Dublin, Cork, Jersey, and Bilbao, as well as from Southend to Jersey and Bilbao. It furthermore applied for traffic rights to operate a vehicle ferry service between Liverpool and Dublin. Moreover, the company ran regular, 52-seat luxury express coach services linking Norwich with Ipswich as well as Eastbourne, Brighton, Worthing, London, Reading, Basingstoke and Guildford with Portsmouth. (There were also special coaches linking up with corporate shuttle services the company operated under contract to the Ford Motor Company between Southend and the airports serving the latter's continental plants.Classic Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... CHANNEL AIRWAYS: Golden jet years), p. 68, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, March 2012) In addition, IT and general passenger and freight charter services, which accounted for a growing share of the firm's business, were operated while rival Southend-based independent airline Tradair Ltd. equipped with Vickers Vikings and a couple of Vickers Viscount 700s was fully absorbed on 31 December 1962.Channel Airways ..., Flight International, 17 August 1967, p. 256