Orion Airways (known simply as 'Orion') was an airline based in the United Kingdom with its head office on the grounds of East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington, North West Leicestershire. It was created as the charter airline of Horizon Travel and went on to successfully develop scheduled services. The airline operated a fleet of Boeing 737-200s, Boeing 737-300s and Airbus A300s between 1979-1989. History Horizon Travel created Orion to fly its growing charter network - predominantly in the Mediterranean, the airline's first flight was in the spring of 1980. In 1986, Orion successfully gained permission to fly schedule services from East Midlands Airport to various holiday destinations. The airline quickly won a reputation for its quality of service, punctuality and distinctive look. The competition was fierce but Horizon’s destinations continued to increase, correlating with Orion’s increased route-network and fleet growth. In the mid-1980s, Horizon and Orion were bought by Bass the large brewing and hotels group. As a successful holiday tour operator and integrated airline it was an appealing, tidy, and importantly a 'no-strings' package ripe for sale to a competitor. In 1988, Bass accepted an offer from the ever-expanding Thomson Travel Group. When the news was released that Orion was to be integrated into Britannia during 1989, it came as a surprise to the industry and public alike. The last flight took place on 26 January 1989 and it was not long before the familiar livery and titles disappeared from aircraft and buildings at East Midlands Airport because the new owner understandably intended to concentrate its activities at its Luton Airport base. Naturally the scheduled licenses were transferred to Britannia without interruption, but at the end of the 1990 summer season, the airline decided to withdraw from this market in favour of its charter work. Ironically, in 2005, TUI UK (owner of Thomson Travel Group) made big expansion plans into the scheduled market.
In the meantime, the previous management of Orion had formed 'TEA UK' in association with TEA (Trans European Airways of Belgium). Under the takeover agreement, they were not allowed to base any operations at East Midlands Airport so they choose nearby Birmingham Airport although the airline went on to establish a relatively large presence at East Midlands Airport. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Excalibur Airways was formed in the spring of 1992 and was based at the East Midlands Airport. It began charter operations with three leased Airbus A320s and most of the flights were out of London Gatwick airport. In 1994 one more A320 and a Boeing 737-300 were added. Excalibur was the first UK charter airline to operate the A320 with its (at the time) new fly-by-wire control system. Most of the holiday charter flights were to Egypt, although that was not the only destination since they also serviced the holiday resorts in the Mediterranean and North Africa. By the summer of 1995, the company had two aircraft operating from London Gatwick airport, one from Manchester, one from East Midlands airport, and one operating north eastern airports, including Newcastle and Humberside. Flights were still operated to Egypt, as well as to popular Mediterranean destinations such as Spain, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and further afield to the Canary Islands. Some charter flights also flew to Iceland, and other non-holiday destinations such as Frankfurt. During 1995 the company operated solely with A320 aircraft. Then at the end of 1995 the company wanted to start flights to Florida and the Caribbean, so there was a need for a larger aircraft with more range and the Douglas DC-10-30 was chosen. Then the airline lost most of its medium-range charter contracts and the service problems that followed forced the travel operators to withdraw their contracts, hence, Excalibur shut down in June 1996. An incident with a DC-10 seen with smoke coming from the aircraft followed by an aborted take-off shattered public confidence in the airline. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Debonair was founded in 1996 by Franco Mancassola and on its first day of operations offered all passengers free flights. Initial destinations from Luton were Newcastle, Copenhagen, Mönchengladbach, Munich, Barcelona and Nice. The latter two destinations were in direct competition with EasyJet. The Newcastle and Copenhagen flights were dropped, with new destinations of Rome, Paris Pontoise, Madrid and Perugia added. From the beginning, Debonair tried to be a more upmarket version of the traditional budget airlines and in 1998 introduced ABC (short for "Affordable Business Class") on some of its routes. It floated shares on the Easdaq stock exchange in July 1997 and raised £25m. The Debonair business concept of offering budget airline travel, whilst keeping the frills (free drinks and snacks) associated with national carriers, was not a financial success. On 1 October 1999 the airline ceased operations due to financial problems. Fleet
Debonair operated a fleet of used BAe 146 aircraft, later supplemented by three Boeing 737-300s and a leased BAC One-Eleven. source : Wikipedia AB was one of the first 'low cost airlines' in England, preceding others such as EasyJet, Ryanair, and Go Fly. It was created in 1993 by former Brymon Airways executives. AB Airlines was formerly known as Air Bristol. Initially the airline marketed itself as Air Belfast, reflecting its then principal route between Belfast International Airport and London Stansted. Aircraft and crew were based at Belfast International Airport, London Stansted Airport and Bristol Filton Airport. A base was then opened in 1994 at Shannon Airport to operate flights to London Gatwick Airport. This operation was marketed as AB Shannon. When a base was set up at London Gatwick the name was changed to AB Airlines as its network covered more destinations than just Shannon. It mainly flew scheduled services from London Gatwick to Shannon, Lisbon and Berlin Schönefeld, and also from London Stansted and Birmingham International Airport to Shannon. It also offered charter flights to holiday destinations in Europe. After heavy financial losses, a large number of dropped schedules, and major restructuring within the company, AB Airlines went into administration in August 1999. Its last remaining scheduled services from London Gatwick to Nice in France and Shannon in Ireland were taken over by British Airways. Fleet
AB Airlines fleet consisted of Boeing 737-300s and BAC 1-11s. In May 1998 Boeing announced that AB Airlines had placed orders for six Boeing 737-700 aircraft, making it the first airline in Europe to do so. However, with the financial problems of the company followed by insolvency the following year, AB Airlines went into administration and its remaining services have since been taken over by British Airways. source : Wikipedia |
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