BKS Air Transport

For other uses, see Northeast Airlines (disambiguation).

Northeast Airlines
IATA ICAO Call sign
NS NS NORJET
FoundedFebruary 1952 (1952-02)
(as B.K.S. Aero Charter)
Ceased operations31 March 1976 (1976-03-31)
(merged into British Airways)
Operating bases
Parent companyBritish Air Services
HeadquartersNewcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom

Northeast Airlines (NEA) – known as BKS Air Transport until 1970 – was an airline based in the United Kingdom that operated from 1952 until 1976, when its operations and fleet merged into British Airways.

History

BKS

BKS Air Transport Douglas C-47 wearing the initial all-metallic scheme at Manchester Airport in 1954
BKS Air Transport Airspeed Ambassador G-AMAD in 1965
BKS HS748 at Manchester in September 1964 wearing Avro 748 Jetprop titles
Northeast Airlines Vickers Viscount 806 at London Heathrow Airport in 1971.
Northeast Airlines Hawker Siddeley Trident G-AVYD at Teesside Airport in 1974, now in British Airways/Northeast Airlines hybrid livery.

The airline began operating in February 1952 from its base at Southend Airport as BKS Aero Charter flying a Douglas C-47 Dakota[1][2][3] (BKS were the founders' initials – James Barnby, T D 'Mike' Keegan and Cyril Stevens.[4]).

After less than a month the C-47 was sold (to Iberia Airlines),[citation needed] allowing BKS to buy two further ex-RAF Dakotas. For a couple of years BKS flew charters and freight, until 1953 when it had permission for scheduled services between Newcastle, the Isle of Man and Jersey. The Dakotas continued with BKS until the last of eight was sold in 1967.[5] The airline's name changed to BKS Air Transport at the end of 1953.[6]

Three Vickers VC.1 Vikings were acquired in 1955[7] to operate to Málaga. The next aircraft type was the pressurised Airspeed Ambassador. It operated from 1957 and enabled longer scheduled services to Basel, Belfast, Bilbao, Dublin and Santander.

The network grew with more scheduled flights, including Newcastle to London. In 1958 the Bristol 170 Freighter was added, followed by the Vickers Viscount in 1961. Further expansion in and out of London saw the introduction of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748 in 1962 and the Bristol Britannia in 1964.[8]

By the mid-1960s, London Heathrow had become BKS's busiest base with scheduled flights to Leeds/Bradford, Teesside and Newcastle, as well as international services to Bilbao, Biarritz, and Bordeaux.[4]

The first jet aircraft were two Hawker Siddeley Tridents, acquired in April 1969. These served the Newcastle-Heathrow route as well as inclusive tour charters from Newcastle and London to Mediterranean destinations. Two further Tridents were acquired later.

BKS and Cambrian Airways formed the British Air Services group in 1967. British Air Services was a holding company 70 per cent owned by British European Airways and 30 per cent by the former shareholders of BKS and Cambrian.[9]

Northeast Airlines

The airline's name changed to Northeast Airlines on 1 November 1970. In July 1973, the airline became part of the British Airways group.[10] By 1976 Northeast had fully integrated into British Airways. The last Northeast flights operated on 31 March 1976.[11]

Historical fleet

Bristol Freighter at Liverpool in 1961

Accidents and incidents

In literature

BKS Air Transport is featured in the biography Behind the Cockpit Door by Arthur Whitlock, a first officer and subsequent captain with the airline for just over two decades. The book charts the its origins at Southend in the early 1950s to its merger with British Airways in the 1970s.

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ Maurice J. Wickstead: Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., Staplefield, W Sussex 2014, ISBN 978-0-85130-456-4, p. 81.
  2. ^ Tony Merton Jones: British Independent Airline since 1946, Vol. 3. Merseyside Aviation Society & LAAS International, Liverpool & Uxbridge 1976, ISBN 0 902420 09 7, p. 321.
  3. ^ "G-AIWE – Registration History". CAA G-INFO. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b "History of BKS". Archived from the original on 24 May 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
  5. ^ Gradidge, 2006, p. 217
  6. ^ Merton-Jones 1976, p. 322
  7. ^ Merton-Jones 1976, p. 323
  8. ^ Merton-Jones 1976, pp. 330–331
  9. ^ "Britain's Airline Industry" Flight International 24 October 1968
  10. ^ Merton-Jones 1976, p. 330
  11. ^ Hengi, [page needed]
  12. ^ "G-ALZR, G-ALZT, G-ALZW, G-AMAC, G-AMAD – Registration History". CAA G-INFO. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  13. ^ Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
  14. ^ Denham 1996, pp. 85, 107
  15. ^ "1961-10-17|Dakota|G-AMVC|BKS Air Transport Ltd|Croglin Fell, Cumbria". Peak District Air Accident Research. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
Bibliography
  • Gradidge, J.M.G. (2006). DC-1, DC-2, DC-3 - The First Seventy Years. Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-332-3.
  • Hengi, B.I. (2000). Vergangen, Vergessen, Vorbei [Airlines Remembered: Over 200 Airlines of the Past, Described and Illustrated in Colour]. Neil Lewis, translator. Leicester, England: Midland Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-091-3.
  • Merton-Jones, A.C. (1976). British Independent Airlines since 1946 - Volume 3. Merseyside Aviation Society. ISBN 0-902420-09-7.
  • British Airways Archives and Museum Collection (1951–1970)
  • Denham, Terry (1996). World Directory of Airliner Crashes. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-554-5.
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