Orion737 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (8 years 2 months 1 hour ago) and read 3262 times:
Yes wasnt it colourful then and interesting. Now we have Thomson, MYT, TCX and FCA and they take nearly all the charter traffic. Very boring and very poor choice for the consumer who have to put up with paying for meals and appaling service.
It was different in my day, tha knows, in the good old 1980s.
UK_Dispatcher From United Arab Emirates, joined Dec 2001, 2550 posts, RR: 33 Reply 4, posted (8 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3216 times:
Intasun used Dan Air for most of their flights out of NCL & MME.
I flew on DA 737-200 G-ILFC in 1988 MME-AGP. I was only 8, but still have a photo with the reg on! There was also a British Midland 737-200 EI-BTD in the background - now thats what I call a rarity!
Was nice to see a pic of that Princess Air BAe 146 too. I saw one of those in AGP in 1990, when we'd just flown in with UKL (yes, on a Unijet flight-only).
Demoose From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2001, 1952 posts, RR: 26 Reply 5, posted (8 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3190 times:
The best photo I have is when I was about 2 years old, at Corfu airport infront of a 737-200, G-BADP, in the really really old livery about to take me home to Manchester. In the background there is a BY 767-200 - must have been very new as the photo was taken in summer 1986.
SignalOne From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (8 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3191 times:
Hi there,
Quoting Diesel1 (Reply 3): Monarch are still linked to Cosmos aren't they - at least via a common ownership?
Monarch Airlines are still the in-house Airline of Cosmos Holidays.
JMCair, where the in-house operator for JMC holidays. (JMC=John.Mason.Cook) son of Thomas Cook. JMC holidays still exist, but ThomasCook Airlines of course replaced JMCair.
Leej From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2001, 287 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (8 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3190 times:
Don't forget British Caledonian and Blue Sky Holidays - me and my family were regular patrons back in the 70's & 80's!
I remember once flying Gatwick to Naples on a 1-11 - I seem to remember sitting in the middle but with rearward facing seats. The return flight for some reason was overweight so we had to stop at CDG on the way back. Ah the good old days....
I think Dan-Air used to do a lot of flying for Thomson too. Back in 78 we went to Venice - there was an ATC strike by the French, we had all night at the terminal at Marco Polo waiting to get home...not nice.
Diesel1 From UK - Wales, joined Mar 2001, 1624 posts, RR: 12 Reply 11, posted (8 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3177 times:
Dan Air was an independant airline, with no links to any tour operator - and as such doesn't really have any place in the discussion...
JAT was the state airline of Yugoslavia, and Aviogenex an independant operator - Yugotours would have been a UK company to take holidaymakers to Yugoslavia so they wouldn't have been directly linked.
Hmmm... I remember the Yugotours holiday brochures - always worth getting....
SignalOne From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (8 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 3143 times:
Did you lot know that the name Airtours came from the initials of Albert + Ivy Roberts?
Which forms A.I.RTOURS. Airtours also originally was known as "Pendle Airtours" which came from the groups founder David Crossland taking over "Pendle Travel Group". Later the group was known as just Airtours Holidays.
David Crossland
Blimey, he must of been gutted to leave the group which he created from scratch in 2003.
Jmc757 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2000, 1296 posts, RR: 8 Reply 15, posted (8 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 3120 times:
Quoting SignalOne (Reply 7): Monarch Airlines are still the in-house Airline of Cosmos Holidays
They are not 'in-house' as Thomas Cook, First Choice etc... Monarch are not owned by Cosmos, although the same group do have ownership in both companies, they are more 'sister companies'. Monarch still operate a lot of Cosmos flights, but this is decreasing year by year as Monarch are getting more into the schedueld size of things.
Oh, and JMC... actually stood for Just More Crap (the tour operating arm). Or even heard Just Might Crash....!
CalAir From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2005, 298 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (8 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 3036 times:
Well, as my name suggests, we booked with Rank Travel back in 1988 and flew MAN-PMI with Cal Air International, who were the charter arm of BCal. I heard that it was originally called BCA Charter, but people got confused between BCAL scheduled and charter, so they renamed the charter division, keeping the lion, but turning her red instead with a red sash from nose to tail with CAL AIR in billboard titles. They became Novair in 1988, but they didnt last long. Not linked to Novair of sweden.
BCAL From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2004, 3384 posts, RR: 18 Reply 17, posted (8 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 3021 times:
Quoting CalAir (Reply 16): Cal Air International, who were the charter arm of BCal.
Not quite correct, CalAir was jointly owned by British Caledonian and the Rank Organisation. BCal did previously have their own charter arm, BCal Charter, but when Rank became joint owner the name was rebranded as CalAir. When BCal was brought by BA, Rank was left on their own and this is when it became Novair. It was not long before Rank pulled out completely which is why Novair was short lived.
MOL on SRB's latest attack at BA: "It's like a little Chihuahua barking at a dying Labrador. Nobody cares."
AirEuropeUK733 From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2004, 961 posts, RR: 12 Reply 18, posted (8 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 3022 times:
I also remember Inex-Adria Airways of Yugoslavia (now Adria Airways the state airline of Slovenia), as I flew with them on holiday in the late 80's.
There was also Paramount Airlines, Airworld, and Cal Air International changed its name after The Rank Organisation bought out BCal and renamed to Novair.
It then went bust!
There was also Universair (operated into Bournmouth for 1 season)
What about Hispania, Aviaco and Spantax from Spain that operated charters
Air Europe (or ILG) also helped form Air Europa (in Spain) and Air Europe SpA (in Italy), they also bought Norway Airlines and re-named them Air Europe Norway and were well on the way to creating "Airlines of Europe", when they went bust. Were they well ahead of the game considering what has happened with the consolidations of TUI and Thomas Cook around Europe?
BCAL From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2004, 3384 posts, RR: 18 Reply 19, posted (8 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 3013 times:
Nobody seems to have yet mentioned Excel whose tour operating arm is Aspire Holidays and their flight-only arm Freedom Flights.
Of course, Excel started as Sabre and was an airline formed to provide flights for the smaller and independent tour operators who did not have enough capacity to fill their own aircraft or operate their own in-house airline.
Dan Air was another airline that operated flights for smaller and independent operators and they went on to become a schedule airline. Monarch seems to be the most common airline operating for different tour operators these days.
I used to avoid using tour operators who used airlines in the 1970/80s such as Spantax, Aviaco etc. Strangely enough, it was the flight information pages of holiday brochures that I looked at first and then decided where I would go on holiday. Nowadays you are lucky to find out from the brochures who will be operating the flight!
MOL on SRB's latest attack at BA: "It's like a little Chihuahua barking at a dying Labrador. Nobody cares."
25 CalAir: My sincere apologies BCAL, I was working on info provided by my dad, and he wasnt too far off the mark, I suppose I could have explained myself bette
26 BCAL: @CalAir No apology is called for as one of the benefits of a.net is sharing information with fellow members. I am often corrected too! Must have been
27 Diesel1: Never went bust... simply wound up its operations. And thanks to JMC777 who reminds me of another tour operator/airline link... Court Line / Court Li
29 Diesel1: BIA was independant, though I'm sure that ultimately they had a tour operation... Island Sun maybe?...
30 AirEuropeUK733: Deisel1 I stand corrected - thanks for the info AE733
31 WhiteHatter: Dan-Air did have a tour linkup. Thomas Cook financed the purchase of Dan-Air's first couple of 732 aircraft, which operated exclusively for them. As f
32 BCAL: WhiteHatter May I just add to your excellent reply: As regards Thomas Cook and the DA 737s, seeing at the time that other tour operators were using mo
33 Orion737: Soverign and Enterprise were part of the Owners Abroad group and latterly used Air 2000 before Owners was rebranded First Choice and Enterprise and Fa
34 Diesel1: BCAL I remember being at MAH not long after Court Line had failed (that probably qualifies me for one of these... ...) and there being a fair number o
35 BCAL: BA eventually sold its tour operating division to Owners Abroad, and that is why Sovereign and Enterprise (both founded by BEA) became part of the Ow
Sponsor Message: 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From UK - Wales, joined Mar 2001, 1624 posts, 
From United Arab Emirates, joined Dec 2001, 2550 posts, 
Simon Vincent, who revived the JMC name, to offer a new Package Holiday experience. 
David Crossland 
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