43 aircraft (5 Handley Page Hermes, 14 Bristol Superfreighter, 7 Bristol Freighter, 7 Douglas DC-3, 1 Douglas DC-2, 3 Short Solent, 2 de Havilland Heron, 3 de Havilland Dragon Rapide, 1 Airspeed Consul (as of April 1958))
Destinations
worldwide
Headquarters
Central London
Key people
Air Cdre Griffith J. Powell, Eoin C. Mekie, A. V-M. S.D. MacDonald, W.G. Franklin, M.D. Day
British Aviation Services Limited (Britavia) was an early post-World War II airline holding company and air transport operator that could trace its roots back to 1946.[1][2] Its main activities included trooping, inclusive tour (IT) and worldwide passenger and freight charter services.[3] British Aviation Services' first investment in a British independent[nb 1] airline occurred in 1946, when it acquired a minority interest in Silver City Airways. Silver City Airways operated the world's first cross-Channel air ferry service on 13 July 1948. It subsequently became British Aviation Services' biggest operating division.[2] In 1953, British Aviation Services took over the independent airline Air Kruise. The same year, BAS Group also took control of Aquila Airways, the last commercial flying boat operator in the United Kingdom.[4] The completion of these acquisitions by mid-1954 resulted in a reorganisation of the British Aviation Services group, with British Aviation Services Ltd (BAS Group) becoming the group's holding company and Britavia one of its operating subsidiaries.[4][5][6] By the late 1950s, BAS Group became Britain's largest independent airline operator. Its numerous operating divisions included Britavia's Hermes Division at Blackbushe Airport and Aquila Airways's Flying Boat Division at Hamble near Southampton. The former concentrated on trooping services and inclusive tours while the latter provided scheduled services to Portugal, the Canary Islands and Italy.[6][7] In 1962, BAS Group merged with British United Airways (BUA), which by that time had replaced BAS as the UK's largest independent airline operator.[8][9]
^Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, p. 41, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
^ abFlight International, 19 February 1954, From all quarters, Another air-sea merger, p. 158
^Flight International, 3 May 1957, World Airline Directory ... British private-enterprise operators ... Britavia (British Aviation Services Group), p. 590
^ abPortCities Southampton > Southampton > Flying Boats > Aquila to the end > Aquila Airways[usurped]
^Flight International, 13 March 1953, Civil Aviation, Aquila/Silver City merger, p. 342
^ abFlight International, 17 April 1959, World Airline Directory ... The British carriers ... British Aviation Services Ltd., p. 532
^Flight International, 18 April 1958, World Airline Directory ..., p. 527
^Aeroplane — Britain's Biggest Independent Airline, Vol. 102, No. 2625, pp. 143/4, Temple Press, London, 8 February 1962
^Fly me, I'm Freddie!, Eglin, R. and Ritchie, B., Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1980, pp. 75/6
Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).
and 28 Related for: British Aviation Services information
and worldwide passenger and freight charter services. BritishAviationServices' first investment in a British independent airline occurred in 1946, when...
Signature Aviation is a multinational aviationservices company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company was founded as W. Wilson Cobbett Ltd in...
subsidiary of Menzies Aviation. Passenger Services Check-in Services Reception and Boarding Services Baggage Lost and Found Services Ticketing and Passenger...
Aviation Act 1971 merged BOAC and BEA, effective 31 March 1974, forming today's British Airways. On 24 November 1939, BOAC was created by the British...
Aviation portal This is a list of aviation-related events from 2016. The Government of Italy permitted United States unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or...
"CCF Aviation". Airline History. Retrieved 8 August 2021. "Central Air Services". Airline History. Retrieved 8 August 2021. "Centreline Air Services". Airline...
civil aviation use. The first commercial jet airliner to fly was the British de Havilland DH.106 Comet. By 1952, the British state airline British Overseas...
Sky High AviationServices S.A. (operating as SKYhigh Dominicana) is an airline based in Dominican Republic and operates scheduled flights in the Caribbean...
Menzies Ltd. is an aviationservices business providing aircraft ground handling services, through its subsidiary Menzies Aviation Ltd. The company also...
The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd...
Airlines of Britain Holdings (ABH) was formed to act as a holding company for British Midland Airways and British Midland AviationServices. British Midland...
Apollo Aviation Switzerland International Committee of the Red Cross Tunisia Tunis Air United Kingdom British United Air Ferries and successor British Air...
first time a private British airline had placed a launch order for a new jet. In January 1962, BUA absorbed BritishAviationServices, the holding company...
The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later...
Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal...
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable...
announced. Scottish Aviation merged with the British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, and Hawker Siddeley Dynamics to form British Aerospace in...
Zinc Corporation to BritishAviationServices. In July of that year, the airline inaugurated the world's first air ferry service across the English Channel...
many armies had military aviation units, which as the importance of aviation increased, were spun off into independent services. As the separation between...
Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation units are...
Gama Aviation (AIM: GMAA) is a British business aviationservices company specializing in providing aviation support for individuals, corporations, and...
for all scheduled services to the Continent and the latter for all scheduled services within the British Isles. The Civil Aviation Act 1946 furthermore...
The Netherlands Naval AviationService (Dutch: Marineluchtvaartdienst, shortened to MLD) is the naval aviation branch of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Although...
Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer that was responsible for some of the most famous products in Britishaviation history. Hawker had its...
The following timeline of British military aviation covers the military aviation activities of the British Armed Forces from its origins in the 19th century...
airlines in the United Kingdom. For British Overseas Territories, see the sections for Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland...
Global Information