Laker Airways

Freddie Laker announced the creation of Laker Airways in February 1966 to provide short and medium-haul flights to Mediterranean and Canary Islands holiday resorts.

The airline commenced commercial operations from its Gatwick Airport base on 29 July 1966 with two former British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Bristol Britannia 102 series turboprops.

The Britannias were supplemented and eventually replaced by five BAC One-Eleven 300 short-haul jet aircraft from December 1967.

Laker spent more than £200,000 of his own money on the newly-ordered aircraft’s deposits, with a consortium of City banks led by Clydesdale Bank funding the remainder.

Laker Airways offered 30% discounts to tour operators to charter the airline’s aircraft during the winter, when demand was lower, and implemented other promotions to incentivise longer-term use of the aircraft by tour operators, ensuring that the fleet was in use for almost the entire year.

The early 1970s saw Laker battle with aviation authorities in the UK and US to gain approval for a “no frills”, low-cost (£32.50 one-way in winter and £37.50 in summer) transatlantic service – marketed as “Skytrain” – to link London and New York daily during the peak summer period from May to September and four times a week during the remainder of the year.

Approval for Skytrain was not forthcoming for several years, and during the summer of 1970, Laker sought permission to operate a series of charter flights to Australia. When his request was refused, he flew to Australia in early 1971 to discuss his proposal with the director-general of the Australian Department of Civil Aviation who doubled as Qantas’s chairman.

Freddie Laker’s visit did not succeed in convincing the Australian authorities and was blocked by ferocious lobbying from BOAC and Qantas, both of which were estimated to have lost £11 million in revenue due to competition from charter airlines.

Finally, on 26 September 1977, Skytrain became a reality when a Laker DC-10 departed Gatwick with 272 passengers, each paying the £59 one-way fare to New York on the inaugural ‘turn up, buy a seat’ no-frills service.

During the first year of operation, most flights were full and profits soared to more than £2m. Laker was subsequently knighted in recognition of his services to the airline industry.

Disaster struck on 4 February 1982, when Laker’s bankers called in their loans, giving him just one day to repay £5 million. He could not raise the funds, so the banks appointed a receiver for Laker Airways.

The airline collapsed on 5 February 1982 with debts totalling £270 million and thousands of passengers and staff stranded around the world.

Laker later took the big airlines to court for conspiring to put his airline out of business via predatory pricing practices, leading to an out-of-court settlement of $50 million.

British Airways later paid Laker Airways a further $35 million and agreed to pay Freddie Laker himself $8 million. The airline, however, never returned.

However, Laker’s business model has proved highly successful with budget airlines such as Ryanair, Southwest Airlines, easyJet, Norwegian Air, and AirAsia.

Sir Frederick Alfred Laker died on 9 February 2006, in a suburban hospital in Hollywood, Florida, following complications from cardiac surgery to implant a pacemaker. He was 83.