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 NEA's operations and fleet were merged into British Airways.
History
BKS
BKS Air Transport Douglas C-47 wearing the initial all-metallic scheme at Manchester Airport in 1954BKS Air Transport Airspeed Ambassador G-AMAD in 1965BKS HS748 at Manchester in September 1964 wearing Avro 748 Jetprop titlesNortheast 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 commenced operations 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 – i.e. James Barnby, T D 'Mike' Keegan and Cyril Stevens.[4]). After less than one month this initial C-47 was sold (to Iberia Airlines),[5] allowing BKS to purchase two further ex-RAF Dakotas. For a couple of years BKS flew charters and freight until 1953, when it was granted permission to operate scheduled services between Newcastle, the Isle of Man and Jersey. The Dakotas continued in operation with BKS until the last of eight was sold in 1967.[6] The airline's name was changed to BKS Air Transport at the end of 1953.[7]
By the mid-1960s, London Heathrow had become BKS's busiest operational base with scheduled domestic flights to Leeds/Bradford, Teesside and Newcastle, as well as international scheduled services to Bilbao, Biarritz, and Bordeaux.[4]
The airline's name was changed to Northeast Airlines on 1 November 1970. In July 1973, the airline became part of the British Airways group.[11] By 1976 Northeast had been fully integrated into British Airways. The last Northeast flights operated on 31 March 1976.[12]
On 17 October 1961, a BKS Dakota (G-AMVC) en route from Yeadon to Crosby, crashed on Croglin Fell in the North Pennines in strong winds, heavy rain and poor visibility. All four crew (the only occupants) were killed.[16]
In literature
BKS Air Transport is featured heavily in the biography Behind the Cockpit Door by Arthur Whitlock, a first officer and subsequent captain who served with the airline for just over two decades. The main section of the book charts the airline's development from its origins at Southend Aerodrome in the early 1950s to its merger with British Airways in the 1970s.
^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.
^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.
^"G-AIWE – Registration History". CAA G-INFO. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
^ a b"History of BKS". Archived from the original on 24 May 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
^"G-AIWE Aircraft History". Retrieved 1 March 2024.
^Gradidge, 2006, p. 217
^Merton-Jones 1976, p. 322
^Merton-Jones 1976, p. 323
^Merton-Jones 1976, pp. 330–331
^"Britain's Airline Industry" Flight International 24 October 1968
^"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.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northeast Airlines (United Kingdom).