Cal Air

Infobox Airline
airline=Cal Air Internationa
logo_size=150
fleet_size=3
destinations=|European, North/West Africa, USA & CanadaIATA=EN
ICAO=CAI
callsign=Caljet
parent=Caledonian Leisure
founded=1985
Based=United Kingdom
frequent_flyer=
lounge=
headquarters=|London Gatwick Airport LGWkey_people=|Mike Leigh, Sonya Henderson, Jackie Stantonsecurity_features=
website= N/A Cal Air International (Cal Air) was an airline based in the United Kingdom. It began as the charter arm of British Caledonian and latterly managed by Caledonian Leisure, operating a fleet of DC-10's between 1985-1988.

History

Cal Air International was initially conceived in early 1982 after the sudden demise of Laker Airways which had left a large gap in the UK Inclusive tour/charter market. The airline was a joint set up between British Caledonian Airways/B-CAL and the Rank Organisation which already had its interests firmly established in the travel industry with its own tour operators: Wings Holidays, Ellerman Travel and OSL Holidays. The airline was initially named 'British Caledonian Charter' with the exact same livery as its parent company British Caledonian Airways/B-CAL. Two ex Laker Airways/Skytrain DC-10-10s were acquired along with many highly experienced ex Laker Airways Pilots, Flight Engineers and Cabin Crew. The DC-10s were re-registered as G-BJZE and G-BJZD. However it was not long before British Caledonian Airways realised that its own high quality scheduled product and image was being some what tarnished by the more utility charter product in addition to the general public not being able to differentiate between the two companies, even the charter cabin crew all wore identical tartan uniforms to those of the parent company. It was therefore decided to make slight changes to the charter company and livery by introducing 'BCA Charter' decals to the aircraft and outlining the golden St Andrews lion rampant tail logo with a white shield. This lasted only a short time when a radical step was taken between the Rank Organisation and BCAL to completely rebrand the charter arm as 'Cal Air International' This saw the introduction of a striking bold livery never seen in the UK at the time.

Cal Air’s DC-10s were mainly used on UK charter flights to the usual popular Mediterranean resorts, North Africa and the Canary Islands. Long haul destinations included Orlando Florida, West Coast USA, Canada and West Africa. A third ex Laker Airways DC-10-10 was acquired in 1986 and re-registered G-GCAL. Occasional ad-hoc charter work was also undertaken which saw the companies DC-10s flying to destinations all over the world. In 1988 British Caledonian Airways was bought by and merged into British Airways and Cal Air International was of no interest to BA. The Rank Organisation decided then to buy the other 50% share of the company making it the wholly owned subsidiary. This then created another problem as the name 'Cal Air' along with the lion rampant logo in red and its Female Flight Attendants wearing tartan uniforms was too close in image and style to the new start up British Airways charter airline 'Caledonian Airways' which was now the new face and product of what was known for many years as 'British Airtours'. It was decided that the company would change its name and livery yet again. Various names were seriously considered including 'Bel Air' and 'Phoenix International Airlines'. However it was 'Novair International Airways' that seemed to win the vote.

The livery was adapted slightly to take in the new name and a huge shooting blue star was emblazoned on the tail fin. Novair International Airways went onto add three brand new Boeing 737-400 to its fleet of 3 DC-10s deploying them at its Manchester and Glasgow bases. Fort Lauderdale was also added to its long haul Florida programme on behalf of Airtours Holidays from London Stansted and Manchester Airports. Some of the B-737-400 stayed on with Novair during the winter months of 1989/90 operating long haul charter flights to Goa and Trivandrum in India via Rhodes and Sharjah in the UAE on behalf of tour operator 'Inspirations'.

It was in early 1990 that after a series of unsuccessful attempts to sell Novair, the Rank Organisation decided to close the airline down for good with the loss of all its employees and the disposal of all the Novair fleet of aircraft. Many argued that Novair International could have been a successful long haul charter airline especially if the management team had confirmed its sights on long range DC-10-30 equipment which companies such as Airtours International and Monarch Airlines went on to successfully achieve. So another British airline disappeared into the history books forever.Many of the ex employees of Novair including the Managing Director went onto set up the highly successful 'Airtours International Airways' at Manchester Airport.

Livery

A predominantly white body with a red sash-like diagonal stripe incorporating large “Cal Air” titling. The tail logo had a large British Caledonian style Scottish Lion Rampant in red (see image).

Fleet

Consisted of the two ex-Laker Airways DC-10-10’s: G-BJZD; G-BJZE. A third was acquired in February 1986 G-GCAL.

External links