Cambrian Airways

Cambrian was a Welsh airline based in Cardiff, Wales which commenced operations in 1935 and was incorporated into British Airways in 1976.

Code information

*ICAO Code:
*IATA Code: CS
*Call Sign: Cambrian

Company history

Cambrian was setup in April 1935 as Cambrian Air Services and the first aircraft to be operated was the de Havilland DH.60 Moth and the main activity was training pilots and flights for tourists. With the outbreak of World War II, Cambrian stopped its activities and in 1946 it was the first British airline to commence operations after the war with freight flights between Cardiff and Bristol. In 1948 Cambrian was flying in cooperation with BEA and used the de Havilland Dragon Rapide, the Auster Autocrat and the Percival Proctor. During 1949 flights between Birmingham nd Jersey were begun. During 1953, Cambrian took over Olley Air Serviceand Murray Chown Aviation and commenced services between Southhampton to Dinard and Paris. This route was served with de Havilland Dove and later with Douglas DC-3s.

In 1956 the name was changed to Cambrian Airways and by 1964 it was operating the Vickers Viscount on charters to Rimini, Palma, Nice, Valencia and Barcelona. In 1967 BEA took over Cambrian, although it continued to operate as a separate airline. The following year the last flight with the DC-3 was flown and 1969 saw the first jet arrive in the form of the BAC 1-11 and these were mostly used for charter flights.
*In 1972 Cambrian was incorporated into the new British Airways and rapidly lost more and more of its independence. By 1975 it operated only in the British Airways colors and by 1976 it had been swallowed into British Airways and ceased to exist. [Airlines Remembered by BI Hengi, Publisher Midland Publishing]

Aircraft operated

* BAC One-Eleven 400
* de Havilland Dragon Rapide
* de Havilland Dove
* de Havilland Heron
* Douglas DC-3
* Vickers Viscount 700
* Vickers Viscount 800

Accident/incident

On 20 July 1965 A Vickers Viscount "G-AMOL" crashed on landing at Liverpool Speke Airport, after a flight from Ronaldsway Airport, Isle of Man. Both crew were killed, as well as two persons on the ground.

External links

* [http://www.cambrianairways.co.uk/ Cambrian Airways website]
* [http://www.rzjets.net/operators/operator.php?opid=2920 Fleet and code information]
* [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/cs2.htm Timetable images ]

Referentes