View source for AirUK

{{Short description|Defunct regional airline of the United Kingdom (1980–1998)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox airline
| airline          = Air UK
| logo             = Air uk logo.svg
| logo_size        = 250
| fleet_size       = 36 (April 1997)
| destinations     = [[British Isles]]<br>[[Continental Europe]]
| IATA             = UK
| ICAO             = UKA
| callsign         = UKAY
| parent           = [[KLM]]
| subsidiaries     = [[Air UK Leisure]]
| founded          = {{start date|1980|01|01|df=yes}}
| commenced        = {{start date|1980|01|16|df=yes}}<br />{{small|(amalgamation)}}
| ceased           = {{end date|1998|01|30|df=yes}}<br>{{small|(rebranded as [[KLM UK]])}}
| headquarters     = [[London Stansted Airport]], [[England]]
| key_people       =
| bases            = {{ubl|class=nowrap
  | [[Blackpool Airport|Blackpool]]
  | [[Norwich Airport|Norwich]]}}
| hubs             =
| secondary_hubs   =
| focus_cities     =
| frequent_flyer   =
| lounge           =
| alliance         =
| website          = [https://web.archive.org/web/19970202070839/http://www.airuk.co.uk/ www.airuk.co.uk]
}}

'''Air U.K. Limited''', branded as '''AirUK''', was a [[regional airline]] in the United Kingdom formed in 1980 as a result of a [[Mergers and acquisitions|merger]] involving four rival UK-based regional airlines.<ref name=FlightInternational26071980>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%201899.html World Airline Directory] ''[[Flight International]]'' 26 July 1980 pages 272, 280, 295</ref> [[British & Commonwealth Holdings]] owned [[British Island Airways]] (BIA) and [[Air Anglia]] were the two dominant merger partners.<ref name="AirUK_conception">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%203893.html Air UK is Air Anglia and BIA successor] ''Flight International'' 27 October 1979 page 1343</ref>

The merged entity's [[corporate headquarters]] were originally located at [[Redhill, Surrey|Redhill]], the location of the old BIA head office.<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/> It subsequently relocated to [[Crawley]].<ref name="HQ_relocation">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1985/1985%20-%200909.html World Airline Directory] ''Flight International'' 30 March 1985 page 49</ref> In addition to the main maintenance base at [[Norwich Airport]] (Air Anglia's former engineering base), there also used to be a second major maintenance base at [[Blackpool Airport]] (the old BIA engineering base).<ref name="AirUK_conception"/> This was closed down following Air UK's major retrenchment during the [[early 1980s recession]].

In 1987, Air UK established [[Air UK Leisure]] as a [[charter airline|charter]] subsidiary. The following year, Air UK shifted its headquarters to [[Stansted Airport]].<ref name="Late80s_AirUK">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1989/1989%20-%200865.html World Airline Directory] ''Flight International'' 1 April 1989 page 55</ref> When Stansted's new [[Foster + Partners]] designed terminal opened in 1991, the airline became its first and subsequently main tenant.

Air UK was a full member of the [[International Air Transport Association]] (IATA) for most of its existence.

Air UK originally was a wholly owned subsidiary of British Air Transport Holdings, a successor to the [[British United Airways|Air Holdings Group]] owned 90% by B&C and 10% by [[Eagle Star Insurance]]. This made the [[Cayzer baronets|Cayzer family]], who owned B&C, the [[controlling interest|controlling shareholders]].<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/><ref name="AirUK_conception"/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1985/1985%20-%200919.html World Airline Directory] ''Flight International'' 30 March 1985 page 59</ref><ref name="AirUK_remembered_25">''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK)'', Vol 43, No 1, p. 25, [[Ian Allan Publishing]], Hersham, January 2010</ref>

Following the beginning of the gradual [[liberalisation]] of the [[European Union]] (EU) internal [[air transport]] market in 1987, Dutch [[flag carrier]] [[KLM]], a long-standing business partner of Air UK and its predecessor Air Anglia, acquired a 14.9% minority stake in Air UK's [[holding company]].<ref name="Late80s_AirUK"/><ref name="AirUK_remembered_27">''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK)'', Vol 43, No 1, p. 27, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010</ref> In 1995, KLM increased its minority stake in Air UK to 45%. In 1997, KLM became Air UK's sole [[shareholder]]<ref name="AirUK_No1_at_SPL">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1997/1997%20-%200816.html Europe & the CIS World Airline Directory] ''Flight International'' 26 March 1997 page 48</ref><ref>KLM buys Air UK ''[[Australian Aviation]]'' issue 132 September 1997 page 22</ref> when it acquired B&C's stake in British Air Transport (Holdings).<ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m967_en.pdf ''Case No. IV/M.967 — KLM/Air UK'', Merger Procedure Decision, Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, 22 September 1997]</ref> The following year Air UK was renamed [[KLM UK]].

==History==
===Aircraft operated===
Air UK operated the following aircraft types at one point or another during its 19-year existence:
* [[ATR-72|Avion de Transport Regional (ATR) ATR-72]] (these aircraft were exclusively operated by KLM uk)
* [[BAC One-Eleven#Early development|BAC One-Eleven 200/400 series]]
* [[British Aerospace 146]] 100/200/300 series
* [[Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante]]
* [[Fokker F27]] 100/200/400/500/600 series
* [[Fokker F28#Variants|Fokker F28 Fellowship 1000/4000 series]]
* [[Fokker 50]]
* [[Fokker 100]]
* [[Handley Page Dart Herald]]
* [[Short 330|Shorts 330]]
* [[Short 360|Shorts 360]]

===Fleet in 1980===
In July 1980 the Air UK fleet comprised 37 aircraft.<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/>
[[File:Air UK BAC 1-11.jpg|thumb|right|An Air UK [[BAC One-Eleven]] still in basic [[British Island Airways|BIA]] livery at [[EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg|Basel/Mulhouse EuroAirport]] in 1980]]
[[File:F-27-G-SPUD-0594.jpg|thumb|right|An Air UK [[Fokker F27]] still in basic [[Air Anglia]] livery at [[Aberdeen Airport]] in 1981]]
[[File:Air UK BAC 111-416EK.jpg|thumb|right|An Air UK [[BAC One-Eleven|One-Eleven]] in the original all-blue scheme in 1981]]
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ Air UK fleet in July 1980
|- 
!Aircraft

!Number
|-
|[[BAC One-Eleven#Early development|BAC One-Eleven 400]]
|4
|-
|[[Fokker F28#Variants|Fokker F28 Fellowship 4000]]
|2
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 200]]
|14
|-
|[[Handley Page Dart Herald]]
|11
|-
|[[Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante]]
|6
|-
|Total
|37
|}

Air UK employed 1,700 people at this time.<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/>

===Fleet in 1983===
In April 1983 the Air UK fleet comprised 21 aircraft.<ref name="break_even"/>
[[File:Air UK Handley Page Herald.jpg|thumb|right|An Air UK [[Handley Page Dart Herald]] in the modified blue-and-white scheme at [[Jersey Airport]] in 1983]]
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ Air UK fleet in April 1983
|- 
!Aircraft

!Number
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 200]]
|10
|-
|[[Handley Page Dart Herald]]
|6
|-
|[[Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante]]
|5
|-
|Total
|21
|}

Air UK employed 850 people at this time.<ref name="break_even"/>

===Fleet in 1985===
In March 1985 the Air UK fleet comprised 22 aircraft.<ref name="HQ_relocation"/>
[[File:Air UK F-27 Friendship.jpg|thumb|right|An Air UK [[Fokker F27]] in the modified blue-and-white scheme at [[Charles de Gaulle Airport]] in 1985]]
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ Air UK fleet in March 1985
|- 
!Aircraft

!Number
|-
|[[Fokker F28|Fokker F28 Fellowship 1000]]
|1
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 200]]
|16
|-
|[[Short 360|Shorts 360]]
|4
|-
|[[Short 330|Shorts 330]]
|1
|-
|Total
|22
|}

Air UK employed 850 people at this time.<ref name="HQ_relocation"/>

===Fleet in 1988===
In March 1988 the Air UK fleet comprised 22 aircraft.<ref name="146_200">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1988/1988%20-%200735.html ''World Airline Directory'', Flight International, 26 March 1988, p. 47]</ref>[[File:Shorts360.JPG|thumb|right|A pair of Air UK [[Short 360|Shorts 360]]s in the second scheme at [[Humberside Airport]] in 1989]]

{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ Air UK fleet in March 1988
|- 
!Aircraft

!Number
|-
|[[BAC One-Eleven#Early development|BAC One-Eleven 400]]
|1
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-200 and Avro RJ85|British Aerospace BAe 146-200]]
|1
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Specifications (F27-500)|Fokker F27 Friendship 500]]
|2
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 600]]
|3
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 200]]
|10
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 100]]
|1
|-
|[[Short 360|Shorts 360]]
|4
|-
|Total
|22
|}

Two [[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-200 and Avro RJ85|British Aerospace BAe 146-200]] were on order.

Air UK employed 975 people at this time.<ref name="146_200"/>

===Fleet in 1990===
In March 1990 the Air UK fleet comprised 27 aircraft.<ref name="146_300">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1990/1990%20-%200717.html ''World Airline Directory'', Flight International, 14–20 March 1990, p. 65]</ref>

{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ Air UK fleet in March 1990
|- 
!Aircraft

!Number
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-300 and Avro RJ100|British Aerospace BAe 146-300]]
|4
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-200 and Avro RJ85|British Aerospace BAe 146-200]]
|3
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-100, Avro RJ70 & BAe 146 Statesman|British Aerospace BAe 146-100]]
|2
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Specifications (F27-500)|Fokker F27 Friendship 500]]
|2
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 600]]
|2
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 200]]
|11
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 Friendship 100]]
|1
|-
|[[Short 360|Shorts 360]]
|2
|-
|Total
|27
|}

Air UK employed 1,340 people at this time.<ref name="146_300"/>

===Fleet in 1995===
[[File:Air UK BAe-146-200.jpg|thumb|right|An Air UK [[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-200 and Avro RJ85|BAe 146-200]] in the second scheme at [[Frankfurt International Airport|Frankfurt Airport]] in 1994]]
[[File:Air UK Fokker 50.jpg|thumb|right|An Air UK [[Fokker 50]] in the final scheme at [[Guernsey Airport]] in 1995]]
In March/April 1995 the Air UK fleet comprised 28 aircraft.<ref name="F100">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1995/1995%20-%200852.html ''World Airline Directory'', Flight International, 29 March – 4 April 1995, p. 51]</ref>

{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ Air UK fleet in March/April 1995
|- 
!Aircraft

!Number
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-300 and Avro RJ100|British Aerospace BAe 146-300]]
|7
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-200 and Avro RJ85|British Aerospace BAe 146-200]]
|2
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-100, Avro RJ70 & BAe 146 Statesman|British Aerospace BAe 146-100]]
|2
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Specifications (F27-500)|Fokker F27 Friendship 500]]
|6
|-
|[[Fokker 50]]
|1
|-
|[[Fokker 100]]
|9
|-
|[[Short 360|Shorts 360]]
|1
|-
|Total
|28
|}

Eight [[Fokker 50]] were on order.

Air UK employed 1,466 people at this time.<ref name="F100"/>

===Fleet in 1997===
[[File:Air UK Fokker 100.jpg|thumb|right|An Air UK [[Fokker 100]] in the final scheme at [[Düsseldorf Airport]] in 1997]]
In March/April 1997 the Air UK fleet comprised 36 aircraft.<ref name="AirUK_No1_at_SPL"/>

{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ Air UK fleet in March/April 1997
|- 
!Aircraft

!Number
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-300 and Avro RJ100|British Aerospace BAe 146-300]]
|10
|-
|[[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-100, Avro RJ70 & BAe 146 Statesman|British Aerospace BAe 146-100]]
|1
|-
|[[Fokker F27#Specifications (F27-500)|Fokker F27 Friendship 500]]
|5
|-
|[[Fokker 50]]
|9
|-
|[[Fokker 100]]
|11
|-
|Total
|36
|}

Four Fokker 100 were on order.

Air UK employed 2,000 people at this time.<ref name="AirUK_No1_at_SPL"/>

===Third Force===
Air UK was the name of the new airline resulting from the merger of BIA and Air Anglia.<ref name="AirUK_conception"/> (BIA had already absorbed [[Exeter]] based Air Westward in March 1979).<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%200920.html ''BIA, Air Anglia to take Air Westward routes'', Air Transport, Flight International, 24 March 1979, p. 882]</ref> [[Cardiff]]-based [[Air Wales (1977)|Air Wales]] had become part of Air Anglia in June of that year.<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%202669.html ''Short finals ... Air Anglia ...'', General Aviation — Business and Light Transport, Flight International, 21 July 1979, p. 163]</ref>) It was [[incorporation (business)|incorporate]]d on 1 January 1980.<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/> Operations commenced on 16 January 1980.<ref name="ops_start">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1999/1999%20-%200662.html ''Europe & the CIS World Airline Directory'', Flight International, 24–30 March 1999, p. 82]</ref> At the time of its inception, Air UK was the largest regional airline in the UK and the country's third-largest scheduled carrier.<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/><ref name="AirUK_remembered_24_26">''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK)'', Vol 43, No 1, pp. 24, 26, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010</ref> It had a staff of 1,700, carried more than 1m, mainly scheduled, passengers annually and had a fleet of 40 aircraft,<ref name="AirUK_remembered_26">''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK)'', Vol 43, No 1, p. 26, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010</ref> consisting of six [[jet aircraft|jet]]s (four ex-BIA [[BAC One-Eleven#Early development|BAC One-Eleven 400]]s and two ex-Air Anglia [[Fokker F28#Variants|F-28 4000 series Fellowship]]s) and 34 [[turboprop]]s (including eighteen ex-BIA [[Handley Page Dart Herald]]s, ten ex-Air Anglia [[Fokker F27#Variants|Fokker F27 100/200 series Friendship]]s and six [[Embraer 110 Bandeirante]]s originally part of the BIA, Air Wales and Air Westward fleets). Apart from the four [[BAC One-Eleven#Early development|One-Eleven 400]]s, which were predominantly operated on [[charter flight]]s,<ref name="AirUK_remembered_26"/> all the other aircraft were part of Air UK's scheduled service fleet.

For [[marketing]] purposes, there was no gap between the letters "U" and "K" in the "Air UK" [[logo]] in the newly merged entity's first [[aircraft livery|livery]], which was a stylised [[Union Flag]].

Former BIA managing director Peter Villa became Air UK's first MD as well.

At the time of its creation, Air UK was sometimes referred to as the unofficial "Third Force" among the main contemporary scheduled airlines in the UK ([[British Caledonian]] (BCal) being the UK's official "Second Force" and [[British Airways]] (BA) the primary UK flag carrier at that time).<ref name="AirUK_remembered_26"/><ref name="NoFrills_145">''No Frills – The Truth behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies'', Calder, S., [[Virgin Books]], London, 2002, p. 145</ref>

Following the merger, most of the fleet progressively adopted Air UK's new blue, white and red colour scheme. Originally, this featured a predominantly blue fuselage with a white-red-white strip across the windows and a white roof. The tail was also predominantly blue, apart from the "Air UK" logo.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%204382.html ''Air Transport (photograph depicting Handley Page Dart Herald G-BAZJ as the first aircraft to appear in Air UK's first, all-blue livery)'', Flight International, Reed Business Information, Sutton, 1 December 1979, p. 1818 (bottom)]</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%200147.html ''Air Transport (photograph depicting Air UK's fourth BAC One-Eleven G-CBIA in the airline's first, all-blue livery)'', Flight International, Reed Business Information, Sutton, 19 January 1980, p. 137 (top)]</ref> However, the [[Civil Aviation Authority of the United Kingdom|Civil Aviation Authority]] (CAA) disapproved of this predominantly blue livery, arguing that it could potentially pose a safety hazard for other aircraft as it was difficult for other crews to see the blue aircraft against a blue sky. To address the CAA's safety concerns, Air UK decided to amend its original colour scheme by opting for a hybrid blue-and-white scheme featuring a blue fuselage and a white tail.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_24_26"/>

Air UK's scheduled route network initially served the following 33 points: [[Aberdeen Airport|Aberdeen]], [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Amsterdam]], [[Basel]], [[Belfast International Airport|Belfast]], [[Bergen]], [[Birmingham Airport|Birmingham]], [[Blackpool Airport|Blackpool]], [[Bournemouth Airport|Bournemouth]], [[Brussels Airport|Brussels]], [[Dublin Airport|Dublin]], [[Düsseldorf Airport|Düsseldorf]], [[Edinburgh Airport|Edinburgh]], [[Exeter Airport|Exeter]], [[Glasgow International Airport|Glasgow]], [[Guernsey]], [[Humberside Airport|Humberside]], [[Isle of Man]], [[Jersey]], [[Leeds Bradford Airport|Leeds Bradford]], [[Le Touquet]], [[Gatwick Airport|London Gatwick]], [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow]], [[Stansted Airport|London Stansted]], [[Manchester Airport|Manchester]], [[Newcastle International Airport|Newcastle]], [[Norwich Airport|Norwich]], [[Ostend]], [[Orly Airport|Paris]], [[Rotterdam]], [[Southampton]], [[Southend Airport|Southend]], [[Stavanger]] and [[Teesside Airport|Teesside]].<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/>

Air UK was the first and, at the time, only scheduled airline in the UK to fly from all three main London airports.<ref>''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK)'', Vol 43, No 1, pp. 27/8, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010</ref>

Following British Airways' decision to retire its [[Vickers Viscount]] turboprop fleet and to withdraw from its loss-making regional scheduled routes, Air UK assumed BA's regional routes from [[Heathrow Airport|Heathrow]] to Guernsey, Manchester to the Isle of Man, Leeds to Belfast and Dublin, and Edinburgh to Jersey in April 1980.<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%203285.html ''BA spells out route-cut proposals'', World News, Flight International, 8 September 1979, p. 754]</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%203477.html ''Independents look at BA routes'', Air Transport, Flight International, 22 September 1979, p. 942]</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%203810.html ''BA route cuts: independents gather'', Air Transport, Flight International, 20 October 1979, p. 1264]</ref> Air UK's new, year-round Heathrow—Guernsey route was its most prominent scheduled route serving [[London]]'s premier airport.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%200007.html ''CAA allocates UK domestic routes'', Air Transport, Flight International, 5 January 1980, p. 5]</ref> (During the late 1970s, in the days prior to the construction of the [[M11 motorway|M11]], Air UK's predecessor Air Anglia had launched a year-round scheduled service linking Heathrow with the company's bases in Norwich and Humberside, as well as a year-round scheduled operation between London Gatwick and Leeds.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/><ref>''No Frills – The Truth behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies'', Calder, S., Virgin Books, London, 2002, pp. 166/7</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%202757.html ''Short hauls ... Air Anglia ...'', Air Transport, Flight International, 28 July 1979, p. 247]</ref>)

===Retrenchment===
The severe recession of the early 1980s necessitated a major [[retrenchment]], resulting in extensive frequency, route and staff cutbacks. This entailed the closure of bases at Bournemouth, Humberside and [[Stansted Airport|Stansted]] as well as a major reduction in operations at Southend. As a consequence of these cutbacks, ten turboprop aircraft (seven Heralds and three Bandeirantes) were withdrawn from service while the two [[Fokker F28]] jets were [[aircraft lease|lease]]d out to French [[regional airline|regional carrier]] [[Air Alsace]]. This in turn resulted in the closure of the former BIA engineering base at Blackpool, accounting for 220 out of a total of 400 job losses.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%202902.html | title=Air UK retrenches in the face of recession, Air Transport | work=Flight International | date=27 September 1980 | page=1245}}</ref> It also resulted in the suspension of scheduled passenger and cargo services to 14 points by late 1981. At the start of the 1981–82 winter timetable in November 1981, Air UK relaunched scheduled operations from Stansted by opening a new route to Amsterdam. This was the first international scheduled service from London's third airport in over ten years.<ref name="network_readjustments">{{cite news | url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%200859.html | title=World Airline Directory | work=Flight International | date=3 April 1982 | page=815}}</ref> The resulting network linked 20 points in the [[British Isles]] and six in [[Europe]].<ref name="network_readjustments"/> Management hoped that these business realignments – including cutting the company's workforce in half over a two-year period<ref name=FlightInternational26071980/><ref name="break_even"/> — would reverse heavy losses Air UK had incurred during its first two years of operation, thereby stabilising the company and positioning it for future growth.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/>

===Reorganisation and renewed expansion===
In 1982, Peter Villa led a [[management buyout]] of Air UK's charter business,<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/><ref name="break_even">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1983/1983%20-%200576.html ''World Airline Directory'', Flight International, 2 April 1983, p. 882]</ref> resulting in reconstituting [[British Island Airways#British Island Airways "Mark Two" (1982–1991)|BIA]] as a charter-only airline and his departure from Air UK along with the four BAC One-Eleven 400s.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%200161.html ''New British carrier to take over Air UK's IT operation'', Air Transport, Flight International, 23 January 1982, p. 159]</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%200870.html ''World Airline Directory'', Flight International, 3 April 1982, p. 826]</ref> In addition to the tough economic climate and merger blues during the airline's inception as a result of combining two organisations with vastly different cultures and management styles, the operation of these aircraft had largely been responsible for Air UK's poor financial performance that threatened the airline's survival.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/>

1982 was also the year the CAA transferred Air UK's [[Gatwick Airport|Gatwick]]—Guernsey licence to Guernsey Airlines, a newly formed regional operator, following numerous passenger complaints about the service Air UK had been providing ever since it had assumed the former BIA operation on that route.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1983/1983%20-%201532.html ''British commuters grow — British Air Ferries/Guernsey Airlines'', Flight International, 20 August 1983, p. 498]</ref> That year also saw Air UK joining forces with [[British Midland International#British Midland Airways|British Midland]] to form [[Manx Airlines]], a new, jointly owned regional subsidiary based on the Isle of Man. Air UK parent B&C owned 25% of Manx Airlines, making it the new [[joint venture]]'s junior partner. (British Midland, which owned the remaining 75%, was the senior partner.) Air UK and British Midland hoped that transferring their loss-making Isle of Man operations to a dedicated, lower cost subsidiary would eventually make these services profitable.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1983/1983%20-%201535.html ''British commuters grow — Manx Airlines'', Flight International, 20 August 1983, p. 501]</ref>

In 1983, Air UK [[break-even|broke even]] for the first time. This was also the year the airline acquired its first [[Short 330|Shorts 330]] commuter turboprop plane, which it named ''Enterprise'' in a publicity stunt at [[Stansted Airport]] where the naming ceremony took place in the shadow of a [[Boeing 747]] [[Shuttle Carrier Aircraft|shuttle carrier aircraft]] used by [[NASA]] to launch ''[[Space Shuttle Enterprise]]''.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/>

By 1985, Air UK acquired additional Shorts 330/360s and [[Fokker F27]]s. The latter included the first stretched [[Fokker F27#Specifications (F.27)|500 series F27s]] featuring an increased seating capacity of 52 (as opposed to 44 for all shorter fuselage Fokker F27 models). To further support its ongoing expansion, Air UK temporarily leased an [[Fokker F28#Variants|F-28 1000 series]] as well as two BIA One Eleven 400s during that period. (All of these aircraft wore different, white-based colour schemes.) Reintroduction of [[jet aircraft|jet equipment]] enabled Air UK to assume [[British Caledonian in the 1980s#Reaching new heights|British Caledonian]]'s regional operation between Glasgow, Newcastle and Amsterdam at the start of the 1985 summer timetable period,<ref name="HQ_relocation"/> thereby further strengthening its position as the UK's leading regional feeder operator at [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Amsterdam Schiphol]] and as the airport's largest foreign scheduled carrier.<ref name="AirUK_No1_at_SPL"/> The additional aircraft also permitted several year-round, domestic and international scheduled services from Stansted to be reinstated.

In 1987, Air UK placed its first order for the [[British Aerospace 146]] regional [[jet airliner|jetliner]]. The introduction of Air UK's first 146 200 series [[regional jet]] coincided with the introduction of a new livery, consisting of a white fuselage and tail with three different blue cheatlines merging into a stylised Union Flag on the aircraft's tail. In addition, this livery differed from the previous one by dropping the gap between the words "Air" and "UK" while inserting a gap between the letters "U" and "K" in "UK".

Following British Airways' takeover of [[British Caledonian in the 1980s#British Airways wins the day|British Caledonian]] in December 1987, the CAA awarded Air UK the licences for the ex-BCal domestic feeder routes from Gatwick to Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1988. This resulted in an order for four stretched [[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-300 and Avro RJ100|BAe 146-300s]] to enable the launch of high-frequency services with up to seven daily round-trips on both routes from the start of the 1988–89 winter timetable period.<ref name="Late80s_AirUK"/><ref name="146_300"/>

By 1994, Air UK acquired several, new [[Fokker 100]] jet aircraft.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_28">''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... AIR UK)'', Vol 43, No 1, p. 28, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010</ref> The introduction of these aircraft led to the adoption of another new livery, the final Air UK-themed livery in the airline's 19-year history. This livery combined elements of the earlier livery with a new, single dark blue cheatline that included a thin, pale blue stripe merging into a dark blue tail featuring the previous Union Flag logo. It also combined elements of both previous liveries by dropping the gap between the "U" and "K" in "UK" (as in Air UK's original blue livery) as well as dropping the gap between the words "Air" and "UK" (as in the airline's second livery).

By 1995, Air UK had replaced all of the older, smaller [[Fokker F27#Variants|F27 100/200/400/600 series]] aircraft in its fleet with additional, stretched [[Fokker F27#Specifications (F.27)|F27-500]]s.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_28"/> (Air UK operated a total of 22 F27s of various marks throughout its existence, all of which it had acquired second-hand.)

By the late 1990s, a fleet of new [[Fokker 50]] and [[ATR-72]] turboprops replaced the aging F27-500s. During that period Air UK also retired all of its [[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-200 and Avro RJ85|146-200s]] as well as the [[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-100, Avro RJ70 & BAe 146 Statesman|146-100s]].

===Air UK Leisure===
[[File:Air UK Leisure Boeing 737-400 Zammit.jpg|thumb|[[Air UK Leisure]] [[Boeing 737-400]] at [[Malta International Airport|Malta Airport]] in the mid-1990s]]
In 1987, Air UK established [[Air UK Leisure]] as its new charter subsidiary in association with charter brokerage firm Viking International.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/>

Air UK Leisure's corporate headquarters were located at Air UK's Stansted base. Its main operating bases were at London Gatwick, London Stansted and Manchester.

Operations commenced with three second-hand [[Boeing 737-200]]s. These were replaced with seven brand-new [[Boeing 737-400|737-400s]], making Air UK Leisure first [[Europe]]an operator of the [[Boeing 737-400|400]] in October 1988.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/><ref name="146_300"/>

In 1993, Air UK Leisure entered the long-haul leisure market through the acquisition of a pair of [[Boeing 767#767-300ER|Boeing 767 300 ER series]] [[wide-body|widebodied]] aircraft. Both aircraft were contracted by [[tour operator]] Unijet. Although Air UK Leisure operated these aircraft under the same [[Air Operator Certificate]] (AOC) as its [[Boeing 737-400|737 400 series]] [[narrow-body|narrow-bodied]] short-/medium-haul fleet, it adopted the ''Leisure International Airways'' brand for its long-haul operation.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/>

Air UK Leisure was subsequently sold to Unijet, which in turn became part of the [[First Choice (travel firm)|First Choice]] group.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_27"/>

===Focusing on Stansted===
Following the move to Stansted in 1988,<ref name="Late80s_AirUK"/> Air UK became London's third airport's biggest resident airline and its main scheduled operator. The company began building a comprehensive network of short-haul domestic and European feeder routes that was intended to provide connecting traffic for the long-haul carriers that were then expected to commence operations from Stansted, as a result of the increasingly tight [[airport slots|slot]] situation at both London Heathrow as well as London Gatwick, at the time London's two main gateway/[[hub-and-spoke|hub]] airports, especially at peak times. Air UK's move to the new Norman Foster-designed terminal in early 1991 provided the impetus for the launch of several new, year-round scheduled routes linking Stansted with important business destinations including Belfast, Düsseldorf, [[Frankfurt]], [[Hamburg]], [[Inverness]], [[Madrid]], [[Milan Linate]], [[Munich]] and [[Zürich]]<ref name="NoFrills_145"/> (in addition to the existing year-round scheduled routes serving Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Brussels, the [[Channel Islands]], Edinburgh, Glasgow and [[Charles de Gaulle Airport|Paris]]). However, the unfavourable economic conditions in the UK at the time, i.e. the severe [[early 1990s recession]] and the fallout from the first [[Gulf War]], resulted in a sharp contraction of both the business and leisure travel markets. This in turn resulted in the spectacular collapse of the International Leisure Group (ILG) and its [[Air Europe]] airline subsidiary, at the time the largest independent airline in the UK and Gatwick's biggest user, accounting for one-fifth of all the airport's slots. The then prevailing harsh economic climate also resulted in route and schedule cutbacks at other major airlines operating out of both main London airports. As a result, it became much easier to obtain viable slots at these airports, including at peak times. This meant that none of the contemporary major long-haul carriers were showing any interest in commencing operations at Stansted (with the sole exception of [[American Airlines]], which ran a short-lived Stansted—[[Chicago O'Hare|Chicago]] service during the early 1990s). In addition, Stansted's considerably smaller catchment area and its greater distance from most parts of London compared with Heathrow and Gatwick, combined with poorer [[transport]] links in relation to Heathrow's and Gatwick's better accessibility, meant that Air UK found it extremely difficult to make its Stansted operation viable.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_28"/><ref name="NoFrills_139_144_5">''No Frills – The Truth behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies'', Calder, S., Virgin Books, London, 2002, pp. 139, 144/5</ref>

===Rebranding===
[[File:KLMuk146LCY.jpg|thumb|right|A [[KLM UK]] [[British Aerospace 146]] with a [[Fokker 50]] behind at [[London City Airport]] in 1999.]]
In 1997, KLM became the sole owner of Air UK.<ref name="ops_start"/> This resulted in the airline being rebranded as KLM uk in January 1998,<ref name="ops_start"/> including the adoption of a new livery.

Initially, the rebranded airline launched new routes from [[London City Airport|London City]] serving KLM's Amsterdam Schiphol hub as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, from January 2000, the KLM uk routes that did not serve Amsterdam were either progressively transferred to [[Buzz (airline)|Buzz]], the KLM group's new [[low-cost carrier]], along with the remaining [[British Aerospace 146#BAe 146-300|146-300]] aircraft or closed. KLM uk adopted this new [[corporate strategy|strategy]] in response to its increasing inability to match the far lower costs of the rapidly growing "[[no frills]]" competition on the main London—[[Scotland]] trunk routes, especially [[Luton Airport|Luton]]-based [[EasyJet]] and former British Airways subsidiary [[Go Fly|Go]] based at Stansted itself. By 2001, Buzz operated 14 point-to-point routes from Stansted. Many of these were former Air UK routes served with a fleet of eight BAe 146-300s handed down from Air UK and two independently sourced, second-hand [[Boeing 737 Classic#737-300|Boeing 737-300]]s.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_28"/><ref name="NoFrills_139_144_5"/> In addition, scheduled routes not transferred to Buzz and serving destinations other than Amsterdam were eventually all withdrawn, thus reducing the network to only 15 routes exclusively linking regional UK airports to Amsterdam Schiphol. This also resulted in the retirement of KLM uk's ATR-72s.

In 2002, KLM decided to integrate what was left of KLM UK into [[KLM Cityhopper]], its wholly owned, Dutch-based regional subsidiary. It also decided to sell Buzz to [[Ryanair]] the following year. This transaction constituted the final link in a long chain of events connecting the early- to mid-20th century decision of [[British & Commonwealth Holdings|British & Commonwealth Shipping]], a [[shipping line|shipping company]] that could trace its roots to the 19th century, to diversify into [[commercial aviation]] through ownership of several of the post-/pre-[[World War II|war]] independent airlines that merged to form [[British United Airways]], the UK's dominant private sector airline conglomerate of the 1960s, with what is arguably the world's most commercially successful airline of the first decade of the 21st century.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_28"/>

===Further developments===
By late 2009, several regional point-to-point routes plied by Air UK and its predecessors for many years, which were dropped soon after Dutch flag carrier KLM had become the airline's sole owner, had been taken over by [[Eastern Airways]] and [[Flybe (1979-2020)|Flybe]], with the former concentrating on the ex-Air Anglia [[petroleum industry|oil]]-related business routes along Britain's East Coast and the latter focusing on former BIA/Air Westward routes serving the southern and western parts of the UK.<ref name="AirUK_remembered_28"/>

==Incidents and accidents==
There were four recorded non-fatal incidents during Air UK's 19-year existence from 1980 until 1998.

* On 11 June 1984, an empty ex-BIA Handley Page Dart Herald (registration: G-BBXI),<ref>[http://aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19840611-1&vnr=1&kind=PC Aviation Safety Network — Photo of Handley Page HPR-7 Herald 203 G-BBXI]</ref> was parked at [[Bournemouth Airport]] when a lorry struck the aircraft and damaged it beyond repair.<ref>[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19840611-1 ASN Aircraft accident description Handley Page HPR-7 Herald 203 G-BBXI — Bournemouth Airport (BOH)]</ref>
* On 19 July 1990, an ex-Air Anglia F-27-200 (registration G-BCDO)<ref>[http://aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19900719-0&vnr=1&kind=PC Aviation Safety Network — Photo of Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 G-BCDO]</ref> had an accident while landing at [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Amsterdam Schiphol Airport]] at the end of a scheduled flight from London Stansted. The aircraft's right-hand main gear failed to lock down while preparing to land. This resulted in a [[forced landing]] with the right gear retracted, damaging the aircraft beyond repair. There were no injuries among the 17 passengers and four crew members. (The aircraft was subsequently ferried to Air UK's base at Norwich Airport, where it was withdrawn from service and scrapped.)<ref>[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19900719-0 ASN Aircraft accident description Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 G-BCDO — Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)]</ref>
* On 31 March 1992, a BAe 146-300 G-UKHP overran runway 34 at Aberdeen (Dyce) Airport after landing on a wet runway with high crosswinds. The pilot failed to deploy the spoilers and ran off the end of the runway. The aircraft was not badly damaged and no passengers were hurt.<ref>[https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/4-1993-british-aerospace-146-300-g-ukhp-31-march-1992 AAIB report 4/1993 G-UKHP 31 March 1992, Aberdeen]</ref>
* On 7 December 1997, an F-27-500F (registration: G-BNCY) had an accident at [[Guernsey Airport]] at the end of a scheduled service from Southampton. The aircraft overran the runway while landing in high crosswinds and came to rest in an adjacent field with its left landing gear collapsed.<ref>[http://aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19971207-0&vnr=1&kind=C Aviation Safety Network — Photo of Fokker F-27 Friendship 500F G-BNCY (1)]</ref><ref>[http://aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19971207-0&vnr=2&kind=C Aviation Safety Network — Photo of Fokker F-27 Friendship 500F G-BNCY (2)]</ref> There were no injuries among the 50 passengers and four crew. (The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and subsequently written off.)<ref>[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19971207-0 ASN Aircraft accident description Fokker F-27 Friendship 500F G-BNCY — Guernsey Airport (GCI)]</ref>

==Notes==
; Notes
{{Reflist|group=nb}}
; Citations
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite journal| title=Flight International | journal=Flight International | publisher=Reed Business Information | place=Sutton, UK | issn=0015-3710}} (''World Airline Directory'', 1980–2003)
* {{cite book| author=Calder, Simon | title=No Frills – The Truth behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies | publisher=Virgin Books | place=London, UK | year=2002 | isbn=1-85227-932-X}}
* {{cite journal| title=Travel Trade Gazette | journal=Travel Trade Gazette | place=London, UK | issn=0262-4397| edition=UK & Ireland}} (various copies, 1980–2003)

==Further reading==
* {{Cite journal| title=Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten: Jersey Airlines – United into BUA) | journal=Aircraft | page=66 |date=June 2011 | publisher=Ian Allan Publishing | place=Hersham, UK | issn= 2041-2150}} ([http://www.aircraftmagazine.co.uk ''Aircraft''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202053830/http://www.aircraftmagazine.co.uk/ |date=2 February 2017 }})

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19970202070839/http://www.airuk.co.uk/ Official website]
* [http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m967_en.pdf European Commission Merger Decision on Case IV/M.967 of 22/09/1997 (KLM/AIR UK)]
* [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/uk.htm contemporary timetable images]

{{Air France-KLM}}
{{Airlines of the United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Airlines established in 1980]]
[[Category:Airlines disestablished in 1998]]
[[Category:Air France–KLM]]
[[Category:Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1980 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1998 disestablishments in England]]