page_title: British European Airways
section_title: BEA Airtours
hierarchical_section_title: British European Airways / History / Subsidiaries / BEA Airtours
caption_attribution_description: English: British European Airways Airtour de Havilland Comet 4B G-APMC, c/n 6423 delivered to BEA on November 16, 1959. Sold on March 12, 1970. Here is taken at Pisa Galileo Galilei Airport in 1973.
context_page_description: British European Airways, formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.
  BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The airline was also the largest UK domestic operator, serving major British cities, including London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, as well as areas of the British Isles such as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. From 1946 until 1974, BEA operated a network of internal German routes between West Berlin and West Germany as well. The company slogan was Number One in Europe.
  Formed as the British European Airways division of British Overseas Airways Corporation on 1 January 1946, BEA became a crown corporation in its own right on 1 August 1946.
  Operations commenced from Croydon and Northolt airports, with DH89A Dragon Rapides and Douglas DC-3s.
context_section_description: On 24 April 1969, BEA formed BEA Airtours as a wholly owned, non-IATA subsidiary to provide it with a low-cost platform to participate in the then rapidly growing IT holiday flights market, which until then had been the exclusive domain of the independent airlines. On 6 March 1970, BEA Airtours commenced operations from London Gatwick with a fleet of seven second-hand ex-BEA de Havilland Comet series 4B aircraft seating 109 passengers in a single-class high-density configuration. On that day, BEA Airtours' first revenue flight departed Gatwick for Palma de Mallorca.
caption: A BEA Airtours Comet 4B in basic BEA "Speedjack" livery at Pisa, Italy, in 1973.
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