page_title: Freddie Laker
section_title: Skytrain
hierarchical_section_title: Freddie Laker / Business ventures / Subsequent business ventures / Skytrain
caption_attribution_description: English: Douglas DC-10-10 G-GFAL of Laker Airways wearing Skytrain titles at Manchester Airport in 1979
context_page_description: Sir Frederick Alfred Laker was an English airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways in 1966, which went bankrupt in 1982. Known as Freddie Laker, he was one of the first airline owners to adopt the "low cost / no-frills" airline business model that has since proven to be very successful worldwide with companies such as Norwegian Air, Ryanair, easyJet, AirAsia and WestJet.
context_section_description: On 15 June 1971, Laker Airways submitted an application to the UK's Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB), one of the forerunners of today's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to launch the world's first daily transatlantic, low-fare scheduled service between London and New York City, charging a then incredibly low one-way fare of £32.50 in winter and £37.50 in summer. This was one third of what the major, established "flag carriers" were charging at the time. The proposed service was to be marketed using the Skytrain trademark and was to be initially operated with 158-seat, single-class Boeing 707-138Bs that were acquired second-hand. Skytrain was to be a "walk-on", "walk-off" operation that did not require any advance reservations. Instead, seats were to be sold to the travelling public at each end of the route on a "first come, first served" basis only.
  The ATLB rejected Laker's application before the year was out, and Laker appealed the ruling. The appeal was successful, and the ATLB eventually granted Laker the requested licence in February 1972.
  However, on 30 March 1972, the UK government revoked Laker's licence and instructed him to reapply to the CAA, which came into being on 1 April 1972.
  Laker duly reapplied to the CAA for permission to operate eleven weekly Skytrain services each way between London Gatwick and New York's John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) during the summer and seven weekly round-trips during the winter. The summer schedule was to be operated with Laker's brand-new DC-10 widebodied jet aircraft to take advantage of increased demand he anticipated for his new low-fare service during the peak months from June to September as well as of the DC-10's low break-even load factor of only 52%. The winter schedule was to be operated with 707 narrowbodies as specified in Laker's original application to the ATLB.
  The newly formed CAA approved Laker's application on 5 October 1972, granting a ten-year licence. However, it specified Stansted rather than Gatwick as the service's UK departure/arrival point and limited the number of seats that could be sold in winter to 189 per trip, the maximum number of passengers a Boeing 707 could accommodate in a high-density, all-economy configuration. The unexpected change of the UK departure/arrival point for Laker's Skytrain service as well as its capacity limit during the lean winter season were intended not to undermine the planned launch of a daily British Caledonian (BCal) Gatwick—JFK full-service scheduled operation, for which the ATLB had already granted that airline a 15-year licence, along with another 15-year licence for a daily Gatwick—Los Angeles International Airport full-service scheduled operation, during the so-called "cannon ball" hearings earlier the same year.
  The UK government designated Laker Airways as a scheduled transatlantic UK "flag" carrier on 11 January 1973.
  However, under intense pressure from the established airlines, including Laker's archrival and next-door Gatwick neighbour BCal, against a backdrop of huge losses and overcapacity on the North Atlantic in the aftermath of the global energy crisis caused by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' oil embargo, the UK's Labour government of that era decided to revoke Laker's licence on 29 July 1975.
  Freddie Laker took the government to the UK High Court, which overturned the latter's decision to revoke the airline's licence for a Skytrain service between London and New York.
  It took another two years until Laker gained final approval, including a reciprocal permit from the relevant US authorities, which was granted for a one-year experimental period on 13 June 1977 by US President Jimmy Carter – to commence Skytrain.
  In the meantime, Peter Shore, the then Secretary of State for Trade, had conducted a review of the government's aviation policy and in 1976 announced a new "spheres of influence" policy that ended dual designation for British airlines on all long-haul routes. As a result of this new aviation policy, BA and BCal were no longer permitted to run competing scheduled services on 
caption: Skytrain titles on a Laker Airways Douglas DC-10 at Manchester Airport in 1979
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