page_title: Daimler Airway
section_title: Daimler Airway
hierarchical_section_title: Daimler Airway / History / Daimler Airway
caption_attribution_description: de Havilland DH.34 G-EBBT
context_page_description: Daimler Airway was an airline subsidiary of the Birmingham Small Arms Company's Daimler Company. It was created to use some of the assets of the failed ventures Airco and its subsidiary, Aircraft Transport and Travel, which was acquired by BSA in February 1920.
context_section_description: In February 1921 those assets needed to form a new business to continue Air Express were purchased from the liquidator (Searle) to form what became Daimler Airway. When tenders were called by the Air Ministry for civil air services Searle and Woods Humphery persuaded the BSA-Daimler group to make a tender. It was accepted by the Air Ministry on 9 September 1921.
  Searle remained managing director. Major George E Woods Humphery, an engineer and a former RFC pilot and general manager of Handley-Page Transport from June 1919, was appointed manager of Daimler Airway.
  Beginning in April 1922 Daimler Airway, became the first company to operate de Havilland DH.34 single-engined cabin biplanes. A total of six were operated, the first (registration G-EBBQ), flying from Croydon Airport London to Paris.
  Managing their aircraft as Daimler Hire managed their cars – each to be used a minimum of 20,000 miles a year – Daimler Airway set its standard at 1,000 hours per year per aircraft (later raised at Imperial Airways to 2000 hours a year). This and other control of overheads let Daimler run much more efficiently than its competitors. Their DH34s were good reliable aircraft but in winter heavily muffled passengers missed heating in the cabins.
  From October 1922 until early 1924, Daimler Airway operated daily scheduled flights from Alexandra Park Aerodrome Manchester to Croydon Airport London. The northbound flight left Croydon in the late afternoon and the southbound flight departed Alexandra Park during the next morning. This timing enabled passengers from the north of England to connect at Croydon with Daimler's continental schedules.
  In 1923 Daimler added further routes from Croydon to Amsterdam, Hanover and Berlin using their DH.34 fleet. This route dealt with floods of passengers. Woods Humphery was to succeed Searle (who was forced out) as general manager of Imperial Airways in 1925.
caption: De Havilland DH.34
  
  Daimler Airway livery red and white
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