page_title: Channel Airways
section_title: 1967
hierarchical_section_title: Channel Airways / History / The 1960s / 1967
caption_attribution_description: Hawker Siddeley Trident 2 Trident 1E, one of five used by Channel Airways
context_page_description: Channel Airways was a private airline formed in the United Kingdom in 1946 as East Anglian Flying Services.
  The newly formed airline initially operated aerial joy rides with a single, three-seater aircraft from an airstrip on the Kent coast. Scheduled services began in 1947, following the move to Southend Airport earlier that year, while inclusive tour charter flights started in 1948. Rapid business growth saw seven additional aircraft join the fledgling airline's fleet by the end of that year.
  The introduction of exchange controls in the early 1950s resulted in a major contraction of the travel market, in turn compelling East Anglian to cease all operations other than pleasure flying. Following a recovery in demand, aircraft and employees that had been surplus to requirements during the slump were respectively brought back into service and re-hired. By that time, the airline had also opened a second base at Ipswich Airport and obtained its first long-term scheduled service licence. That decade also saw East Anglian updating its fleet with post-war aircraft designs.
  Fleet modernisation continued in the early 1960s with the addition of DC-3 and DC-4 equipment.
context_section_description: By May 1967, Channel Airways had taken delivery of the remaining Viscount 800s from Continental. By that time, it had also retired and sold the last 700s and placed a follow-on order for another two One-Eleven 400s.
  Despite being an established One-Eleven customer that was widely expected to order the stretched One-Eleven 500, Channel Airways instead ordered two Hawker Siddeley Trident 1E series jetliners on 5 October 1967, for £8 million. This order was the culmination of a successful sales campaign by Hawker Siddeley, which went out of its way to find a customer for its remaining five unsold Trident 1Es that were nearing completion on the production line at Hatfield in mid-1967.
  By that time, most UK independent airlines that were in the market for short-haul jet aircraft – including Channel Airways – had already committed themselves to the BAC One-Eleven, the Trident's more economical and ultimately more successful, home-grown rival. For want of viable alternatives and despite Channel Airways's reputation as financially weak, Hawker Siddeley began sales negotiations with the airline in August 1967. To clinch the deal, the manufacturer guaranteed the airline a 20% reduction in seat-mile costs over the standard Trident 1E. This modified Trident 1E was dubbed the Trident 140 and featured a 1,500 lb (680 kg) higher gross weight and more powerful engines than other Trident 1/2 variants, stronger floors and additional emergency exits to make it suitable for Channel's European IT operations in a high-density seating arrangement. With a full payload of 139 passengers seated at a 31 in (79 cm) pitch, it had a range of 1,930 mi (3,110 km) or 2,570 mi (4,140 km) with 100 passengers in a lower-density seating configuration. The latter brought the Canary Islands within the aircraft's non-stop range from the UK and West Berlin. Not only were these the last five 1E series built, but they were also the first Tridents ordered by a UK independent airline. The arrival of Channel's first Trident at the airline's Southend base in May 1968 coincided with the delivery of its second One-Eleven. Channel's first Trident operated the airline's first revenue service with the type on 13 June of that year, when the aircraft departed Southend for Barcelona via Teesside, while the second example was displayed at the following month's Farnborough Airshow. Channel also took advantage of the Trident's higher cruising speed by promoting the type's 3-hour 15-minute non-stop flying time between Stansted and Las Palmas as the fastest flight from anywhere in the UK to the Canaries.
  As Channel's new jets suffered range and payload restrictions at Southend due to its short runway and the introduction of the One-Eleven at the airport led to growing complaints about the aircraft's take-off noise, this resulted in Stansted becoming the main operating base in 1968.
  Nineteen sixty-eight was furthermore the year Channel reduced its outstanding jet aircraft orders due to the difficult economic situation in the UK during that time, especially the sterling devaluation and a tightening of the existing exchange control regime that limited passengers to £50 a trip. This resulted in cancellation of three remaining orders each for Tridents and One-Elevens, and only two and three examples respectively joining the airline's fleet.
  The introduction of these jet aircraft enabled Channel Airways to become a major provider of charter airline seats to the leading package tour operators in the UK from bases at Southend, Stansted, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Manchester and Teesside.
  Channel's increasing dependence on the IT market made it a highly seasonal airline, with pronounced peaks and troughs in activity and aircraft utilisation. Each year, the end of the winter trough was followed by a six-week period of intense activity starting in April, when the company's aircraft were contracted by Clarksons to ferry British tourists to and from Rotterdam for the Dutch bulbfield season from ten UK departure points.
  The end of this season in mid-May also marked the beginning of the a
caption: Channel Airways Trident 1E
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