page_title: Hunting-Clan Air Transport
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hunting-Clan Air Transport / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Hunting Clan Air Transport Vickers Viscount 732 G-ANRR at London (Heathrow) North
context_page_description: Hunting-Clan Air Transport was a wholly private, British independent airline that was founded in the immediate post-World War II period. It began trading on 1 January 1946 as Hunting Air Travel Ltd. It was a subsidiary of the Hunting Group of companies, which had come from the shipping industry and could trace its history back to the 19th century. The newly formed airline's first operating base was at Bovingdon Airport in Southeast England. Its main activities were contract, scheduled and non-scheduled domestic and international air services that were initially operated with Douglas Dakota and Vickers Viking piston airliners from the company's Bovingdon base. A change of name to Hunting Air Transport occurred in 1951. By that time, the airline had emerged as one of the healthiest and most securely financed independent airlines in Britain. In October 1953, the firm's name changed to Hunting-Clan Air Transport, as a result of an agreement between the Hunting Group and the Clan Line group of companies to invest £500,000 each in a new company named Hunting-Clan Air Holdings Ltd, the holding company for the combined group's air transport interests.
context_section_description: Hunting Air Travel Ltd was established as a company at Luton Airport in December 1945 by three members of the Hunting family, including a former Royal Flying Corps pilot during World War I.
  In addition to an airline operation and a maintenance organisation, the Hunting Group's other aviation interests included Percival Aircraft Ltd, Hunting Aerosurveys Ltd and Aerofilms Ltd.
  Hunting-Clan's operations included all-economy Safari/colonial coach class services to East, Central, Southern and West Africa, as well as similar operations to Gibraltar, Africargo all-cargo services from Manchester and London to East Africa, general passenger and cargo charter and inclusive tour (IT) flights. Hunting-Clan African Airways was set up as an associated company to operate freight services from Salisbury to Kariba, Lusaka and Nairobi as well as IT flights to Kariba and Mozambique. Regular live- and bloodstock flights were another Hunting-Clan speciality. The airline also gained scheduled licences to operate a Northern network centred on Newcastle upon Tyne.
  On 14 June 1952, Hunting Air Transport began operating quasi-scheduled low-fare services from the UK to East, Central, Southern and West Africa using Vikings. These services were part of a joint operation with Airwork, another wholly private British independent airline of that era. Flights initially operated on a fortnightly basis. International Air Transport Association (IATA) minimum fare rules did not apply to these services because the governments that owned most of IATA's member airlines had not empowered it to set and control domestic air fares, which included dependent overseas territories.
  The joint Hunting—Airwork Safari/colonial coach service from London to Nairobi routed via Malta, Wadi Halfa, Khartoum, Juba and Entebbe. It utilised single-class 27-seat Vikings, which took three days to complete the journey. Although this compared unfavourably with British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), whose regular scheduled services took only 24 hours, load factors averaged 93% during the first nine months of operation. Hunting-Clan and Airwork continued to achieve very high average load factors of 85–90% because their £98 single fare was £42 cheaper than the comparable BOAC fare. These load factors were much higher than BOAC's, as a result of which the independents doubled the flight frequency on their London-Nairobi Safari/colonial coach route to once-a-week. This service proved to be so popular that a second weekly frequency was eventually added, which was operated alternately by each airline.
  In 1953, operations were to commence on Hunting's Northern network of short-haul domestic and international European scheduled services from Newcastle. However, IATA member airlines objected to Hunting's proposed Scandinavian fares, which delayed the inauguration. This resulted in Hunting-Clan becoming the first British independent airline to join IATA at the following traffic conference in Honululu, where a resolution was passed permitting fares 10% below standard tourist fares.
  In June 1953, Hunting and Airwork jointly launched a fortnightly Safari/colonial coach service between London and Salisbury, entailing one round trip per month by each company. Hunting's Vikings' flightdeck crew comprised two pilots and a radio officer on all short- to medium haul Safari/colonial coach routes. On all long-range services a flight engineer manned the flightdeck as well. All passenger flights also carried an air hostess in the passenger cabin.
  When the Scottish Clan Line shipping company became a joint venture partner in the Hunting Group's air transport business in late 1953, this resulted in a split of the group. As a consequence, Hunting's aircraft manufacturing activities were not transferred to the new holding company that took control of the airline and its maintenance support. At that time, the Clan Line was one of two UK shipping lines controlled by the Cayzer shipping magnates. Sir Nicholas Cayzer, who headed the Cayzer family's shipping businesses, viewed his stake in one of Britain's leadi
caption: Hunting-Clan Vickers Viscount 732 at London Heathrow Airport North in 1955 soon after delivery
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