page_title: British European Airways
section_title: Channel Islands
hierarchical_section_title: British European Airways / History / Highlands and islands operations / Channel Islands
caption_attribution_description: English: British European Airways Channel Islands Vickers Viscount 802 G-AOHV at Manchester Airport in 1971
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: BEA acquired a presence in the Channel Islands as a result of the takeover of Channel Islands Airways on 1 April 1947. Channel Islands Airways was the holding company and successor of pre-war independent scheduled airlines Jersey Airways and Guernsey Airways. It was also among the independents that were absorbed into BEA following their nationalisation which began earlier that year.
  BEA commenced its services in the Channel Islands in 1947, using Dragon Rapides inherited from its independent predecessors.
  Following the transfer of BEA's London–Jersey route from Croydon to Northolt on 21 April 1947, DC-3s began replacing Rapides on most services. By 2 November 1947, all of the corporation's London–Guernsey flights had moved from Croydon to Northolt as well.
  In 1949, BEA expanded its fledgling Channel Islands operations by inaugurating London–Alderney and inter-island scheduled services linking Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney.
  On 28 April 1950, BEA launched a summer service from Gatwick to Alderney, the airline's first scheduled route from Gatwick as well as its first scheduled service from there to the Channel Islands. Additional scheduled services from Birmingham and Manchester to the islands began the following month.
  In 1951, BEA launched a Glasgow–Jersey summer service with DC-3s, the airline's first direct service between Scotland and the Channel Islands. During that year's second half, it also successfully trialled de Havilland's Heron 1 demonstrator on its Channel Islands network.
  In April 1952, a new Exeter–Jersey route launched, which BEA contracted to its new independent associate Jersey Airlines. Two months later, a new paved runway opened at Jersey, which enabled the introduction of bigger, heavier aircraft types on BEA's (and other airlines') services to and from the island.
  In Summer 1953, BEA introduced "Elizabethan" class Ambassador aircraft on its London–Jersey route.
  Following the departure of BEA's last flight from Northolt to Jersey in October 1954, the airline's London – Channel Islands flights served the British capital exclusively via Heathrow.
  In 1955, BEA ordered two de Havilland Heron 2 series aircraft for use on its Channel Island feeder routes. These differed from the pair of 1B series Herons used on the airline's Scottish feeder network and air ambulance services in terms of their undercarriage; the series 2 had a retractable undercarriage while the series 1's was fixed. Following BEA's acquisition of a 25% minority stake in its regional associate Jersey Airlines and a subsequent transfer of routes from the corporation to the independent in 1956, the Heron 2s ordered by the former were delivered to the latter.
  BEA's withdrawal from Alderney, as well as from Southampton–Guernsey, Jersey–Dinard and Guernsey–Dinard, on 20 April 1956 coincided with the airline's last Rapide service in the Channel Islands. 1956 was also the year that saw Viscounts supplementing DC-3s/Pionairs on the corporation's Heathrow–Jersey route as well as a new summer service from Belfast to Jersey.
  BEA's acquisition of minority stakes in its independent associates Jersey Airlines and Cambrian Airways in 1956 and 1958 respectively resulted in the former's withdrawal from a number of mainly secondary routes serving the Channel islands, which were transferred to the latter.
  The launch of a new BEA summer weekend service from Aberdeen via Edinburgh to Jersey in 1957 was followed by the transfer of most of the corporation's London–Jersey and London–Guernsey flights from Heathrow to Gatwick when the latter reopened as London's second airport on 9 June 1958, in line with contemporary UK government policy to develop the airport.
  On 1 August 1960, a new paved runway opened at Guernsey, which enabled the introduction of bigger, heavier aircraft types on BEA's (and other airlines') services to and from the island.
  The withdrawal of Pionairs from BEA's Channel Islands services on 20 March 1961 resulted in the transfer of operations from Southampton to Bournemouth to enable the introduction of Viscounts, which were too heavy for the forme
caption: BEA Channel Islands Vickers Viscount 802 at Manchester Airport in September 1971 on a schedule from Jersey
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