The Beehive, Gatwick Airport (IoE Code 461938)

GB Airways was a British

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

; prior to its sale, it was headquartered in " The Beehive," a former terminal building, at City Place Gatwick, London Gatwick Airport in Crawley,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The airline was originally created as ''Gibraltar Airways'' in 1931, being an offshoot of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

ian

shipping company A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: # Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that is ...

MH Bland. It initially operated a single Saunders-Roe A21 Windhover, its first route connecting

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the airline represented

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the pass ...

(BOAC). In 1947, Gibraltar Airways formed a business relationship with the

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), 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 a ...

(BEA), eventually cumulating in the two companies jointly planning and promoting air services between Gibraltar and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. The airline also continued to operate its own routes, benefiting from the expansion of

Gibraltar Airport Gibraltar International Airport or North Front Airport is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway is owned by the Ministry of Defence for use by the Royal Air Force as RAF Gibraltar. Civilian o ...

. During the late 1980s, it was decided to relocate the company from Gibraltar to Britain; accordingly, a new base was established at The Beehive and the airline was formally rebranded ''GB Airways Ltd'' on 3 January 1989. During its latter years of operations, GB Airways operated scheduled services as a

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

to 30 destinations in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

from

Gatwick Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

and as well as

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. The company was profitable throughout much of its existence but encountered hardship during the 2000s, largely due to the increasingly competitive European market, as well as an inflexible franchising agreement. GB Airways ceased operations on 30 March 2008 following its acquisition by budget airline

EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

during January 2008; many of its aircraft and staff were redeployed to the latter entity.

History

Formation and early years

What would eventually become GB Airways was established in 1931 as an offshoot of

ian

MH Bland, in

. The new venture, which was initially known as Gibraltar Airways, was embarked on as a consequence of the Great Depression, its parent company being keen to find alternative avenues of business. It was decided to opt for a flying boat, the airline securing the use of a single Saunders-Roe A21 Windhover, which could seat up to six passengers. During the latter half of 1931, Gibraltar Airways commenced limited operations, flying a single route between 'the Rock' and

. During the

, the airline represented

(BOAC), providing management, staff, and local agents on their behalf to support operations. In 1947, the company started providing ground handling services at

. That same year, Gibraltar Airways commenced its relationship with the newly created

(BEA). BEA began flying between

and Gibraltar, connecting with Gibraltar Airways' own flights to Morocco. Soon after, BEA acquired a 49% stake in the airline, which began trading as GibAir. In 1961, an agreement between BEA and GibAir was signed for the joint planning and promotion of air services from Gibraltar to

and

. GB Airways has its headquarters at Cloister Building, Irish Town, Gibraltar. Although BEA

merge Merge, merging, or merger may refer to: Concepts * Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road * Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program * Merger (politics), the comb ...

d with BOAC to form

in 1974, the financial and operational relationship with GibAir continued. Meanwhile, GibAir continued to operate its own services from Gibraltar, primarily to Morocco, and also began charter flights to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. During 1957, expanded facilities at Gibraltar Airport, built with the backing of the Gibraltar tourist department, were opened, facilitating the airline's further growth. At this time, the airline operated a fleet of Douglas DC-3s on these services. In 1960, GibAir was headquartered in the Cloister Building in Gibraltar.

Relocation to Britain and later years

In 1985, the airline, which was by then known as ''GB Airways'', was headquartered in Gibraltar. In 1989, the company moved its operational HQ to the United Kingdom in order to increase the scope for expansion. A base was established at The Beehive in London Gatwick Airport and the company became ''GB Airways Ltd'' on 3 January 1989. The livery on the airline's fleet of

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

aircraft at this time was mainly

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, with

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

and

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

twin stripes down the centre of the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

, sweeping down to form a 'chin strap' under the

nose cone A nose cone is the conically shaped forwardmost section of a rocket, guided missile or aircraft, designed to modulate oncoming airflow behaviors and minimize aerodynamic drag. Nose cones are also designed for submerged watercraft such as ...

. The twin stripe was repeated on the tailfin, with a speeding red arrow creating a diamond-shaped centrepiece, which was repeated on the forward fuselage. A stylised version of this diamond

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

was used until the airline was bought by EasyJet in 2008. For a number of years prior to October 1997, GB Airways operated services on behalf of newly launched budget carrier

; these were flown on its own

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in plac ...

as EasyJet had not secured such certification. GB Airways aircraft landing at Gibraltar Airport

The relationship with British Airways was firmly entrenched in 1995 when it became a full British Airways franchise operator, with BA relinquishing its financial holding in the airline. The franchise agreement with British Airways was due to continue until 2010 and under the terms, GB Airways traded as British Airways, with all flights operated under BA flight codes (the range BA6800-6999 were allocated to GB Airways flights). All GB Airways aircraft were presented in full British Airways livery, appointed with the same interior and class product as the BA main fleet, and staff wore the BA uniform. GB Airways flights could be booked through British Airways and the airline participated in BA's Executive Club and BA Miles programme. GB Airways was an affiliate member of

Oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international travellers. Its central alliance offic ...

. However, GB Airways continued its own inflight magazines, ''Med Life'' and ''Elevate'' (for GB Airways' own duty-free goods range) in addition to the regular BA publications. Additionally, servicing of GB Airways aircraft at Gatwick was carried out by Virgin Atlantic Engineering. At one stage, GB Airways intended to grow by taking over BA routes as the latter's European network was restructured. By 2001, GB operated a scheduled network to 21 destinations in the western Mediterranean and North Africa from Gatwick and Heathrow, normally flying in the low-fare leisure sector with a two-class service. According to managing director John Patterson, GB Airways had come under pressure by the low-fare competition by 2001; instead of lower its quality, the airline chose to focus on three-to-four hour routes where a higher service level would be more valued. It was also in the process of replacing its seven

-300/400s with newer Airbus A321s. According to aerospace industry periodical

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's old ...

, GB Airways had "historically been very profitable", but had fallen on harder times during the late 1990s and 2000s, incurring a loss during 2006. Reasons for the airline's hardships reportedly included overcapacity on an increasingly competitive environment as well as constraints that had been imposed by its franchise agreement with BA, limiting commercial freedom. In response to these losses, former BA executive and Britannia Airways managing director Kevin Hatton was recruited in 2006 to manage the company and to seek options for the business. Hatton produced a strategic review of GB Airways, which saw possibilities such as renegotiating the airline's partnership with BA, an entirely new business model or alternative partnership arrangement, and/or the sale of the airline. GB Airways did hold discussions with BA representatives throughout 2007, but these did not result in any meaningful changes; BA rejected the new business model proposed by the company. As the adoption of this model was GB Airways' preferred strategic option, this outcome made the prospects of the company's sale or the establishment of a new partnership with a third party airline increasingly likely. According to Flight International, Bland Group saw little in the form of alternatives to selling GB Airways. A chance meeting between Hatton and EasyJet's chief executive Andrew Harrison at an industry dinner in early 2007 led to in-depth talks between the two airlines commencing weeks thereafter. By 2008, GB Airways was regarded as a niche carrier, operating 44 routes between the UK and destinations centred around southern Europe, the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

and

Acquisition by EasyJet

On 25 October 2007, it was announced that GB Airways was to be sold to EasyJet. EasyJet had issued a formal offer for the airline two months prior, followed by weeks of intense negotiation; while British Airways had the option to purchase GB Airways itself under the terms of their franchise agreement in such an eventuality, the company chose not to exercise it. The UK Office of Fair Trading approved the acquisition on 18 January 2008. The deal was worth £103.5m and was used to expand EasyJet operations at London Gatwick, as well as to commence operations from Manchester Airport. GB Airways continued to honour its

franchise agreement and continued to operate as GB Airways until 29 March 2008, after which all aircraft were transferred to EasyJet. Slots used by GB Airways at London Heathrow Airport were not included in the sale, these were sold to other airlines for an estimated £100 million. While most assets of GB Airways were acquired by Easyjet, the corporate head office, the

Beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

, was not included. The employment base at The Beehive closed, resulting in 284 jobs being lost. Two aircraft (G-TTOB & G-TTOE) were sold to British Airways, while the others were returned to the lessors if not part of the sale to

easyjet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

. The remainder transferred to

easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

and were operated in hybrid scheme for a season before being sold to other airlines.

Destinations

The airline's main operational base was at

London Gatwick Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...

. Some of its aircraft were also based at

London Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

and there was a small base at

. Flights from the latter operated as 'BA Connect' services, which operated a no-frills airline style "buy on board" service. The airline mainly served destinations in the

region and the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

islands, as well as a small number of destinations in inland continental

. Thus its main market was

British people British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs m ...

looking for a holiday in the sun. *

(Agadir, Ajaccio, Alicante, Arrecife, Bastia, Corfu, Dalaman, Fez, Faro, Funchal, Gibraltar, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Las Palmas, Lisbon (via Oporto by British Airways code), Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Marrakech, Montpellier, Mykonos, Nantes, Oporto (via Lisbon by British Airways code), Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Rhodes, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Tunis) *

(Casablanca, Faro, Malaga, Marrakech, Tangiers) *

(Heraklion, Innsbruck, Malaga, Malta, Paphos, Salzburg, Tenerife-South) In addition to the above destinations the airline also operated several charter flights from

to destinations across Africa, Asia and Europe during Winter months.

Fleet

The GB Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at March 2008): * 9 -

Airbus A320-200 Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

(further one on order) * 6 -

Airbus A321-200 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the b ...

(further four on order) In February 2008, the GB Airways average fleet age was 4.7 years.

Accidents and incidents

* On 23 November 1988,

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Vi ...

G-BBVH was damaged beyond economic repair in a landing accident at Tangier-Boukhalef Airport.

References

External links

gbairways.co.uk
(Archive)
easyjet.com

GB Airways Route Map
{{EasyJet Airlines established in 1931 Airlines disestablished in 2008 Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom History of Gibraltar Former Oneworld affiliate members Companies based in Crawley